Eminem Was Right About The Buckeye State ''Mosh''
by Bob Fitrakis
November 2, 2004 - Nov. 2 – 9:12pm EST
From:
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/978(snip)
The Free Press observed long lines not only in the inner-city black wards, but in all the traditional core Democratic areas: German Village, the Short North and Clintonville.
“I voted at Medary School on Indianola today, which houses Precinct A and C. There wre four voting machines for C and three for A The gym was packed solid within only two regular poll workers for each precinct (though there were judges --I guess--and two other people, for each precinct to take your slip, get you in the booth, and hand you a sticker). I got there at approximately 10:40 and had to wait 2 1/2 hours. When I left the lines were just about the same as they had been when I went in. I don't remember how many machines have been there in the past,” reported Free Press writer Marley Greiner.
But in Columbus’ affluent suburbs, another story was being told. Here are the words of Free Press columnist Marty Yant: “Voting in Grandview was a breeze. I was in and out in 20 minutes at 3:30, which admittedly is a good time to vote. The student-rich Columbus ward voting in the same building had a very long line. I didn't see a challenger in the Grandview ward, but there was at least one in the Columbus ward. A young man was being forced to use a provisional ballot in the short time I was there. He looked disgusted. I talked to an Upper Arlington woman at Kroger's who had a similar experience. She said she got right in and out, but the neighboring Columbus ward had a long line.”
Former Columbus School Board member Bill Moss, voting at Franklin Middle School, told the Free Press, “I’ve been voting since 1955. I have never, ever seen anything like this. These people know they’re making history. It reminds me of watching the first- ever vote in South Africa.”
Since I had been an international election observer in the first free election in El Salvador, I knew what he meant. There was something un-American about this election. By God, Bush had restored democracy. People were voting as if it were Canada or western Europe. Adding to the atmosphere was the fact that virtually all the reporters at the Model Neighborhood facility polling site were foreign: Japanese public television, German TV, the London Times, scattered among the token Pacifica reporter and a few of Michael Moore’s documentary filmmakers.
Speaking of Mr. Moore, he was experiencing a similar Eminem mosh pit in Cleveland: “We’ve only got two hours left on the East Coast! I am in Cleveland and the turnout is huge. It was the same this morning as we went to polling sites in Florida. People waited for three hours to vote, but no one was deterred. One man told me "I’d wait in this line three days if I had to." It’s raining here in Ohio, we’ve got a big bus and we’re pulling people out of their homes (gently!) handing out free umbrellas, ponchos, and bottles of water (the last item being slightly unnecessary, considering how soaked all of us already are!). I’ve been getting early tracking results from across the country and things are looking good - very good. But anything can happen in the last few hours. People are just getting out of work. The lines are going to be enormous. Tell everyone you know - as long as you are IN LINE before the closing time, they HAVE TO let you vote.”
Judging the unprecedented voter turnout I observed at the eight polling places in the inner-city of Columbus, it seems highly improbable that even the notorious Bush family, with all its covert operatives and CIA ties, can steal this election. If they attempt to do so, I fear there will be a terrible reckoning, and a terrible swift sword of justice will be visited upon us in the form of civil insurrection.
See “Mosh” by Eminem at www.mtv.com or www.gnn.tv.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00068.htmI wish he were right about the last line :-(