The REAL Reason The GOP Keeps Winning: LIES, FRAUD, VOTE-RIGGING & TREASON

[Segami]

Here’s the video in which Rachel Maddow explains how the GOP would have lost EVERYTHING — including the House — in 2012 if it weren’t for their devious REDMAP program.

Here’s the video with Thom Hartmann explaining how Republicans haven’t been able to win the Presidency without lies, fraud, vote-rigging, and treason since Dwight D. Eisenhower left office in 1961:

As the Democrats’ stunning midterm losses prompt much soul-searching and finger-pointing, we ignore the real reasons the GOP keeps winning: Lies, fraud, vote-rigging, and treason. How else do we explain why the majority of Americans support policies promoted by the Democratic party, but keep electing Republicans to our federal, state, and local governments? Sure, Democrats need to step up their game: Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012 prove we can win if we can get out the vote (and get folks their voter IDs!). But in order to win in 2016, we need to know what we’re up against:

LIES: The modern GOP’s true agenda is so destructive, cruel, and repellent, their politicians are forced to either cloak their true beliefs in a gauzy haze of old-timey “family values,” evoke and exploit subliminal fears of “those people,” or flat-out LIE. For example, GOP rising star and Senator-Elect Joni Ernst (R-IA) lied about supporting an anti-choice “personhood” amendment during a debate, while Senate Majority-Leader-To-Be Mitch McConnell (R-KY) denied wanting to privatize Social Security.

FRAUD: Despite all those GOP lawmakers’ squawking about voter fraud, a shocking report by Bill Bennett from Addicting Info reveals that Republicans are responsible for the majority of voter fraud incidents! For starters, supporters of TX Gov. Rick Perry and that doughy, thrice-divorced, “family values” hypocrite, Newt Gingrich, alone turned in a combined 14,000 false petition signatures on their behalf. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. And who can forget Florida’s purveyors of “hanging chad” back in 2000, who screwed America by sticking us with the absolute WORST president in U.S. history.

VOTE RIGGING: Back in 2013, Rachel Maddow walked us through the GOP’s sneaky REdistricting MAjority Project (REDMAP) plan for overriding our nation’s Democratic majority by gerrymandering safe seats for themselves at the local, state, and federal levels. Then, right-wing Supreme Court judges gutted the Voting Rights Act, so GOP lawmakers could pass bogus Voter ID laws to block low-income folks (mostly of color) from voting! Oh, and now Republicans are working on “reforming” the Electoral College so they can steal the White House in 2016.

TREASON: Oh, and let’s not forget about all the flat-out treason Republicans have committed. Radio host Thom Hartmann reminds us that not a single Republican since Dwight Eisenhower has won the White House through legitimate means! Seriously. In 1968, Richard Nixon narrowly edged out Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey by thwarting then-President Lyndon B. Johnson’s attempts to end the Vietnam War. Nixon actually sent envoys to South Vietnam and persuaded them to cancel an upcoming round of peace talks. Then VP Gerald Ford stepped in when Nixon resigned in disgrace. In 1980, Ronald Reagan engaged in similar treachery to unseat Jimmy Carter, by engineering the “October Surprise” — an arms for hostages deal that scuttled Carter’s ongoing negotiations with Iran for the American hostages’ release. Then George Bush Senior rode in on Reagan’s coat tails. And then, of course, there’s the “hanging chad” year in which the notoriously corrupt State of Florida — with help from the bought-and-paid-for, hard-right ideologues on the U.S. Supreme Court — handed our country over to George W. Bush.

