Dems fear GOP's October tricks

ASHINGTON - Among wary Democrats, speculation runs wild these days about a potential ``October surprise'' - a dramatic last-minute twist that could decide the bruising 2004 presidential race.

*skip*

But others are tricks Democrats suspect their Republican rivals might hatch to keep the White House.

*skip*

A terror strike against America could rally voters behind Bush in the final weeks of the race. But if voters blame Bush, they may abandon him for Democratic nominee Sen. John F. Kerry .

This much is clear: Democratic circles are intensely suspicious about the possibility of President Bush's team, particularly his political guru Karl Rove, trying to engineer a surprise to ensure Bush is re-elected.

*more*

http://news.bostonherald.com/election/view.bg?articleid=48370

Conservative TV Group to Air Anti-Kerry Film
Sinclair, with reach into many of the nation's homes, will preempt prime-time shows. Experts call the move highly unusual.

By Elizabeth Jensen, Times Staff Writer

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-sinclair9oct09,1,4817545.story?coll=la-home-headlines

NEW YORK — The conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose television outlets reach nearly a quarter of the nation's homes with TV, is ordering its stations to preempt regular programming just days before the Nov. 2 election to air a film that attacks Sen. John F. Kerry's activism against the Vietnam War, network and station executives familiar with the plan said Friday.

I'm still thinking the CIA is going to leak something out against Bush...they've had it with his blame game and are waitng until the very end... They've used these last leaks as tests to see how they'll spin it and they'll release some proof about Iraq being an obsession before 9/11 or something... Don't have any evidence but since we're speculating here...I think there are some Wash. folks who've had it with this bunch...

I get really tired of the tin hat stuff. If Rove and these guys are so in control how come they can't stop the bad news coming every week?

If Bush gets elected its because some people think he's chosen by God. That's the November surprise.

are doing a very good job of stoping bad news. And look at what Sinclair broadcasting is doing. And look at Clear Channel's campaign against anyone who didn't support the war. Look at Fox News which is basically 24/7 Republican propaganda. Look at MSNBC, which is owned by the biggest corporation in the world and the wealthiest man in the world. Look at CNN which is owned by AOL!!! and Time Warner and kicked Ted Turner totally out of power there. Look at CBS which has decided that their 60 minutes program gave too many people too much information about the corruption in the runup to the war and whose CEO has said that Bush is better for Viacom so he support Bush. And look at ABC, which is owned by Disney, another humongous corporation that is making out big time with Bush's tax shifts, deregulation and outsourcing.

Man, they control every major corporation and they only get a "little under half?" Heck, Hitler didn't have the corporate media and he had huge popular support. Republicans are wimps.

What support the rethuglicans get is due to playing on fears and hyper patriotism.

:tinfoilhat:

"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
--Hitler's #2 Man, Hermann Goering

Plus they financed his Reich-wing propaganda seperately too.

Just want the record to be stright. When the Bushes backed Hitler they also helped finance the corruption of the German media (and closed opposition media - especially after the Reichstag Fire set BY the Nazis and blamed on Foreign terrorists and communists).

They have not been stopped since.

There was no slanted corporate news trying to sway a divided nation. Hitler very cleverly manipulated the popular opinion, business, and media in a growing movement.

But whatever, if you believe that all USA media is controled by Bush and/or the rethuglicans then we're wasting each other's time. :crazy:

Good luck living in a bunker.

You said :

"if you believe that all USA media is controled by Bush and/or the rethuglicans then we're wasting each other's time."

Yes there ARE a few exceptions. But very few and only a tiny fraction of the mass media. From the NTimes to Wash Post to Fox, CNN, abc nbc, cbs, etc. - the vast majority of US media is controlled by republicans.

I do not know where you have been that you could have missed this most well known and completely documented fact.

Air America is one of the few exceptions.

They can however count on extreme bias in their favor and if you can't see that you are in the wrong place.

to understand and with absolute proof. Damaging ANG documents discussing drug abuse or the arrest released through the Freedom of Information Act would be fantastic start.

It just can't be about administration lies. There is a new credible, verified story along those lines every day, the media and public aren't interested. Whatever it is it has to be personal and messy.

A man can't go around making enemies of his allies and expect to go unpunished.

