As previously written, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the Republicans have ample opportunities to steal the 2012 presidential election.
The groundwork for such a scenario is in place. A privatized, hackable, corrupted electronic American election system controlled by Republicans. Rampant voter suppression and intimidation campaigns by Republican operatives. A corporate media that continues to be biased towards Romney/Ryan. A political climate tilted towards corporate power and the escalation of war (Republicans offer the faster, more brutal agenda).
There are widespread reports of early voting chaos, interminably long lines, disputed polling, mysterious electronic vote flipping, voter list caging, polling place intimidation, and disruptions of the entire process in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
Just as no single factor contributed to the installation of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to power in 2000, Romney/Ryan and the neocons have the means, motive, opportunity, and an apparatus in place to install themselves in the White House today.
Yet there are those who insist that the neocons cannot possibly steal this election. That already rampant malfeasance is not happening.
It is not surprising to find those who wish to silence election integrity advocates and whistleblowers out in full force, nitpicking on minutiae, distracting focus from the central questions. Clearly, the whistleblowers, among them Brad Friedman, have hit a nerve. Among Friedman’s warnings:
• Based on exhaustive evidence, including Ohio’s EVEREST study and California’s Top to Bottom Review, systems that are used throughout the country can be easily hacked via hardware and/or firmware.
• Paper ballots are no guarantee. Recounts can be gamed.
• There is no evidence that the Romney camp’s investment in voting machine company Hart Intercivic is “hands-off”, as Romney’s defenders insist.
[1. Denials about the importance of the Romney/Hart connection are primarily based on official denials and statements from the companies themselves. These denials also assume that laws are being followed. The Romney camp will not address this connection (which is at the very least a clear and unethical conflict of interest) any more directly, because it would lead to further disclosure of far more skeletons lurking in the much larger Romney financial closet, including a myriad of offshore entities. The Bush family’s Carlyle Group—also allegedly “hands off”— has never gotten fully exposed either. 2. Factual evidence of national vote-rigging is overwhelming, dwarfing Hart/Romney, a single controversy. The professional “debunkers” are attempting to distract focus from the larger case. -LC]
There are no more election safeguards in place today than in 2000 or 2004. There are, furthermore, no appropriate judicial safeguards or processes. Legal processes in the wake of any election challenges (from the local to the national level) are at the mercy of partisan politicians—primarily Republicans—and ultimately, a right-wing Supreme Court.
The bottom line: the system that ultimately counts the votes is in Republican control. The Supreme Court, which will decide any final election challenge, is dominated by the right-wing.
Nightmare scenario
Is it possible for Romney/Ryan and the Republicans to steal the 2012 election? The answer remains yes—emphatically, as previously written.
Is it possible for Republican operatives and Romney/Ryan functionaries to manipulate the vote, obscure their activities, and plausibly deny all of it? Yes. It is underway. They have planned for this moment for a long time.
Is there a deep political infrastructure in place to enable a Romney/Ryan criminal ascendency, and provide full support and reliable political cover in both the short and long term? Is there overriding elite support for Romney/Ryan? Emphatically, yes.
The stolen elections of 2000 and 2004 were not the product of conspiracy “theory”, but conspiracy fact. And there can be no denying the conspiracy fact that the 2012 vote is already compromised, given the widespread irregularities that are already taking place throughout the country.
Will history repeat itself?
In 2000, seasoned observers watched with horror as George W. Bush ominously rose to power. The Bush family’s long criminal history was sanitized and ignored. Bush could do no wrong, while Al Gore and the Democrats, playing by old-fashioned rules, seemed unable to do anything right—despite winning debates, and despite what appeared to be clear advantages on the ground, and regardless of campaign missteps by Bush and Cheney that should have sunk them. A close, stealable “contest” was manufactured. Dirty election tricks of every sort made sure of it.
Those who knew the threat posed by the Bush family sounded the alarms, which went unheeded.
Today, with world power at stake, an identical scenario has been set up for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. The atmosphere today is, as it was then, ominous and palpable.
As the state of Florida mysteriously flipped from Gore to Bush on election night 2000, the Bush family chuckled and gloated. They knew. The smug looks on the faces of George H.W., George W., and Jeb cannot be forgotten.
Have Romney and Ryan begun gloating?
