Make no bones about it. They ARE brownshirts. They threw bricks through a number of campaign offices and spraypainted their swastikas all over the nation across Bush-Cheney campaign posters as well as on the sidewalks and homes of those who had up Bush re-election signs.
They assaulted the children of Bush voters and denied Bush voters hotel rooms.
They slashed the tires of campaign vehicles and possibly pulled the power in Pittsburgh campaign offices.
Such actions are positively unAmerican and I will not hesitate to compare them to the Nazi trash of Germany.
The only distinguishing characteristic is "where do we draw the line". How far can their extremism and violence be permitted to go?
Certainly the media is turning a blind eye to it.
"Make no bones about it. They ARE brownshirts."
Couldn't agree more. Here's an excerpt from my 2004 campaign notes:
http://groups.msn.com/2004CampaignNotes/_whatsnew.msnw
It Was a Mistake for Republicans and Friendly Media to Drop the Issue of Democrat Violence and Misdemeanors in the 2004 Campaign
There are a number of points we need to keep in mind over many years on this issue. First, Republican and honest media response will be to drop the issue. This will be a big mistake. Fox News could do an investigative report and uncover many of the connections between the Democrat Party and the nationwide intimidation and lawbreaking that they sanctioned (albeit at arms length). This violence was, in all probability, organized and carried out by people with ties (albeit not too close) to the Democrat Party. Admittedly, they were no doubt formally unaffiliated with the Democrat Party.
If Fox News and other honest media outlets would do this story now, it would serve as a significant check on Democrat violence during their “next opportunity.” This would help prevent Republicans, particularly Republican volunteers, and most especially Republican poll watchers, from being hurt. It would also reduce the chance of a Democrat theft of the election partially engendered through violence. (An “opportunity” for violence is a close election, where the violence can make the difference in electing a president. Committing violent and illegal acts in an election that wasn’t close would not be worth the negative cost to the Democrat Party.)
However, this won’t happen. Republicans and honest media types would rather not deal with it and hope the whole issue goes away. The rare Republicans who have some awareness of this problem also know that to speak out on it now would ensure being labeled as a nut within the Republican Party. Why then, do I do it? Because the more Republicans think about this idea now, the faster they will respond when the situation comes up next time.
And make no mistake about it. The violence and illegality will not start where it did in this campaign and work itself up to the same level. No. There is a “memory” in all of us of the finishing level of violence and lawbreaking for this campaign. This level has become “acceptable”. The mere fact that no one will have done any investigation of the violence and lawbreaking of the 2004 campaign will mean that it was “acceptable” in a broad sense. This 2004 level of violence and lawbreaking will be the starting point for the next “campaign of opportunity for violence” (the next close Presidential campaign.)
Republicans Have Demonstrated How Effective They Can Be to Forestall Illegal Democrat Action With Their 2004 Anti-Ballot Box Stuffing Strategy
Not to be entirely negative. On the question of preventing ballot box stuffing, in all its variations, the Republican Party has indeed crossed the line into action and begun to change. Note the feeling this creates in one. Like waking from a dream. A dream in which you were paralyzed. You saw wrongdoing, but no one else apparently saw it, the media assured you it didn’t exist, and nothing could be done. This feeling created despair, depression. Now this has been replaced by the vigorous flow of blood in your own body, by action, alertness. Now Republicans are united in action to prevent ballot box stuffing. Next time, we will go further. Laws must be strengthened. More volunteers recruited.
We will win the ballot box stuffing battle because it is illegal and we are vigorous and strong. Note the Democrat formulation. Republicans are “intimidating and disenfranchising minority voters.” See the unparalleled guide on political tactics, How to Beat the Democrats, by David Horowitz, for an explanation of how this political jujitsu works, and how Republicans can use it (in a moral way) to neutralize the Democrat victimization tactics.
According to the Democrats, the need to be registered to vote is a “smokescreen”, just an excuse to infringe on the right to vote. Provisional ballots, by the way are a terrible idea---a cave-in to the Democrats. They cost Republicans 9 hours or so of rest and enjoyment in 2004, because they created at least technically, a possibility of a Kerry win. They were also instrumental in the election of a Democrat governor in Washington state, as pointed out in the NRO article "Re-Vote, Washington State needs to get their gubernatorial election right," January 28, by Rich Lowry, NR Editor, at: http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry200501280805.asp
Here are some excerpts from the article:
"For years, experts have warned that the nation's election process is scandalously sloppy and prone to fraud.
"...First, a principle: Elections are held in accord with rules. Those rules are necessary so everyone can agree beforehand on how the election will be conducted (e.g., will all felons be allowed to vote or not?) and so basic protections can be maintained against abuse (e.g., by having voters register with a valid address)...On the one hand, the problems might look like mere incompetence; on the other, they create the possibility of abuse by whichever party controls the jurisdiction in question.
"...Roughly 350 provisional ballots — which are supposed to be closely inspected to see if they are legitimate — were directly fed into machines and counted in King County.[The election was close enough for this number to matter.]”
My email response to the article:
Your article ins spot-on! My only quibble is the phrase that the system is open to abuse to "whatever party is in power in a jurisdiction". I doubt this idea (but would yield to the evidence if presented.) I think the system is open only to abuse by Democrats in jurisdictions where they are in control, and partially subject to abuse by Democrats even where Republicans are in control.
Again, if someone gives me evidence, and I'm wrong, I'll back off on this point. I don't claim to be an expert.
So, how can the situation be what I say? Because Democrats control the news media. Because they control Hollywood. Because they control the Universities.
Because Democrats have become mean, abrasive, and abusive, under the combination of two forces: the growing influence of the Left and the cover the Mainstream Media provides them. So, as a result, naturally polite Republicans have become timid.
And I believe if Republicans---anywhere in the US---tried to do what Democrats did in Washington---they would be slaughtered by the Media. And partly due to that constant constraint, and partly due to the fact that what the Democrats are doing in Washington is wrong---the Republicans don't even want to.
Someday, provisional ballots will cost the Republicans a presidency. I can think of few issues that deserve higher priority for us than the elimination of provisional ballots. Making such concessions to Democrats, when in power, is the height of foolishness. And now is the time to strike, not later. Provisional ballots are quickly becoming, as John Kerry would phrase it, “a constitutional right”.
To counter the problem of finding the right polling booth after a move (which can be a problem, and provisional ballots are designed to solve), polling booth information, including detailed maps of which area feeds where, should be available on the Internet. Better yet would be a simple national system where anyone could type in an address anywhere in the country and find out the polling booth connected with that address. Then it would be quite simple for every person to find out where they were supposed to vote.