No vote left behind

[alexisfree]

........ How many Americans were shocked--yes shocked!--by a revelation that the Bush administration secretly had paid a media commentator a quarter of a million dollars to hype its No Child Left Behind Act? What’s incredible about that is not the realization that a media pundit would willfully ignore facts in order to line up behind the administration’s fanciful take on reality--hell, that’s been going on since the 2000 election. No, what’s surprising is that someone actually had to be bribed to do so at a time when so many others in the media find it very much in their own interest to provide this service for no extra charge.....
Witness the media whitewash of the 2004 election scandal. Determined to convince the American people that no vote was left behind, our journalistic community has shown an uncanny ability to stay on message. Maybe that’s why the president’s new puppy got infinitely more publicity than the report released last week by the House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff, called “Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio.” This 102-page government report makes a convincing case not only for J. Kenneth Blackwell being the Katherine Harris of a new generation, but also for Ohio being an epicenter of national disgrace on a level not seen since its Kent State heyday.

The report cites “massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio” that “raise grave doubts” about whether Ohio electors were “chosen in a manner that conforms to Ohio law, let alone federal requirements and constitutional standards.” In many cases, it concludes, “these were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio.”.......

more at:
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2005-01-13/essay.asp