... since DCBlogger rebuked me for a "torches and pitchforks" remark, citing Corazon Acquino in the Phillipines.

So, non-violence. My thought is to go to the local Federal building with, say, 100 people and link arms around the doors -- making sure to bring cellphone cameras. Because if they steal it this time, we obviously have no government, so why pretend any more?

I'm with you that it won't happen -- though I'd dearly love to know if the Obama campaign has contingency plans (given Gore and Kerry's experiences).

It won't happen (a) because the press has already declared Obama the winner, and (b) the finance guys want him -- and more to the point, need him. So while I'm sure all the usual people are in place, I doubt very much the call to set it all in motion will go out. Not to say that some lunatic Christianist wouldn't get over-zealous in a jurisdiction. Anyhow, as VL pointed out, most of the voter suppression has already taken place.

And of COURSE people should vote. If you can't stand the top of the ticket or can't write in, vote for the downticket races.

[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

surround the area where they are counting the ballots with a crowd of peaceful demonstrators. That is what happened in the Philappines, and it worked.

The question has always surprised me, that is, that it's even asked. Perhaps, I'm not political enough, but it would never occur to go out and break stuff. Of course, I could get behind peaceful protest, but I can't consider violence, and I haven't heard any of the 'rumblings' everyone else is supposed to be hearing. I can't tell you how many people I know who were simply happy enough that he was given the nomination. Perhaps, I need to find me a more militant crowd to hang out with. lol!

As for what I think the Obama campaign would do if things were too close to call, given that there is no incumbent, I think he'd go all out in challenging it, and he'd have the money to do so. This wouldn't be a reply of 2004, or even 2000. I really think he has a real chance of buying the election through the courts if it was too close.

Change--happening already!

Because on November 5th I will be too hung over to mobilize.

Obama and his crowd are not like shell-shocked Al Gore and the ever-bewildering Donna Brazile. They are ruthless and thorough and relentless and cold and calculating and committed. Hillary Clinton would be the same; they both would do what it takes to win.

If, indeed, it appears the process has been corrupted and made fraudulent then what needs doing is what should have happened in 2000. Shut the country down. Nothing short of a general strike will prevail.

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;

I'll be celebrating Guy Fawkes day.

That reminds me - I need to add a movie to my Netflix queue.

Or does he have to take his name off the ballot in order for that to work?

But seriously folks, we've got a guy who got the nomination by -- among other things -- vote fraud and making false accusations of same.

Nonetheless, I'd kinda like our votes to mean something (not that my write-in in MA will), so I'll join in protesting, but I'll leave my pitchfork at home.

Knitting...I like knitting.

To quote Martha Stewart, "It's a good thing."

In fact, knitters rock.

The Democrats are the new Republicans. If anyone would be/is doing the stealing, it's the Illinois Combine. After the caucus massacres and the DNC ambush, who could think otherwise? McCain has shown himself to be a not so ruthless adversary. Truth be told, the Republicans really don't seem to want it anymore; at least not while it's still broken and broke.

And to answer the reframed question, if Obama stole it hardly anyone would protest; probably not even McCain. And certainly not the media, who have averted their gaze every other opportunity they've had to do so.

missed the point of this entire election. The same people who gave us Reagan, and Bush I and II and opposed Bill Clinton, have given us Obama. The right has pulled their punches because, for whatever reason, they endorse him. I mean, Colin Powell, the guy who endorsed Dole over Clinton, endorsed Bush over Gore (and he knew both of them personally so it is inexcusable) and claimed on the campaign trail that Clinton had decimated our military might, and even after the fiasco of the Iraq war endorsed Bush over Kerry, has endorsed Obama. You think that's because he's seen the light? Got any reason to think that? Powell endorsed Obama because Obama - the Democratic candidate - is, pathetically, more corrupt than the Republican candidate. That's a sad, fuckin' state of affairs.

Obama is a Republican candidate - that is as clear as a bell. The 527s which destroyed Kerry's pristine military record have looked the other way at Rezko. The GOP have barely mentioned Reverend Wright - yet they go on about Ayres, a guy who has made through the system and come out the other end to be a professor at a respected university. Ooooh, booga, booga! A professor! Meantime, Rezko has been convicted of bribery (among many other things), after having inexplicably spent $675k of his own money to purchase a strip of land that allowed obama to buy a $2.3 million house for $1.3m - you think that wouldn't look like bribery to the vast majority of Americans if the GOP elected to acquaint them with the details of this fairly stinky case? Can you think of any reason for the sellers to demand that both properties close on the same day other than to make sure that no one besides Rezko bought the lot? The same party which gave us endless discussion about Willie Horton (that furlough program was created and signed into law by a Republican governor) has nothing to say about Rezko. Why do you think that is? Obama is in personal debt to an Iraqi national convicted of bribing state officials, and the right has said nothing.

