The GOP strategy unmasked
Gray Davis gave a brilliant speech last night. Think what you will, he has given the Democrats and all opposed to Bush a powerful rhetorical weapon - an unmasking of the new strategy of the GOP:
This pattern of subverting the Democraic process will continue in 2004 - already there are reports that the electronic voting machines being installed in various states are deeply flawed, but whose manufacturers also (coincidentally?) are partly owned by major GOP contributors.
This is one of the most effective themes that any presidential candidate can make use of. There has been a full-scale assault on the Democratic process and Liberty by the GOP, culminating in the excesses of this administration. The erosion of our civil liberties, the Orwellian Homeland Security and color-coded warnings, the implacable hostility to government transparency and oversight, and the utter contempt for any law, at any level, that restricts the political convenience of the ruling party all play into the same theme.
And Dean is the sole candidate, standing outside the establishment and pushing hard on the idea that the grassroots matter, who can leverage this message. We have to urge the campaign to seize this opportunity, and push hard.
This recall is bigger than California. What's happening here is part of an ongoing national effort to steal elections Republicans cannot win.
It started with the impeachment of President Clinton, when the Republicans could not beat him in 1996. It continued in Florida, where they stopped the vote count, depriving thousands of Americans of the right to vote.
This year, they're trying to steal additional congressional seats in Colorado and Texas, overturning legal redistricting plans. Here in California, the Republicans lost the governor's race last November. Now they're trying to use this recall to seize control of California just before the next presidential election.
This pattern of subverting the Democraic process will continue in 2004 - already there are reports that the electronic voting machines being installed in various states are deeply flawed, but whose manufacturers also (coincidentally?) are partly owned by major GOP contributors.
This is one of the most effective themes that any presidential candidate can make use of. There has been a full-scale assault on the Democratic process and Liberty by the GOP, culminating in the excesses of this administration. The erosion of our civil liberties, the Orwellian Homeland Security and color-coded warnings, the implacable hostility to government transparency and oversight, and the utter contempt for any law, at any level, that restricts the political convenience of the ruling party all play into the same theme.
And Dean is the sole candidate, standing outside the establishment and pushing hard on the idea that the grassroots matter, who can leverage this message. We have to urge the campaign to seize this opportunity, and push hard.
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