THE BATTLE HAS JUST BEGUN ON PEOPLE!!

[tbuddha]

YEE HAA!

Now that the recount is a reality that has bubbled into the mainstream, we are right where we need to be...right where it was planned.

We start the fight with a HUGE lead. Okay, you're thinking, "Wuh?! They have so many weapons at their disposal."

Yes, they do. But we have protest marches planned. We have mountains of evidence ready that WE have compiled (be proud). We have studies from prominent Universities. Statistical analysis. Smoking guns (ala Bev Harris in Volusia). We are organized like never before. Like someone else posted, "Now is the time to be the steamroller, not the asphalt".

Let's start working on TALKING POINTS. We will agree to a talking point each day, and hammer the media with it. Check out some repug sites now and then, they have nowhere near our organization when it comes to media blasts. Don't forget to spread this strategy to other blogs as not all DEM activists are on DU (but should be).

Yes, the repugs have a lot of pull with the MSM, but the media is a bigger bitch to ratings and the almighty $$ than they are to anyone else, so if we hammer them enough with our talking point, it will get heard. IMPORTANT: Especially hit OUR talking heads with out talking points. Soon they will be on TV in the point/counterpoint format and we will have them prearmed with our soundbites. WE HAVE THE TRUTH ON THIS, and people like Flavia Colgan, Lawrence O'Donnel, Willie Brown, etc will all do better on the tube when they have strong consistent talking points that we feed them.

Last but not least. GET ACTIVE!!! Donate, and march, and be the media.

Hammer these fuckers till we win.

[ClassWarrior]

1. And go to Ohio if you can!!

NGU.

[Eloriel]

19. Yes -- they need volunteer observers, etc.

And there are many other things people can do -- look under Activism in these threads:

VOTE FRAUD LINKS - A DU Compendium - Thread #3
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=201x4927

VOTE FRAUD Links Compendium - Thread #2
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=201x3223

VOTE FRAUD Links - a DU Compendium
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=201&topic_id=1984#



And DONATE (if you can) to the 527 DUer hedda_foil set up to help fund the recounts and take care of other important work:

www.helpamericarecount.org


Also see some updated news from hedda I just posted over in GD:

From hedda_foil re Recounts and "friendly journalists," etc.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2745447

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. WE also have the mightly dollar

folks please remember, one action you can take now and every day is.... boycott the economy, get out of debt, don't play with christmas consumption, don't go to Warlmart\Starbucks... you know the drill

Oh and for those who want to buy American, here is a book full of lists.

How Americans can Buy American: The Power Of Consumer Patriotism, by Roger Simmermaker

(Rivercross: Orlando, 2003) Second edition...

[SaveAmerica]

9. Park the car...

I'm going to make it a personal challenge to leave the guzzler parked and plan ahead to get all errands done one day a week in the smaller car. I don't want to have anything to do with the Oil for Fools program anymore.

[missouri dem]

3. letter to the editor from a friend in Ohio.

I sent this brief letter-to-the-editor to the Cincinnati Enquirer
today:

> Best of luck to the Iraqi people in their upcoming election. Let's
> hope they have a fair and honest vote count-- free of long lines,
> voter intimidation, lost registrations, and suspiciously
> malfunctioning voting machines.
>
>
> And when it's all done, maybe they can come to Ohio and teach us how
> to hold an honest and accurate election too.
>

[Dr.Phool]

4. That's great

Do you mind if I steal the idea (not the exact words) and send them to the Tampa Tribune and St. Pete Times?

[tbuddha]

5. hell..cut and paste for all I care

[missouri dem]

6. Please do.

[understandinglife]

7. Excellent and maybe they can bring some Ukranian Liberals...

....along with them to serve as advisers on 'how to get a spine', and 'how to assault the neocon steamroller instead of getting paved by it,' and.....

Here's a talking point for all the bloody media -- 'Now tell me, do you know if and how your vote was counted' -- watch'um stumble all over that one, especially when your comeback is 'Prove it dude.'

Go.Go.Go.Get.The.Votes.Counted -- legit.

Peace.

[JD Lau]

10. Excellent letter. Thanks for posting this. eom

[MarkusQ]

8. Talking points

My suggestions (in no particular order):

• This isn't about partisan politics. We may as a nation be 50% red and 50% blue, but almost every single person in America thinks fair, open, and honest elections are vital to the health of our nation. Many of them have been willing to die to defend them. This isn't about trying to overturn the results of a particular election, this is about defending the very process of elections. The third party candidates didn't get into this because they hoped to pull victory out of thin air. The many concerned Republicans aren't involved because they hope to pull defeat out of thin air either. They got involved because the process of Democracy is more important than winning or losing.
  
