THE OCTOBER SURPRISE
HAMMERNEWS.com
SMRK CHP Vers. by Michael Hammerschlag
The most likely Oct. surprise by the Repubs
is a huge groundless Ridge/Ashcroft security alert a few days before the election,
designed to suppress voter turnout, particularly of new voters and minorities,
the most tentative faction. This would excuse Repub. governors sending police
to all polling places, which also would intimidate and suppress minority
voting. That has the capacity to purge millions of mostly Dem votes, especially
if confined to a few large liberal cities. It would be in keeping with Repub efforts to disenfranchise blacks in Florida,
Missouri, et al; and reject or turn away new voters (Nevada, Oregon, Mich.,
Ohio), who tend to be majority or overwhelmingly Democratic. Again and again
they've rung the "imminent attack" bell with no grounds. Be
afraid! Don't change horses now!
In a precursor or trial run,
Sen. Mark Dayton (d-MN) closed his Washington office Oct 12th until
after the election after an alarming report by the Majority Leader Frist, saying:
"I take this step out of
extreme, but necessary, precaution to protect the lives and safety of my Senate
staff and my
Dayton also said Senate Sergeant at Arms Bill Pickle called the intelligence
report, which was presented two weeks ago, the most "declarative
statement" in his career. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/13/senator.close.cnn/index.html
The senator
also said he "wouldn't advise anyone to visit
Capitol Hill who wasn't required to do so between now and the election,"
adding that he would not bring his two sons there, either. Dayton Chief of
Staff Danielson said
Dayton attended a closed-door briefing on Iraq by Senate leaders on Sept. 22.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other Pentagon
brass were there. At the meeting, he said, Bill Frist
announced a new threat assessment dated Sept. 15, and encouraged senators to
read it.
Is some big attack possible before the election? Yes. The shocking success of the Spanish train bombings in changing the
results of their election (though government lies helped), means that Al Qaida may maintain the fiction that it would turn people
against Bush. Is it likely? Hopefully not. From
reading Imperial Hubris by the CIA’s Anonymous, it is apparent that
Bin Laden has a relatively good understanding of
On the other hand, since Bush is doing such a good job boosting Al
Qaida’s ranks and destroying the country’s security,
finances, health, and moral authority... maybe his reelection is just what Bin
Laden wants. The terrible thing is that, since an attack is possible, there's no way to
know if an alert is just a Rove Halloween trick... until it's too late.
Michael
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