(8/13/03) The _resident had to have the 2000 election stolen for
him, by his brother and cronies in Fraudida and on the
Supreme Court. And what happened afterwards in
America? Well, two terms of Clinton-Gore had shaped a
powerful electoral college triangle: California, New
York and Florida, which when combined with the
Northwest, New England and even half of the
"battleground states" (e.g. Michigan, Illinois,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc.) beat out the "Southern
Strategy" concocted in the Nixon era and perfected in
the Bush cabal's "Expanded Confederacy strategy." So
what happened once the cabal seized the keys to the
kingdom? Well, what does a plastic surgeon do to
recontructive surgery? Break all the bones in the
face. Florida was morphed into Fraudida by James Baker,
Katherine Harris, brother Jeb and the Fraudida Five on
the Supreme Just Us, California was hit by a phoney
"energy crisis" that could have been thwarted by the
FERC and finally New York was brought to its knees by
the 9/11 terrorist attack which was precided by
numerous and disturbingly specific warnings from
allies. Another dimension to the _resident's grisly
declaration, "Lucky me, I hit the Trifecta!" Here is
an incredible piece on the ugly hidden agenda behind
what has happened to the fifth largest economy in the
world, and the most potent electoral college bulwark
against the advance of the "vast right-wing
conspiracy." Please read it and share it with others.
Robert Scheer is one of the bravest among the few
brave individuals remaining in the "US mainstream news
media." His column runs in the LA Times, one of better
major city newspapers in the US (by degrees(. The
other worthy of honorable mention is the Chicago
Tribune (by degrees). Yes, they have the same
ownership.
http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-scheer12aug12,0,1668965.column
COMMENTARY / ROBERT SCHEER
Make the Recall Count
Republicans are running it as a shell game to distract from their misdeeds -- don't play along
Robert Scheer
August 12, 2003
"Take him, he's yours."
That was my initial response to the California recall,
aimed at a conservative Democratic governor who often
has betrayed the state's large progressive base of
voters — the same folks who held their noses to elect
and then reelect him.
But now I don't buy it. However you feel about Gray
Davis, the fact is, this recall has become a shell
game, led and paid for by Republicans, that
conveniently distracts from the alarming failures and
frauds of the White House. That includes the Bush
administration's blind eye to the energy sting that
robbed the California government of a good chunk of
its past budget surplus.
The giddy media spectacle of porn stars and action
heroes seeking to lead the world's sixth-largest
economy should not divert us from the fact that the
key black marks on Davis' resume — the energy crisis
and the budget shortfall — were both messes created by
deregulating, tax-cutting Republicans. In dealing with
both, Davis has not pulled any rabbits out of his hat,
but he has been a competent leader who minimized the
damage. The red ink in California is a mere needle
prick compared with the hemorrhaging of trillions in
future debt thanks to President Bush's tax cuts for
the rich, the invasion of Iraq and other disasters.
In fact, despite the hysteria, California's current
problems are no more serious than that of many states,
including New York and Texas, both run by Republican
governors. The underlying problem for all states is a
national economy brought to its knees by the epic fall
of a panoply of corrupt companies, firms like Enron
that used the Republican mantra of deregulation as a
convenient cover for looting consumers, stockholders
and employees. It is true that California has paid a
particularly heavy price for the machinations of Enron
and other energy companies.
How dare Arnold Schwarzenegger or any Republican now
ignore the well-documented gaming of the California
energy market by Bush's Texas cronies, many of whom
landed high posts in his administration? Was Davis
responsible for manufacturing spikes in energy prices
that nearly bankrupted the state? Of course not — but
he took the political hit when the lights went out.
It's a safe bet that Schwarzenegger and the other
Republicans running will offer not a word of criticism
of Vice President Dick Cheney's infamous meetings with
top energy executives that excluded consumer
representatives. The minutes of those meetings are
still secret, yet we know that the policy that emerged
benefited the con artists who caused California's
energy crisis in the first place.
Nor will the Republicans who bought this recall delve
into the role of the Bush-dominated Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission. That's the agency that failed
in its obligation to bring the energy pirates to heel
and force them to properly compensate California for
creating artificial shortages.
Davis failed in paying too much to get the lights back
on, but I dare any of the Republican candidates for
his job to step forward and tell us that they would
not have bailed out PG&E and Southern California
Edison. They will not because they have no real
solutions to the energy problems or any other problems
the state faces. Certainly they will not curtail the
heavy influences of the prison guards and other law
enforcement unions that are milking the state budget
and that form Davis' most reliable base of support.
Clearly Davis' fundraising is obscenely obsessive, but
it's minor compared with Bush's nonstop money machine.
Were the Republicans not hypocrites, they would
applaud Davis for implementing so much of their
pro-big-business and harsh law-and-order agenda. Like
other conservative Democrats, Davis wanted to appear
tough, but a party led by poll-watching chameleons
will always make for an easy target.
Ironically, Schwarzenegger is as "liberal" as Davis on
the hot-button issues of abortion, gun control and gay
rights. And can anyone suggest that Hollywood bon
vivant Schwarzenegger better typifies Christian values
than squeaky-clean Davis — a decorated officer in
Vietnam when his peers were demonstrating in the
streets, a guy who has never been known to indulge a
moment of decadent pleasure? Didn't the puritans of
the right squirm just a bit when their new candidate
told Jay Leno that the toughest decision in his life
prior to announcing his candidacy was whether or not
to have a bikini wax?
Suddenly the Republicans care not a whit about those
social values they have been prattling about, or
anything else but defeating a prominent Democrat. They
brook no opposition, even from a conservative
Democrat; their goal is a one-party system.
If you think politics is all a joke anyway, then vote
for whichever opportunist makes you laugh the most.
But if you think that meaningful representative
democracy requires the scrutiny of the serious primary
and election process that Davis has twice weathered,
then for a small "d" democrat, a "no" vote on the
recall is an obligation.
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