GAO report indicates Bush/Cheney campaign stole the 2004 election through election fraud

[unixronin]

[...] But the GAO report now confirms that electronic voting machines as deployed in 2004 were in fact perfectly engineered to allow a very small number of partisans with minimal computer skills and equipment to shift enough votes to put George W. Bush back in the White House.

Given the growing body of evidence, it appears increasingly clear that's exactly what happened.

The report indicates that Diebold and Triad electronic voting machines were probably exploited to steal as many as four states (Ohio, Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico) for the Bush/Cheney campaign.  The article particularly notes that the Ohio election was conducted under the auspices of the Ohio Secretary of State who was at the same time working as co-chair of the Bush/Cheney campaign.  The conflict of interest here is clear, obvious, and inexcusable.

Yahoo news article HERE

Direct link to GAO report HERE (PDF document)

Comments

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

If Nevada was stolen, it was with the complicity of election officials, and they took a big risk: the NV Secretary of State required ALL electronic voting machines (which were used statewide) to provide a written audit trail, which was presented to the voter before the vote was committed. I even documented my experience (http://www.livejournal.com/users/sierra_nevada/42272.html).

Clark County (Las Vegas) almost went for Kerry, and there was a significant minority for Kerry in Washoe County (Reno/Sparks, and where I live), but solidly Republican, pretty much as expected. No one called for a recount in NV, but the paper audit trails should still be available if you want to double check our five electoral college votes ...

[koyote.livejournal.com]

big guns, we need big fscking guns.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

No, we need brains. BFG's aren't going to do it. Remember that Bush is CinC until removed. We need to figure out how to do that removal with a minimum of fuss. *Small* guns may be necessary. BFG's is asking for a massacre.

[koyote.livejournal.com]

to some extent I agree, but people have been saying that for an awful long time. I mean, sure, due process and the holiness of the legal system and all that, great when it works, but I've got the feelign that these people aren't going to ever lose in a court of law. They may throw bushie to the wolves in the end, and but the panc and right wing nutjob crowd aren't going away, nor giving up much- if any- power.

We'll see how it develops. Maybe God will give some useful instructions this time around, heh.

[bratling.livejournal.com]

the problem, i think, is that there *is* no smoking gun here. it's so plausibly deniable it hurts. it may be possible to fan this into a scandal, but it would be nearly impossible to impeach successfully over it.

btw, you don't have to bring the president up on treason charges. all you have to do is bring felony charges.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

What's going to be the consequences if they manage to prove in open court that the election was stolen? Do they declare John Kerry president? How would the transition go? What would be the charge against Bush? Is this an attack on the soverignety of the US, and if so, is this treason? (I don't think so.)

This is gonna get ugly. It'll work out eventually, but it's gonna get ugly before it works itself out.

[jmkelly.livejournal.com]

If it's not treason, it's close enough. If the people who stole the election had staged a military coup instead, the result would have been the same -- the sock-puppet and his military-industrial-complex masters in power -- only the means would have been different. And people who stage coups are usually accused of treason, if anyone's left to accuse them.

BFGs won't do it (you saw what happened to David Koresh). BFCs (big fucking crowds) in the street might do it.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

But it's not close enough. Treason was deliberately defined by the framers as doing actual physical violence against the state. This is so that anyone who stands up and says that the emperor has no clothes doesn't end up dancing Danny Deever at the end of a federal gibbet.

What he *has* done, should this be proven, is violating Article 4, Section 4, that guarantees each state a republican form of government. This is sufficient for impeachment and removal. Only. Or, if his only direct crime is covering this up, then breach of public trust, which, while not as good an indictment, is still sufficient to do the job. That's what they busted both Dick and Bubba for.

Of course, I believe Bush has long since been guilty of breach of public trust over the whole Iraq/WMD thing; it's just that the GOP won't take him out for that, and the DNC won't launch an impeachment drive unless they think they're going to win. (Wusses.)

*sigh* If we just had a no-confidence mechanism, this all would have been over quite some time ago. It's time for some basic changes. The US system of government was based on a large country with slow transportation; that's why we have time-definite terms of office. Now that we have instant communication and can traverse the entirety of the nation including our farthest state in ten hours, there is no reason we can't have six-week insty-elections when the gooberment screws the pooch.

Other than the fact that it's going to ruin some careers in the fields of political advisement and advertising.

Tough cookies.

As for BFC's, that'll just prompt cries of rebellion. Which *is* treason.

This is why we have to *think*.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

An angry crowd in the street is not rebellion, as long as they're shouting and demanding thqt the bums be fired, not torching the White House.

I quote: "...or the right of the People to peaceably assemble, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

You know that and I know that, but do you honestly think for a minute that BushCo wouldn't ignore the hell out of it? Look at the protestor cages in Campaign 2004.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

There is indeed that, too. They're doing their best to sweep the constitution under the rug as an inconvenient, outmoded relic.