After the debates, the Republicans pundits - the one who are on the panel to spin on behalf of Republicans - were all giving the debate to Obama. You think that the GOP has suddenly decided that, gosh darn, those Dems are just better at handling the economy?

No, they've done a deal with Obama like they offered Bill Clinton in 1992 - only Obama, unlike Clinton, took them up on it. Limbaugh makes a lot more money during Dem presidencies than during Republican ones. They plan on letting Dems take the heat for the fiscal crisis and put a dull finish on both Roosevelt and Clinton's economic and social welfare triumphs. They'll take potshots for the next four years and eat Obama alive 2012. Meantime, we'll be saddled with that cockroach, the Democratic brand on economic issues will be tarnished and no one will be able to run against him without splitting the party a second time. I used to say Rove wasn't a genius, merely a thug. I was wrong. He has commandeered the Democratic primary process, unleashed misogyny in our ranks, and utterly destroyed the unity of the party most inclined to represent the working class. We now have two Republican parties, and two Republican candidates to chose between.

The "taking away" already happened, and it happened at the hands of the Democratic party. The real Dem candidate had the nomination stolen from her grasp and handed to GOP ringer. If McCain somehow or the other wins the election, the media and the powers that be, will take the win away from him. The media is the dominant political force of our time, and neither party has any power to reign it in. Obama is all the proof of that.

Clinton is right. We must bloom where we are planted because the parties are now utterly irrelevant for social progress.

I think it was framed this way, because it's going to take more than one primary or general election for the Dems to even catch up to the GOP in the stealing elections department.

Please, though, do not think for a minute that because McCain is the nominee that that means that the RNC is his. Unlike the Democratic side, the RNC is not of or from McCain. It's still pretty heavily Bush controlled, and they have not given up as witnessed by the more than questionable actions of quite a few GOP secretaries of states around the country.

i'm going to get in on the recount somehow [there will be one this time]. i like dcb's idea. otherwise [adjusts tinfoil hat and body armor] i've already made arrangements for a cat-sitter and i've got a place to stay in dc... you want we should swing by and pick you up on our way there?

before the big crash, i'd have said you were right, wall street wouldn't let that happen. now, i'm less sure about that.

i'd do the same for hillary, or any of the other candidates of my choice, had any of them got the nomination. confession: should it come out later that the democrats stole the election from the republicans, i wouldn't lift a finger to help them, much as i have come to dislike the democratic party this time around.

...I mean, you're asking me to be upset because it turns out there is no honor among thieves?

I've decided to not even bother going to the polls (no competitive state/local races here in philly, and I can't vote for either Obama or McCain, so what's the point?)

Democracy is dead in this election already... and I don't much care if the two parties tear apart the corpse limb from limb.

So you won't vote.

Amazing.

CD, I link to a damn good post on this topic here: http://theunapologeticmexican.org/elmach...
___________________________
.delusions of un mundo mejor.

But perhaps you knew that, just like you knew my opinion that this $election was stolen before the first primary.

Nonetheless, I will vote a solid DINOcrat ticket.

So the Rethuglicans have fractured into the CorpCon-DINOcrat coalition (this would have been inevitable will Hillary on Top, too) vs the NeoCon TheoCon alliance.

There will be violence if the CorpCon-DINOcrat coalition wins. They are unable to embrace the economic reforms that might save the Republic. However, if they do win, it is obvious they have their scapegoat at the top of their ticket already. Look for a rapid dissolution of this coalition under the stress predicted by both Biden and Powell- who might head the Fourth Branch as a consequence.

There will be violence if the NeoCon-TheoCon alliance wins. The NeoCons love their War Machine, but you have to have Crusaders to actually do the fighting and killing and dying. The Crusaders of the Dominion intend to invite the NeoCon leader onward shortly after he's sworn in. Todd Palin would doubtless be a candidate to be installed as Vice-Preznit in charge of the Fourth Branch of government. Look for him to be true to the roots of the Reich.

There will be violence. The perpetrators and the instigators, the profiteers of this violence, doubtless have their agents monitoring us, therefore this is an unwise place to speak of real plans or attempt any real organization. It does work well for education, however.

Play your cards close to your chest, cd, and try to be proactive rather than reactive. And for heaven's sake, remember non-lethal crowd control weapons are just as deadly as the more traditional ones. Do not confront the ones who use them.

Rather use the weapon free people have spent untold generations evolving. Use your mind to beat the Man.

No Hell below us
Above us, only sky