• The only reasons any American could rationally object to doing whatever it takes to make sure the election was fair and honest is either they themselves cheated or they suspect that "their side" cheated and winning means more to them then integrity.
  Sub points:
  
  
  
  • If they raise the issue of the cost, ask them: how much is democracy worth to America? Are you saying that it's worth billions to take democracy to Iraq, but not worth a tiny fraction of that to defend it at home?
    
  • If they raise the issue of scandal, dirty laundry, etc., say that that is exactly why it's important to have a full, transparent and open examination of the issue. If we want other countries to believe in what we are doing, we not only have to talk the talk, we have to walk the walk.
    
  • If they say something about national unity, say "exactly"--if we don't address this fully, openly, we will never have national unity. The easiest way to convince someone you are being honest is to lay your cards on the table. The easiest way to convince them you are lying is to stonewall.
    
  
  
• Arm yourself with analogies. Be as conversant as possible with at least the following:
  
  
  
  • Watergate. Read up on it if you didn't live through it. Or even if you did.
    
  • Pravda and Samizdat (see http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040524011702501 for example)
    
  • The election in the Ukraine (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/11/22/ukrainenew/index.html)
    
  
  
• "Conspiracy Theory" is a straw man. It is a label thrown around by people unwilling to address the real issue. Does it matter if an election was tainted by human error, or faulty machines, foreign hackers or partisan officials? No. What matters is whether or not it was tainted at all. If there is any reasonable doubt, the issue should be examined.
  
• Don't fixate too much on any one aspect. Yes, some of the voting machine companies are run by convicted felons. Yes, there were gross disparities in the resources allocated to various precincts. Yes, there was an apparent case of someone impersonating an FBI agent to exclude the public from the election process. Yes, elected officals responsible for overseeing the elections sometimes held important position in the campaigns of one candidate or another. And yes, some people were denied the right to vote, or to have their vote counted. But it isn't about addressing any one of these issues--it's about addressing all of them.
  
• Because Democracy is that important.
  

-- MarkusQ

[tbuddha]

11. these are great...

I will cut and paste these right away! though I want to add that when "conspiracy theory" comes up, I like the "Prove it" attitude. Prove it's a conspiracy. Prove that my vote counted. Prove that I have no reason to be suspicious about a private partisan company counting my vote. Prove that there were enough machines in heavily DEM counties. PROVE IT, PROVE IT, PROVE IT.

Our talking point in a nutshell: PROVE IT!

[MarkusQ]

12. Yes!

Yes!

Not "prove it" as a taunt, but "prove it" as a simple and reasonable request. I am willing to accept the results of this election, but not solely on the say-so of people (partisan officials operating by closed doors, allocating resources in a biased fashion, using hackable machines that they themselves do not understand, machines that were manufactured by people previously convicted of felonies including fraud and election rigging...) who no reasonable person would trust.

I'm not saying I won't accept the result of any given race, provided only that you can demonstrate that the results are valid. But I will not accept the unsupported statement of people whose integrity, transparency or credulity is so questionable as to impeach their credibility.

--MarkusQ

[Kellis]

14. Excellent post

:kick:

[understandinglife]

16. Excellent; most Excellent -- thank you(n/t)

[BlueDog2u]

17. it isn't about addressing any one of these issues--it's about addressing

all of them.

Well put.

[MarkusQ]

18. One more...

I am finding an analogy with embezzling useful, especially in talking with my fellow Republicans. If they say "this is a trick; no matter what they say, it's about trying to overturn the election--why else would anyone waste time on it?" (or words to that effect) I ask them:

If you were in mid to upper management of a large corporation, and you suspected that someone who worked for you in a position of trust was potentially embezzling, would you let it slide just because the amounts involved weren't large enough to effect the most recent quarterly report?

Would you wait until it had effects visible to the shareholders before you even looked into it?

Or would you jump on it hard--checking facts first, of course--the moment you got a whiff of it?

You can guess what the universal answer has been. At that point I go back to talking about the importance of transparency, paper trails, etc. and why we need to look at this election, now, and nail any and every person who even tried to rig it, rather than waiting until we've got a Ukraine on our hands.

--MarkusQ

[goclark]

13. Who can start a Talking Points Thread?

We really do need it.

We even need talking pts. for our own people.

None of my friends ,that just listen the TV are aware of the fraud issue until I tell them.

We need one line talking points of things we absolutely know.

Ex: Votes Surpressed!
now two lines that really stick!

[Stand and Fight]

15. Kick

:kick:

[Dr Fate]

20. Talking Point: "What are the Republican leaders hiding?"

Also works for when they trot out their "glitches" that favor Kerry:

"Right- so why are all the Republicans against an investigation? Are they hiding somthing? If some of the "irregularities" favor Kerry- then they have every reason to want to get to the bottom of this-right? UNLESS they are hiding somthing..."