Sure, we can blame a weak field of Democratic candidates and incumbents running sad “Republican Lite” campaigns which downplayed our greatest accomplishments, including Obamacare. Or we can chalk the Republicant’s hollow victory to the abysmally low voter turnout. Yahoo! News reports a scant 36.3 percent of registered voters cast ballots — the worst turnout in 72 years! But how does that explain why these stalwart midterm voters — whom the media claims skew conservative — voted along Democratic Party lines on ballot measures, but elected Republican candidates who oppose the goals supported by their voters?! Bill Haschke writes in the Statesman that those who turned up at polling places across the nation voted overwhelmingly in favor of Democratic goals, including: raising the minimum wage, paid sick leave, reclassifying non-violent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, background checks for gun owners, reversing GOP pension “reforms,” legalizing pot, and protecting women’s right to choose.





cont'


http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/11/14/real-reason-gop-keeps-winning-lies-fraud-vote-rigging-treason-video/

[Segami]

1. "...Campaign for America’s Future lists..

"....additional polls that show overwhelming support for Democratic policies, including: raising taxes on the wealthy; allowing workers to unionize, requiring corporations to pay their fair share in taxes; repealing the George W. Bush tax cuts; getting rid of tax credits for the “dirty energy” oil, gas, and coal industries; cutting back on military spending; using federal funds to hire teachers and emergency responders; improving the economy; and creating jobs by spending on infrastructure repairs and improvements (roads, bridges, airports, etc.)..."

[FarPoint]

2. The GOP is 10x worse than all the used car salesmen in the world.

The " Buy Here- Pay Here "car salesmen to be exact. Their constiuients, teabaggers, they have the " Bill Collectors" sense of reasoning lead by the Pied Piper s of right wing radio and faux noise news.

I bookmarked the OP...it really helps to organize the right wing tactics as this validate ones feelings.

[Katashi_itto]

3. Trust me, these will look like good times in light of whats ahead.

[Cosmocat]

4. This country had better tune the fuck in

cause there is going to be a REAL bottle neck on the back end if the let republicans destroy SS and medicare ...

[ladjf]

11. If SS were to be destroyed, literally millions of Senior citizens would dying from starvation,

exposure and general lack of care. I mean millions more than the normal mortality rates. The rich would swoop in and buy
their homes for pennies on the dollar, just as they did in the 1930's during the "Great Depression".

Governments all over the World would rightfully condemn the U.S. as one of the most brutal Governments in the World.

[Katashi_itto]

23. Guess what won't be covered by the media when (not if) that happens

[padfun]

34. Which is why

we need to keep the internet free.

[Cosmocat]

57. It is just beyond any comprehension

how Republicans CLEARLY have every intention of dismantling social security and remain a viable political party in this country.

I just don't get it.

[ladjf]

60. No one with any sense can fathom the apparent destructive

behavior of Republican politicians and voters. They seem to have so some of "pact of lunacy" that bonds them together.

[Cosmocat]

5. This sums it up, but one other thing

the willingness of the people of this country to allow this shit to happen ...

[Turbineguy]

6. Do not underestimate

the self-destructiveness of the American voter.

[ladjf]

12. Do not underestimate the ignorance and stupidity of the American voter. nt

[ladjf]

14. Ignorance and stupidity. It's an epidemic of mass psychiatric dysfunction. nt

[hue]

19. It's willful stupidity. Many of the 99% will not/cannot handle the reality of what the oligarchy is

doing. Our country is a fascist oligarchy and we the people are in denial.

[ladjf]

25. Your statements are , IMO, undoubtedly true. Part of the problem might

be that the right wing declared war on public education and have apparently won it. The public schools are in disarray.

[WhiteAndNerdy]

55. Is it really stupidity and ignorance?

I can see how it looks that way on the surface, but I think there's more to it than that. I think a lot of people have all they can handle just surviving these days, and I think a lot of damage has been done to people by our consumption- and entertainment-oriented culture. It's way too easy for people to dull their pain for the evening with TV, go to bed, and get up and do it all over again and pretty much avoid ever noticing the big picture. I don't think it's a matter of millions of individuals just being willfully ignorant or apathetic -- there are bigger social and cultural trends at work here.

[ladjf]

56. You make some good points about society's behavior.

But ignorance is the state of not knowing important facts that effect the quality of life. Ignorance in America is the result of several causes, including the relentless attack on public education by right wingers and the influence of religious dogma.