The only way Bush can win is by killing enough citizens to steal the election. Dead men and women don't vote (better get those absentee ballots in, folks!) So unless he's going to nuke Philly and Detroit, what can he do? Send in the National Guard? There is no National Guard left!

but they're going to spring it right AFTER the last debate, so that either Democrat will have no real, nationwide chance of defending himself.

Nasty, dirty pieces of work that Shit House,Oh I mean WHITE House, staff is!

We can't show anything inflammatory about the Repub President because we don't want to be accused of affecting a political race and unseating a current President, but Democrat challengers... Well, as you can see, that's entirely different.

There is no way anyone should keep silent over that.

And what good ammunition for breaking up media concentrations.

here's the Sinclair list: stations, affiliates, locations (many in battleground states) and all we might need to voice our opinions to everyone in the "influence" chain, including advertisers ... let's get way BUSY out there in DU land with our very own surprise ... talk about the need for "media blasting" -- takes that phrase to a whole new meaning level

http://www.sbgi.net/business/markets/all.shtml

and has tight ties to Tom Ridge...then never delivered on his contract...odds are HS funds went to make this movie...taxpayers are funding the dirty tricks machine:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1024263

,...'cause government-funded propaganda is an absolute NO-NO!!!

Easiest line of attack, and it will get stuff out there that most people are completely unaware of.

in, the terrorists will attack again because they won't be able to stop the terrorists. But if they attack while Bushco is in, that proves they are incompetent.

What would constitute a terrorist attack in the US? Car bomb? Another WTC/Pentagon attack? Backpack bomb at a shopping mall? Nail bomb in a movie theater?

There's terrorist attacks and then there's terrorist attacks.

Time coordinated to start at the same time?

There are 2 things I've noticed about Al Queda:

* repeat failed attacks on targets
* 5-10 years of patience

When they go, they generally go big.

If they had nominated Giuliani with Chimpy at the convention, there would have been ample time for the talking heads to explore his very socially UN-conservative personal life. He's a cheating, wife-leaving, homo-loving New Yorker. That don't play so well in Alabama.

But, if it's a last minute switch, our retarded National Press Corps will only be able to myopically focus on Giuliani as the "hero" of 9/11.

the fault on Cheney with regards to the "bad intelligence". Keeps Shrub innocent in the Repugs eyes.

Gluliani might be a bit too liberal for the base conservatives - he's making great headway with the Fundies though. I've noticed him as a featured speaker at a lot of their rallies and what-not on the Fundie TV programs the last couple of years. Then there's still McCain to fall back on, but I don't think that will work either. They put him down way too much in the primaries. A lot of that crap stuck.

If they do try a switch, it could backfire. If we play on the idea that even if Shrub was an innocent tool and it was 2nd man Cheney running the country, a vote for Shrub is really a vote for the new running mate. Rudy would put off conservatives. They planted so much hate and distrust for McCain in the primaries that they really wouldn't have time to undo that damage.

Just a thought.

With either of them, there would be no reason not to impeach George.

Here about what shit Rove has done and will do again the more the so called October surprise will be lessened.

the fact that Rudy is a sleaze bag will never come out. Actually they could do it today.

I have fears that Rove will fake an assassination attempt.
We also still have Assface with his strings on all the neo-nazi/white supremest wackos that would love to get close to Kerry.

between Wash Times and The Sun

our own! Fight Fire with Fire :grr:

And, of course, ours would be true whereas their's is a big fat lie.

within it will be the footage (doctored?) of Kerry peeing on the flag, that's what I fear the most. Even if it is doctored or murky, it'll still scare the voters and it won't give us enough time to clear the air.

Anything Rove and gang can put together can be refuted and disproved since they will be lies, but if done late enough, there will not be time to, as you say, "clear the air." I think this Sinclair film is what Rove hopes will sabotage Kerry's campaign.

doctored up photo of Kerry burning the flag?
If they wait till two or three days before the election it wouldnt matter if it later proved to be a fake.
They could just turn around and say oooops sorry our mistake.
No tin hat on this one....Rove is that much of a scumbag that anything you could think of is possible. Nothing is too low for that fucker.

Bobby Kennedy

but do not discount it as a strategy to defeat Kerry at the polls

sprung OCT surprises before?

That little bit of work made me vote for Bush just as a protest vote in 2000.

