Wasserman writes: "The Democratic party is teetering on the brink. The
green/peace/social justice community needs a Plan C. The Republicans have
one. The Democrats don't. The impacts could be catastrophic."
Paul Ryan. (photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Are You Ready for President Paul Ryan? Why We Desperately Need a Plan C
By Harvey Wasserman, Reader Supported News
10 April 16
The Democratic party is teetering on the brink. The green/peace/social
justice community needs a Plan C. The Republicans have one. The Democrats
don't. The impacts could be catastrophic.
Consider:
. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have serious handicaps for
reaching the presidency.
. By her own admission, Hillary is an ineffective campaigner, with
serious negatives among young activists and the general voting population.
. Long considered an "ace in the hole" for her campaign, Bill's
presence on the stump has been problematic at best.
. There are continual rumors of a pending Clinton indictment. About
what remains unclear. But such an event could seriously impede or destroy a
Clinton candidacy.
. Bernie has catalyzed an amazing outpouring of activist energy,
mostly young, but with a remarkably broad base that reflects the serious
problems our nation faces.
. But it's unclear the Sanders campaign has been effectively focussed
on organizing this energy into a long-term plus for social change beyond the
election. If he doesn't win the presidency, and this grassroots uprising is
allowed to dissipate after November, the Sanders campaign must ultimately be
judged a failure.
. Bernie also has electoral negatives, most importantly his age. At
74, his stamina has been astounding. But he's still five years older than
Ronald Reagan was when Reagan became our oldest president. Even Trump, at
69, could make that an issue.
. After a long stretch of welcome civility, the contest between
Clinton and Sanders is on the brink of degenerating into deep negativity,
which could seriously damage either candidate's ability to win the White
House in the fall.
. Should both candidates be overwhelmed by their negatives, the
Democrats have nobody waiting in the wings to pick up the torch.
On the other side:
. The GOP clown car has trickled down to three contested candidates -
Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich - all with serious negatives for a
presidential campaign.
. But it now appears likely that Trump will fall short of an outright
majority at the Cleveland Convention, making the nomination a jump ball.
. In contrast to the Democrats, the GOP DOES have a backup - Paul
Ryan. The Koch Brothers, who may be the only GOP voters who really count,
are now saying Ryan will be the nominee.
. Though an apparent long shot, Ryan did emerge from a crazed
Congressional food fight to become Speaker of the House. As such, he's right
behind Joe Biden in the line of White House succession. He says he doesn't
want the presidency, but he also said he didn't want the Speaker's job.
. Despite his outward appearance of civility, Ryan is a vicious
corporate reactionary, an Ayn Rand fanatic with a brutal far-right agenda
that includes (though he denies it) destroying Social Security, Medicare,
labor unions, environmental protections and much more. A Ryan presidency
would be a global catastrophe on more fronts that can be listed here.
. Ryan has plenty of negatives as a candidate. And the Kochs earlier
pushed Scott Walker, who failed miserably. But at 46, Ryan is more than two
decades younger than Hillary. He has a family, speaks reasonably well and
comes off as deceptively sane. With unlimited dark billions at his disposal,
a well-calibrated running mate could make Paul Ryan hard to beat.
. The idea that a GOP denial of the Trump or Cruz candidacies will
shatter the party's ability to win the fall election has meaning only if the
Democrats are unified behind a viable candidate, or if the Kochs and their
cohorts suddenly lose the billions they could spend to patch up the problem.
The same is true if Trump or Cruz or Kasich actually do emerge as the
nominee.
. With ploys like Voter ID and other modernized Jim Crow
disenfranchisement techniques, the GOP has effectively stripped the
Democratic base of - literally - millions of likely voters. Written with Bob
Fitrakis, our upcoming STRIP & FLIP SELECTION OF 2016 provides the detail,
as does the ongoing research of Greg Palast, Bev Harris, Brad Friedman, Mimi
Kennedy, Mark Crispin Miller, Lori Grace, Jon Simon, Richard Charnin and
others. (There's an hour-long radio discussion of this with Mimi, Bob
Koehler and John Brakey at prn.fm's Solartopia Show.)
. In Wisconsin, significantly more votes were counted in the GOP
primary than for Bernie and Hillary. The New York Times and others have
estimated the number of Wisconsin citizens stripped of their right to vote
at 300,000, comprising a margin easily large enough to deny the Democrats a
victory in the fall.
. Bob Fitrakis, Greg Palast and others have calculated the number of
voters already stripped in Ohio in the hundreds of thousands, more than
enough to cover this fall's likely margin of victory in this crucial swing
state.
