Lest We Forget.

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McCamy Taylor — ’7 Election Warning Signs’

VI. Busloads of Republican “Protesters” Arrive In Any Battleground State To Start Riots Before or After the Vote

Remember the Brooks Brother Riots? The Congressional Aids and Lobbyists who crossed state lines in violation of organized crime statutes in order to threaten those conducting a lawful vote recount in Florida?

http://www.democrats.com/joel-kaplan

The Brooks Brothers Riot – carried live on CNN and other networks – marked a turning point in the recount battle. At the time, Bush clung to a lead that had dwindled to several hundred votes and Gore was pressing for recounts. The riot in Miami and the prospects of spreading violence were among the arguments later cited by defenders of the 5-to-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Dec. 12, 2000, that stopped a statewide Florida recount and handed Bush the presidency.

Backed by the $13.8 million war chest, the Bush operation made clear in Miami and in other protests that it was ready to kick up plenty of political dust if it didn’t get its way.

A later unofficial recount by news organizations found that if all legally cast ballots in Florida had been counted – regardless of which kinds of chads were accepted, whether punched-through, hanging or dimpled – Gore would have won Florida and thus the presidency. Gore also won the national popular vote, defeating Bush by more than a half million votes, making Bush the first popular-vote loser in more than a century to be installed in the White House.

Karl Rove likes to repeat himself. If this election is close, he will look into his old bag of tricks and pull out whatever worked before. So, if you see a “spontaneous eruption of conservative anger”—-it isn’t spontaneous.

H2OMan

“How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever.
“How long? Not long, because you still reap what you sow.
“How long? Not long, because the arm of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

MLK

TPM: Race now hinges on Obama’s childhood habits.

Because Republican will believe anything. Anything at all.

Plus — they’ll repeat it, over and over, expanding it each time, until finally, they’re screaming it in the face of some little old lady wandering by the rally.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the GOP look and act more pathetic than this. And the people this works on are a national embarassment.

Kos

This is as powerful as it gets.

When I was seventeen, I worked in a nursing home. One of the guys I had to shave, shower and replace the catheter on every day was a 6’7″ ninety-year-old black sharecropper with hands like twisted tree roots. He was calm, and wise, and he’d seen everything. We liked each other a lot — Charles in this video brought back striking memories of him.

The old sharecropper was the opposite of a racist — he would have been more concerned with Obama’s character than the color of his skin. I know this.

From Cat Eyes.

I mean a map like this.

…if you’re a Republican, that is!

Obama’s ‘Redistribution’ Constitution

The balance will shift as well on almost all of the 12 other federal appeals courts. Nine of the 13 will probably swing to the left if Mr. Obama is elected (not counting the Ninth Circuit, which the left solidly controls today). Circuit majorities are likely at stake in this presidential election for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal. That includes the federal appeals courts for New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and virtually every other major center of finance in the country.

On the Supreme Court, six of the current nine justices will be 70 years old or older on January 20, 2009. There is a widespread expectation that the next president could make four appointments in just his first term, with maybe two more in a second term. Here too we are poised for heavy change.

Makes me want to weep… with joy.

Kos

This is hilarious.

Young Eagles

The next generation of the Republican Party. The Young Eagles provide the GOP with the financial resources to compete in national, state, and local elections, while affording members the opportunity to interact and network with Republican Party officials, pundits, enthusiasts, and donors as well as business leaders and innovators throughout the country.

The “Young Eagles” is open to anyone under the age of 45, which I suppose is “young” for John McCain’s party. But beyond that cheap joke, note how (PDF) the GOP builds “the next generation of the Republican Party”:

• A full year’s membership in the Young Eagles requires a $7,500 personal contribution per year. All benefits included.

• A half year’s membership in the Young Eagles requires a $3,750 person contribution per year. All benefits included. **Meeting fee may apply**

• On occasion, prospective members will have the opportunity to attend events based on a $1,500 meeting fee. This fee may be applied towards a full membership.

Can’t afford it? Don’t worry! Fleece your friends of $30,000 and you get the membership comp’d! Man, the differences are stark. While Democrats are busy building the next generation of Democrats, one small contribution at a time, Republicans are trying to squeeze “young” Republicans to the tune of $7,500. And if you can’t afford that? Worry not! $1,500 will get you into individual events. Which is the party of elitists again?

And what does that buy you, besides feeding a dying husk of a formerly national party? Access. Ponying up the kind of money no “young” person really has (beyond the trust fund set) gets you to attend meetings with power players (“elected officials and policy experts”). How 1984. Is it any wonder why the world is passing the GOP by?

Obama has captured the imagination of today’s youth by giving them a message to believe in, and a way to feel ownership of the movement — small dollar contributions and hands-on activism. We don’t contribute our hard-earned small dollars for access, we do so because we believe in our party and (some of) its leaders. That’s clearly inadequate for Republicans, whose bench is now apparently Sarah Palin and whose message is discredited and discarded, forcing it to fall back to tired Cold War canards (“Socialism!”).

SO they figure, if we can’t inspire with our message and our leaders, we’ll rope the “youth” in by giving them access to our power networks. For $7,500.

And somehow, they wonder why they’re getting their asses kicked.

If you pay enough money, someday you might graduate to the GOP’s highest group: The Old Turkey Vultures.

Rumors about the GOP being totally controlled by the Eldest Of Vampires are, the GOP have said, categorically false.