I lived in DC so voting for Bush wasn't going to make a difference that time around but between Gore's jerk behavior in the debates and that last minute meaningless smear I decided Gore didn't deserve my support.

I'm voting Kerry this year because Bush basically screwed everything up, not so much that I'm all that crazy about Kerry.

I have heared. I hope you bain a little more depth perception in the future. Thanks for fucking us last time.

Here are some thoughts about October surprises that could favor the Dem's. Obviously, much of this is out of anyone's control. I'll leave the deliberate manipulation to Rove and Co.

- October is the worst month of the year for the stock market. Between triple-witching for options and the end of the fiscal year for mutual funds there is a lot of built in volatility. With oil going up and companies continuing to issue worse than expected quarterly reports, the chances of a 'black Tuesday' just before the election is good.

- Bush's health is a concern. If you look at his debate performance from ten years ago versus the last two weeks you can definitely see the decline. There are some who insist he is showing signs of presenile dementia. He refused to take his physical in August and wants to delay it until after the election. The last time he skipped a physical was in 1972 when the Air Force started mandatory drug testing. Coincidence?

- You haven't heard much in the news lately about the torture scandal. This is an issue that would cut the heart out of Bush's conservative Christian support. There may still be a lot of unseen pictures floating around.

- There probably won't be any new developments in the US investigations into the Valerie Plame leak or the Halliburton allegations before the election. However, nothing is stopping the French from indicting Dick Chaney for the slush fund scandal from when he was CEO.

- While the elections in Afghanistan look to have concluded successfully assassination attempts on Karzai and his Vice President continue. He was nearly shot out of the sky about a month ago.

- The last one isn't exactly an October surprise. With the increase in election monitors in the US there is a good chance of catching some Rove operatives in action on Election Day. Does anyone know where Roger Stone plans to be?

Can't figure out why one of them hasn't
retired to give Bush the chance to nominate
another Scalia/Thomas clone.

First, try to figure out what KKKarl is trying to achieve. Waaaaaay too many people here fell for the memo setup at first, defending the memos because they just *knew* they were real. Once it all played out, it had turned into a four-fer for the black hats.

History suggests that they are going to try to smear the dems as cheaters through some sort of setup, before or during the elections.

BBV people in particular, be sure you can account for your whereabouts and activities on election day.

My other current theory: Zarquawi is long in the bag and is being built up as a cheap Osama substitute, magically captured about 4 to 7 days before the election.

Other events already announced / in the works:
- Saddam trial
- 'stolen honor' movie
- inauguration of Karzai
- terralerts, good for a 2-point bounce, about 3 to 4 days before Nov 2.

about this movie coming out about kerry. We need to stop this film or have F 9/11 on tv as well...I just have this terrible thought that the movie will be really nasty and sway people right before the election.

the R's waiting until November 2 to pull all of the voting stunts and dark magic. This weekend, C-SPAN had a copy of the Washington Post to show the politcal affiliation of all of the Secretaries of State.

At this point I'm thinking that just about anything they can think of would be ineffective.

The closer we get to the election, the more ineffective the surprise becomes. The more the media covers it, the more ineffective it becomes.

I doubt a crappily-photoshopped blurry photo or some questionable video footage is going to stray how pissed the people are at the current administration. I'd like to have a little faith that the American people aren't stupid enough to fall for anything that may happen a week or two before the election.

That being said, I would think that THIS week is the strategically best time for an October surprise. Close enough to the election to potentially cause damage, but not close enough to look suspicious. Be prepared, but don't be scared. If it turns out to be blatant, raise hell, but don't walk into one of karl's traps.

We'll still win, my friends.

But I'm almost scared that speculations like this leak into the mainstream press because it almost gives them the information that something would really work...but then again, they know that already.

What happens to the country is 'october surprizes sway the election, along with election tricks. With at least half of the population for Kerry and against bush, how will the anger manifest itself? Will this be the spark that sets off the Second American Revolution?

And that is a GOOD thing.

to try anything...the days of not being able to track suspicious activity are behind us..Thank goodness..Anything "tried" could be tracked in a heartbeat...look at the "uprising" interest in the "wiring" possibility...I would be much for fearful of the stupidity and complaceny of some of the American voters.

Why should anyone believe a desperation move? It will look fishy, and will only convince the Kool-Aid drinkers.