Several studies in the U.S. have indicated that the average I.Q. in America is declining. Reasons unknown.

[Enthusiast]

7. K&R! This post deserves hundreds of recommendations!

Well done, Segami.

[aspirant]

8. RedMap trickery

I understand the rebellion against right-wing dems, but the vote tallies don't seem to jive. All these progressive measures passing and all repubs winning seem miraculous.In dem states things seem normal but in red states too close to call turn into 15% blowouts. What happened to the 2-3 million voter purge plan by the Kansas SoS and machine undervoting? What was the turnout in Cal,Or,Wash,Mass,NY vs NC,GA,Kan,KY,LA and Wisc.? Spending our time getting real dem candidates and going after all these voter suppression and election frauds should be our main focus.

[ladjf]

15. You are probably correct. However, NOTHING will be done about it. Every National election

since 2000, has appeared to have been rigged. Lots of talk. No actions. Now, there's hardly any talk.

[7962]

9. "keeps winning"? Its one election. Give 'em the 2 years, they'll screw it up.

And lose in '16

[kairos12]

10. Demos who say demographics point to victory for Democrats in 2016 ignore

this history,and rethug tactics, at their peril.

[Cyrano]

13. So what are we going to do about it?

Last edited Sat Nov 15, 2014, 10:30 AM - Edit history (1)

Pour into the streets in mass protests? Assuming this were to happen, (which is unlikely), America's militarized police departments would put a quick and brutal end to it.

Revolution? It will never happen. During the Civil War, geography defined the two battling entities. That's not true today. What are you going to do? Attack your neighbor who watches only Fox "news"? Go after your brother-in-law who is a hopeless dittohead? An insurrection in Today's America is all but impossible. And all that aside, I don't believe the majority of people would be in favor of it.

Fix it through the political system? You can figure that one out for yourself when you stop laughing.

I believe that at some point in the future, a new renaissance will take place and we will emerge from this dark political age. Many of us may not be around to see it happen, but it will come. The cycles of history are inevitable.

[ladjf]

16. You are correct. No condition as out of balance as our current political system can endure.

When the "turnaround" happens, it will be nasty just as explosions usually are. It would have been much less damaging had the corrections been done by intelligent choices. But, instead, it will be terribly messy and painful ordeal. By the time it happens, many decades, or possible Centuries from now, the environment will have been degraded to a perilous condition. Those of the living will have significant challenges such finding air, water, food and shelter to meagerly survive.

This catastrophe will go down in History and the worst calamity of all times and present strong evidence that the human race was just too dumb to survive on a bountiful and beautiful Planet. Nature rightfully deals harshly with stupidity.

[CanSocDem]

17. It's as if...

...there is some fundamental invisible apparatus that guarantees each party taking a turn at minding the WH every 8 years. This apparatus props up the banks and industries regardless of who is in the WH by pretending to be 'the only game in town'.

Americans are conditioned to believe that wealth is the only path to salvation.


.

[mountain grammy]

18. K & R and thank you.

I know the Democrats aren't blameless for this loss, but the enormity of GOP deception with the aid of the Supreme Court has gotten us here today. Let's quit deluding ourselves that Democrats lost this. In Colorado, Udall should have won. Our media elected Gardner and nearly elected Boo Pray. Once the Denver Post proclaimed Udall as a one issue candidate, he was even though he wasn't. They let Gardner weasel his way though sponsorship of a personhood bill and didn't call him on anything else.

[Scuba]

20. When you can't win on policy, cheat. And lie ...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/28/scott-walker-runs-ad-on-e_n_6061158.html

Scott Walker Runs Ad Supporting Equal Pay After Repealing Wisconsin's Equal Pay Law

[hue]

21. K & R for exposure. n/t

[zeemike]

22. Sure the game is rigged and many of us know it is.

But if you start talking about it too much they will call you a conspiracy theorist and you will be immediately dismissed.

That one little CT trick can keep the game going indefinitely.
And so we will go from one election to the next with the same rigged system and never complain out of fear of the CT label.