. Tens of thousands of likely Democratic voters were denied their
ballot due to long lines in Arizona, which were set up with the stripping of
precincts in urban areas and the denial of sufficient voting machines (and
back-up ballots). As we did in Florida 2000, Ohio 2004 and elsewhere ever
since, we can expect more of the same primarily in black, Hispanic and
college town precincts throughout the country this coming fall.
. Bernie spoke angrily about this after the Arizona primary, and
Hillary has also mentioned these Jim Crow assaults - but nothing concrete
has been done to blunt the massive disenfranchisement that is now defining
the fall election.
. Well over half the nation's votes this fall will be cast on
electronic voting machines that date back a decade and can be easily
flipped. In key swing states like Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan,
Iowa and Arizona among others, GOP governors could have a free hand to shape
the vote count with a few keystrokes in the deep night after the votes are
cast. There is no accountability.
. Those who consider this "conspiracy theory" must face one simple
question: "How will the electronic vote count in the fall 2016 election be
verified." Right now there is only one answer: "It can't be."
. Since the thefts of the 2000 and 2004 elections, the Democrats have
been deafeningly silent about the specter of another presidential election
being stolen. Numerous US Senate and House seats, governors' mansions and
statehouses have been lost in the interim. The usual Democrat dodge is that
they don't want to discourage voter turnout. But, as above, that is already
being guaranteed by the new GOP Jim Crow laws.
The Democrats' abject failure to deal with the stripping of the voter rolls
and the flipping of the electronic vote count could doom their chances this
fall, no matter who their presidential nominee. With that loss will go
control of the Congress, governorships, state legislatures and countless
other elective offices at all levels.
But in the interim, the Democrats' hopes for winning the White House now
rest on two candidates with serious handicaps that could cost either of them
any reasonable chance for victory in the fall, especially amidst the dark
tsunami of Koch cash.
The time to start at least considering potential backup alternatives is very
much now.
Likewise the need to guarantee that the immense grassroots energies ignited
by Bernie Sanders become an organized, tangible force for long-term change.
And - 16 years after the stolen election of 2000 - we at long last must
confront the strip and flip "selectoral" realities that have turned our
government into an utterly corrupt, globally lethal corporate subsidiary.
________________________________________
Harvey Wasserman's America at the Brink of Rebirth: The Organic Spiral of Us
History can be had via www.solartopia.org. The Strip & Flip Selection of
2016: Five Jim Crows & Electronic Election Theft, co-written with Bob
Fitrakis, is at www.freepress.org.
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Paul Ryan. (photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
http://readersupportednews.org/http://readersupportednews.org/
Are You Ready for President Paul Ryan? Why We Desperately Need a Plan C
By Harvey Wasserman, Reader Supported News
10 April 16
he Democratic party is teetering on the brink. The green/peace/social
justice community needs a Plan C. The Republicans have one. The Democrats
don't. The impacts could be catastrophic.
Consider:
. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have serious handicaps for
reaching the presidency.
. By her own admission, Hillary is an ineffective campaigner, with
serious negatives among young activists and the general voting population.
. Long considered an "ace in the hole" for her campaign, Bill's
presence on the stump has been problematic at best.
. There are continual rumors of a pending Clinton indictment. About
what remains unclear. But such an event could seriously impede or destroy a
Clinton candidacy.
. Bernie has catalyzed an amazing outpouring of activist energy,
mostly young, but with a remarkably broad base that reflects the serious
problems our nation faces.
. But it's unclear the Sanders campaign has been effectively focussed
on organizing this energy into a long-term plus for social change beyond the
election. If he doesn't win the presidency, and this grassroots uprising is
allowed to dissipate after November, the Sanders campaign must ultimately be
judged a failure.
. Bernie also has electoral negatives, most importantly his age. At
74, his stamina has been astounding. But he's still five years older than
Ronald Reagan was when Reagan became our oldest president. Even Trump, at
69, could make that an issue.
. After a long stretch of welcome civility, the contest between
Clinton and Sanders is on the brink of degenerating into deep negativity,
which could seriously damage either candidate's ability to win the White
House in the fall.
. Should both candidates be overwhelmed by their negatives, the
Democrats have nobody waiting in the wings to pick up the torch.
On the other side:
. The GOP clown car has trickled down to three contested candidates -
Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich - all with serious negatives for a
presidential campaign.
. But it now appears likely that Trump will fall short of an outright
majority at the Cleveland Convention, making the nomination a jump ball.
. In contrast to the Democrats, the GOP DOES have a backup - Paul
Ryan. The Koch Brothers, who may be the only GOP voters who really count,
are now saying Ryan will be the nominee.
. Though an apparent long shot, Ryan did emerge from a crazed
Congressional food fight to become Speaker of the House. As such, he's right
behind Joe Biden in the line of White House succession. He says he doesn't
want the presidency, but he also said he didn't want the Speaker's job.
