10-27-06, 10:00 a.m.

White House political head honcho Karl Rove was interviewed by National Public Radio yesterday. He effectively announced plans to steal the coming elections. The polls point decisively to a Democratic majority in the House, and possibly in the Senate. Yet Rove told NPR he was certain of Republican majorities in both houses, and gave laughable reasons for his claim. Rove had no actual evidence to point to.

Now, this could be seen as the obsessive lying of a political hack, were it not for the fact that Rove's party has stolen elections in 2000, 2002, and 2004, has recently increased dramatically the opportunities for election fraud (with new machines, new ID requirements, new purging techniques), and has already begun dirty tricks in a number of states (including machine foul ups already in Maryland, Virginia, Texas, Illinois, and the U.S. military). Rove's strategy is clearly to steal the elections and to put forth a paper-thin excuse to justify it, one he hopes the corporate media will (again) accept. How do we know that's Rove's strategy? Because he announced it yesterday on NPR. Here's the transcript:

MR. SIEGEL OF NPR: We're in the home stretch, though. And many might consider you on the optimistic end of realism about --

MR. ROVE: Not that you would be exhibiting a bias or anything like that. You're just making a comment.

MR. SIEGEL: I'm looking at all the same polls that you're looking at every day.

MR. ROVE: No you're not. No you're not!

MR. SIEGEL: No, I'm not --

MR. ROVE: I'm looking at 68 polls a week. You may be looking at four or five public polls a week that talk about attitudes nationally, but that do not impact the outcome �

[Rove is claiming access to secret polls that he never cites any data from, indicates the origin of, or otherwise documents the existence of. When asked for examples of races Republicans are winning, Rove turns to races we all know they're winning based on 'public' polls. Needless to say, thousands of public polls report on individual races, not just 'attitudes nationally'.]

MR. SIEGEL: -- name races between -- certainly Senate race

MR. ROVE: Well, like the polls today showing that Corker's ahead in Tennessee; or the race -- polls showing that Allen is pulling away in the Virginia Senate race.

[Yes, we knew about those, Karl. But those still leave the Republicans losing the House and possibly even the Senate.]

MR. SIEGEL: Leading Webb in Virginia. Yes.

MR. ROVE: Yeah, exactly.

MR. SIEGEL: Have you seen the DeWine race and the Santorum race and -- I don't want to �

[You don't want to what, point out that Karl is lying by listing more of the races where the Democratic Senatorial candidates lead in the polls? Now watch how Karl responds...]

MR. ROVE: Yeah. Look, I'm looking at all these Robert and adding them up. And I add up to a Republican Senate and a Republican House. You may end up with a different math, but you're entitled to your math. I'm entitled to 'the' math.

_________

Rove probably meant to say something coherent, such as 'You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own math.' He probably couldn't manage to come out with that simple statement because his attention was focused on blatantly lying his ass off. If he had evidence that the Republicans are ahead in polls, he would reveal it. What reason could he possibly have not to? He knows that whoever is leading can often be helped to a larger lead by simply announcing that fact. He's on the air precisely to claim that Republicans are leading. Yet he has no evidence.

Democratic candidates, consider yourselves warned. Don't concede a shady election the next day and then complain weeks later that you didn't realize, you hadn't been aware, or you didn't want to put us through a traumatic experience. Our uncertainty as to whether you will fight for your votes is what is traumatizing us.

Citizens, consider yourselves warned. Go to http://www.mydem.com and prepare yourselves to make sure the votes are counted. Then join a blue revolution: candlelight vigils outside county election offices the evening of November 7th. Let them know we're watching: http://www.bluerevolution.us



-DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.

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