[Overseas]

48. It is not a mysterious conspiracy though. Just prioritizing winning above all else. Including

election integrity. That is officially gone. Or at least has been whittled away so much that I hope we can protect and revive it.

The Same Name Game was extensively employed in 2014. This is the very helpful purging of the voter rolls. "Just clearing out old names and making sure it's current." Like Gov Bush did in 2000 purging voters with names similar to felons. And they didn't pay to upgrade the data sorting to include double-checking the 44,000 voters names dropped from the rolls. Well anyway, this year's purging version is the Same Name As Someone Registered in Another State! Yes, Arthur Wong, that means you. I am really glad Greg Palast is on the case. Old fashioned reporter who needs multiple sources and double-checks. Unlike the Same Name broad brush data sorting that was done in several locations this year.

The lists are heavily over-weighted with names such as Jackson, Garcia, Patel and Kim, common to minorities who vote overwhelmingly Democratic. Indeed, one in seven African-Americans in those 27 states are listed as suspected of the crime of voting twice, one in eight Asian-Americans, and one in eight Hispanic voters. White voters too, one in eleven, are at risk, though not as vulnerable as minorities.

http://www.gregpalast.com/

Republicans have used multiple methods to destroy our election integrity. It is really hard to keep up. The Brad Blog posts lots of nationwide election integrity news.

But it's not a big conspiracy, just a relentless desire to win power at all costs. Lots of underhanded methods included. Conduct massive obstruction and then intimidate the opponent into being responsible for that dysfunction. Use every means available to make voting difficult for your opponents.

I still wish that it were a level playing field, where the 99 percent mattered more than the top 1. But the other side is more concerned with winning. Even with most of them in the same 99%. Republican officials have been tilting that playing field in so many ways that it is hard to keep up. It's a complicated story, since it is going on in so many states. Voter suppression in so many ways. Just as an effective tactic. To win. Because millions have voted against you.

I'd better go check out that Red Map.

[zeemike]

54. I do suppose that to be a conspiracy really they would try to hide it.

And most of what they do is right out in the open for us to see.
And you are right, they do justify it by accusing the left of cheating to justify it.

What pisses me off is the Dems just ignore it...and never say a word if they lose...enableing them.

[Overseas]

61. With voter ID laws going on and gerrymandering, they didn't realize just cleaning up the voter rolls

was being done like that. So broadly.

They keep us busy chasing down obvious voter suppression techniques.

Let's hope that now that there is evidence of this broad brush voter roll purging technique's disparate effects on minority voters that there will be some action against it.

If not, the broad brush voter roll purging will continue.

Republicans know that they can only win if fewer people vote.

[maddiemom]

24. You'd think there would be a simple solution to many of these problems...

say eliminating the unfair and out dated Electoral College and going with straight popular vote. But NO, that would make way too much sense and upset the whole system of government currently in place. If there wasn't an outcry from the Democrats in 2000 ( being called"Sore Loserman" was enough shut them up), it's pretty safe to assume there never will be.

[certainot]

40. the easiest solution is to stop giving republicon radio a free speech free ride

If there wasn't an outcry from the Democrats in 2000 ( being called"Sore Loserman" was enough shut them up)

thanks for reminding me.

that was one of republicon radio's successes, along with the "hanging chad" bullshit, getting teabagger/dittohead mobs to protest the gore family home, stop-the-recount mobs, etc

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

52. Going to a straight popular vote

Will do nothing to inform the brain-dead, brainwashed, RW voter. It won't fix the district gerrymandering. It won't get the unaccountable and limitless money out of politics. And it wont get us a fair, equitable and standardized voting system nor eliminate all the dirty voter suppression tricks employed by the soulless Un-American traitorous right-wing fascists.

Just sayin'...