. Despite his outward appearance of civility, Ryan is a vicious
corporate reactionary, an Ayn Rand fanatic with a brutal far-right agenda
that includes (though he denies it) destroying Social Security, Medicare,
labor unions, environmental protections and much more. A Ryan presidency
would be a global catastrophe on more fronts that can be listed here.
. Ryan has plenty of negatives as a candidate. And the Kochs earlier
pushed Scott Walker, who failed miserably. But at 46, Ryan is more than two
decades younger than Hillary. He has a family, speaks reasonably well and
comes off as deceptively sane. With unlimited dark billions at his disposal,
a well-calibrated running mate could make Paul Ryan hard to beat.
. The idea that a GOP denial of the Trump or Cruz candidacies will
shatter the party's ability to win the fall election has meaning only if the
Democrats are unified behind a viable candidate, or if the Kochs and their
cohorts suddenly lose the billions they could spend to patch up the problem.
The same is true if Trump or Cruz or Kasich actually do emerge as the
nominee.
. With ploys like Voter ID and other modernized Jim Crow
disenfranchisement techniques, the GOP has effectively stripped the
Democratic base of - literally - millions of likely voters. Written with Bob
Fitrakis, our upcoming Bo" target="_blank"STRIP & FLIP SELECTION OF 2016
provides the detail, as does the ongoing research of Bo" target="_blank"Greg
Palast, Bev Harris, Brad Friedman, Mimi Kennedy, Mark Crispin Miller, Lori
Grace, Jon Simon, Richard Charnin and others. (There's an hour-long radio
discussion of this with Mimi, Bob Koehler and John Brakey at prn.fm's
Solartopia Show.)
. In Wisconsin, significantly more votes were counted in the GOP
primary than for Bernie and Hillary. The New York Times and others have
estimated the number of Wisconsin citizens stripped of their right to vote
at 300,000, comprising a margin easily large enough to deny the Democrats a
victory in the fall.
. Bob Fitrakis, Greg Palast and others have calculated the number of
voters already stripped in Ohio in the hundreds of thousands, more than
enough to cover this fall's likely margin of victory in this crucial swing
state.
. Tens of thousands of likely Democratic voters were denied their
ballot due to long lines in Arizona, which were set up with the stripping of
precincts in urban areas and the denial of sufficient voting machines (and
back-up ballots). As we did in Florida 2000, Ohio 2004 and elsewhere ever
since, we can expect more of the same primarily in black, Hispanic and
college town precincts throughout the country this coming fall.
. Bernie spoke angrily about this after the Arizona primary, and
Hillary has also mentioned these Jim Crow assaults - but nothing concrete
has been done to blunt the massive disenfranchisement that is now defining
the fall election.
. Well over half the nation's votes this fall will be cast on
electronic voting machines that date back a decade and can be easily
flipped. In key swing states like Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan,
Iowa and Arizona among others, GOP governors could have a free hand to shape
the vote count with a few keystrokes in the deep night after the votes are
cast. There is no accountability.
. Those who consider this "conspiracy theory" must face one simple
question: "How will the electronic vote count in the fall 2016 election be
verified." Right now there is only one answer: "It can't be."
. Since the thefts of the 2000 and 2004 elections, the Democrats have
been deafeningly silent about the specter of another presidential election
being stolen. Numerous US Senate and House seats, governors' mansions and
statehouses have been lost in the interim. The usual Democrat dodge is that
they don't want to discourage voter turnout. But, as above, that is already
being guaranteed by the new GOP Jim Crow laws.
The Democrats' abject failure to deal with the stripping of the voter rolls
and the flipping of the electronic vote count could doom their chances this
fall, no matter who their presidential nominee. With that loss will go
control of the Congress, governorships, state legislatures and countless
other elective offices at all levels.
But in the interim, the Democrats' hopes for winning the White House now
rest on two candidates with serious handicaps that could cost either of them
any reasonable chance for victory in the fall, especially amidst the dark
tsunami of Koch cash.
The time to start at least considering potential backup alternatives is very
much now.
Likewise the need to guarantee that the immense grassroots energies ignited
by Bernie Sanders become an organized, tangible force for long-term change.
And - 16 years after the stolen election of 2000 - we at long last must
confront the strip and flip "selectoral" realities that have turned our
government into an utterly corrupt, globally lethal corporate subsidiary.
Harvey Wasserman's America at the Brink of Rebirth: The Organic Spiral of Us
History can be had via www.solartopia.org. The Strip & Flip Selection of
2016: Five Jim Crows & Electronic Election Theft, co-written with Bob
Fitrakis, is at www.freepress.org.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