[maddiemom]

64. Way belated in getting back atcha... but...granted brainwashed voters will still be out there.....

why wouldn't a straight out popular vote render gerrymandering useless,with district counts lost into overall votes? All the drawbacks you mention are true... but have meaning only due to the bullshit we still put up with. I served as a "poll watcher," (only meaningful if all the election fraud Republicans freak out over existed), this past election. Although our state (PA) ended up requiring no voter ID, probably about ninety percent of everyone who came in to vote had a photo ID in hand. They were surprised that it wasn't necessary unless they were first-time voters. I had to wonder if many stayed away due to the misconception of needing such ID. Ours is a college town, as well. Whatever the reality, student IDs were allegedly not accepted.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

65. Gerrymandering will not be useless because we elect the house by district

And I'm not arguing about using the popular vote or not. I would like to ditch the EC Too. It just won't solve many of the most pressing issues surrounding voting, particularly the campaign financing issue. If we could just fix that one, eventually the rest of the problems could be corrected.

BTW, I am currently vacationing in the state that provided a lot of the impetus which started the civil war. The birthplace of Jefferson Davis. I never would have believed That I would one day vacation in Alabama, but the resorts on Orange Beach key are nice and reasonably priced. People are very friendly here. If you are on a serious diet you may want to go somewhere else though. I've only been here 2 days and have already gained 6 lbs!

[Historic NY]

26. It should be the main reason to vote in every local election......

those who control the state house control the redstricting. Those little, I can't bother voting elections are what has brought-bought REDMAP. GOP tell their voters to vote and they come out.

Elections have consequences.

[Overseas]

49. Well said!

[corkhead]

27. I am not going to say there is "no difference between the 2 parties"

but they aren't different enough.

It won't fix things overnight, but we need Democratic candidates to take principled stands on behalf of the electorate before we can expect voters to re-engage in the process. The "We're not as bad as the other guys" approach hasn't worked and its continued use is a recipe for staying on the same depressing track and will not improve voter turnout.

[BillZBubb]

28. That and the Democrats don't have a credible differentiating message.

People like us at DU who pay close attention know there is a huge difference between what the Democrats will do in office and what the republicans will do. Most voters don't know that and usually don't vote on long term issues.

The Democrats almost always allow the republicans to frame the issues that the election is about. The republicans are hugely aided by a complicit corporate media. Until the Democrats come up with an aggressive strategy to change that, we will struggle.

"We're not as bad as the republicans" just isn't a winning message.

[ReRe]

42. You've got something there...

... it's the "framing" of issues. They started that tactic back when Newt was in Congress, I think? I'm hoping that Elizabeth Warren can start "framing the issues" for the Democrats in the Senate. Alan Grayson will handle the House. That's right, we need attack dogs in Congress. Turn the tables on those SOBs.

[rock]

29. Al Gore actually won the presidency

It was right there under the headline, "BUSH WINS!" Remember?

[colsohlibgal]

30. Amen, Totally Agree

I remember being so angry when, back when he was on Air America, Al Franken would refuse talking about it saying it would discourage folks from voting.

Maybe...but that would be game, set, match for Rove and his evil minions. They cheat and people like Al are too afraid to talk about it.

Yes Gore won - and I'm still upset with him for being in such a hurry to give up on election night - that did not help.

2004 I have no doubt Kerry actually won, they just flipped it. Same thing when Max Cleland lost his seat when every poll had him comfortably ahead.

Joe Stalin was dead on about who really has the power.

We could have foolproof standardized voting but don't hold your breath for it. Same with multiple parties and IRV.

[dflprincess]

47. And those running the Democratic party just stayed silent about it all

and have never done a thing to demand honest elections.

We need the UN to start monitoring the elections here.

[Overseas]

51. They didn't stay silent. They held hearings and proposed and challenged proposed laws

But there has been a fairly vicious series of attacks on election integrity So many battles going on all at once.

And the Obstructionist Party slipping more and more voter suppression tactics into the mix. They know if they keep several types of voting problems going, we will be too busy to observe them all.

Yes, election integrity should have been a priority ever since 2000. With all that dramatization of how absolutely awful it was to count paper ballots and ogle those hanging chads. We should not have gone along with that charade.

Paper voting is solemn and respectful. And we have lots of people willing to serve as poll workers and vote counters.

But our opponents are quite determined to reduce the number of voters because they know their ideas cannot win in a fair fight.

So you're right that we need to fight to restore election integrity,

[Initech]

31. And they win because people like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh keep repeating the big lie.

That we're the enemy. The real enemies are the scumbag billionaires who purposefully tank our economy and laugh all the way to the bank. The simple fact is that the billionaire criminal class can't exist without the republicans, and the republicans can't exist without the billionaire criminal class.

[Orsino]

32. ...and the money that buys all those things. n/t

[blkmusclmachine]

33. GOP also "wins" with a huge assist from Third Way/DLC/"New" "Democrats."

[AnalystInParadise]

35. They are either evil geniuses or

moronic dumb asses, they cannot be both. I wish people would make up their minds, this whiplash crap is getting tiring.

[ErikJ]

37. Their propaganda ministers are evil geniuses but their voters are dumb-asses.

[AnalystInParadise]

38. Well good luck

trying to attract millions of voters by calling them dumb asses.........I swear to freaking God sometimes...........

[ErikJ]

43. Like Mike Malloy says

Their propagandists put a tube up their noses, suck their brains out then re-fill it with sawdust.

[AnalystInParadise]

44. Got it

You are a big believer in doubling down on insulting the voters of this country. Yikes.

[ErikJ]

46. Theyve been dumbed down by the Reichwing evil geniuses

Even the Christian church is in on it. They tell them that Jesus rode dinosaurs and abortion is wrong which the GOP has adopted now as its platform. Evil geniuses reel in the dumbasses.

[ErikJ]

36. Dems need an Echo Chamber like them.

Luntz comes out with a sound-bite that is endlessly repeated in the media then the populace.

[certainot]

39. their most important tool is republicon radio and the left ignores that fact

much of their success is the result of having 1200 coordinated radio stations blasting the country with think tank-scripted propaganda. it's classic PSYOPS, and the left and dem party continues to lick its wounds and promise better results while strategizing and evaluating as if republicon radio was not reaching 50 mil a week with coordinated messaging- many of those people with no free alts for politics while driving or working.

the electronic voting system was sold by blasting the country with lies about how much the old system cost and all the mistakes that were made. the voter suppression legislation was sold with years of voter fraud fraud and anti immigration BS (illegal brown people were voting dem so we need IDs). the real election thievery was continuously excused, rationalized, and deflected. and so on.

all the talk of improving messaging is futile- until dems/liberals finally take on republicon radio they will continue to lose the messaging war to a few hundred ignorant think tank-scripted and coordinated blowhards with big megaphones.

[DeSwiss]

41. Yep.

- Also known as: ''The System.''

It's like realizing you have brain cancer, but also realize that you're the only one who can operate. Bummer.



K&R

[Overseas]

45. Thanks for posting. Didn't know about REDMAP.

Unless it was gerrymandering.

[C Moon]

50. I really miss hearing Rachel on the radio. They replaced our left station with RW radio.

I know she's on tv, in fact, I have 4 shows sitting there on my DVD. But radio was such a convenient way to listen to Rachel Maddow.

[defacto7]

53. K & R

[midnight]

58. WI Exit Poll (forced to match the recorded vote)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/108413548

[99Forever]

59. All true. A question then.

Which National Democratic Party leaders are actually doing anything to change this?

[snot]

62. None. And therein lies the puzzler.

Dems' two biggest priorities clearly should be election & campaign finance reform and media reform; but VERY little meaningful effort goes into either.

[librechik]

63. When has ANYONE been able to make campaign reform stick?

Since the coup, the ability to do something about our elections system has been further and further taken away from us. The ones in charge rule the Dems in Congress, too. We haven't had a representative government in decades. Voting won't help. We can only vote for the puppets of the rich.


http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/10/18/vote-all-you-want-the-secret-government-won-change/jVSkXrENQlu8vNcBfMn9sL/story.html?event=event25