Three weeks before the presidential election of 2008, Newsnight hired far-Left political activist Greg Palast to do a couple of video reports (which can be viewed here and here) about voter fraud in the US. This was a strategically-timed effort to create suspicions in the minds of the public in case Sen. McCain won the election. The BBC could raise the specter of 2004, and point to Palast’s “investigations” as evidence that this election was stolen by racist Republicans who didn’t want a black man as President. This time around, the margin of fraud in individual election races is going to have to be much larger than usual in order for people to trust the outcome. But this time around, the BBC has been utterly silent.
UPDATE 5 Nov.: Meirion Jones has kindly responded in the comment thread and pointed out a serious error I’ve made. I was wrong about him thinking that the Republicans stole the election in 2004. He thought it was stolen from Al Gore in 2000. That’s my sloppiness, for which I apologize.
But seriously, I do want to thank him for taking the time to address this, even though he denies being a co-conspirator of Greg Palast. I define that as someone who works together with another person on projects for a specific cause. Mr. Jones has worked with Palast in the past, and it’s that relationship which leads to Palast being featured on Newsnight.
As for ACORN’s voter fraud, my point that both Jones and Palast deny that their activities are intended to or have had any effect on election outcomes still stands. Would whichever defender of the indefensible who alerted Jones to my post please pass this along to him. Thank you.
Newsnight producer Meirion Jones is a co-conspiritor of Palast’s, having worked with him previously on an investigation of voter fraud in Florida in the 2004 elections (this wasn’t mentioned in the report, nor did the BBC admit on air to Palast’s activist assocation with Robert Kennedy, whom they show as an independent voice – so the BBC’s dishonesty is there for all to see). Jones and Palast are convinced that Bush stole that election, so Newsnight hired Palast to do these reports, produced by Jones.
Needless to say, both reports were made with the intent to convince you that only Republicans engaged in voter fraud, usually with the goal of preventing poor black people from voting. In the second report, Palast actually whitewashes the now defunct ACORN, even going so far as to say that, while ACORN had been indicted for and a couple people convicted of voter fraud, there was no evidence that they actually influenced an election. Palast’s report also took the standard far-Left activist/denier’s line that all registered voters that were purged from the rolls for breaking various rules were in fact innocent. He provided no evidence for this.
I commented on it here at the time, and sent a complaint in to the BBC. Meirion Jones actually responded, and after exchanging a couple of emails it was clear that he believed that Bush stole the election, and that ACORN engaged in voter fraud for kicks, with no intent to affect the outcome of an election. He couldn’t offer any valid reason why they would do such a thing if it wasn’t to effect election outcomes. I knew at the time that if there was ever any evidence of voter fraud from the Democrats in future elections, the BBC would keep shtum, because of their political bias.
Now that we’re having the second-most important election in human history (to judge from the hysteria at the BBC), I’m still waiting for the BBC to make a single report about the increasingly widespread Democrat voter fraud going on now.
Below the fold are several stories the BBC doesn’t want you to know about.
Poll Watcher Witnesses Misconduct in Houston
This is eyewitness testimony to voter fraud in the form of a poll worker casting votes on behalf of voters, captured by True the Vote and aired exclusively at PJM/PJTV.
The above link also includes evidence that some faculty at the University of Texas in Brownsville is going to take students directly to the polls for early voting. The leader of this illegal act is Selma d. Ysanga, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Leadership, and founder of Texas Counselors for Social Justice. Anyone care to guess which way they are directing their students to vote? Ysanga’s email to her colleagues includes this little fascist gem:
Starting tomorrow, tallies will be taken by college for student, faculty, and staff voter turnout. Let the College of Education lead the way!
Bucks election board to hear GOP allegations of absentee-voter fraud by Democrats
A petition seeking the hearing asserts that a Democratic program intimidated some voters into needlessly, and sometimes fraudulently, applying for absentee ballots. The Democrats then flooded the county elections office with the applications, hoping that many fraudulent forms would go undetected, the petition says.
Democrats have accused Republicans of demonizing a legal get-out-the-vote campaign in an effort to disenfranchise voters. They say that of more than 600 absentee-ballot applications rejected as defective by the Republican-controlled elections board, more than 80 percent bear the names of Democrats.
Notice that these are the same kind of fraudulent voter registrations that Palast claims were purged from the rolls for purely racist and political reasons. Where’s the BBC now? Looking under Christine O’Donnell’s bed for a Harry Potter costume, probably.
Did Harry Reid Commit Voter Fraud?
Leader of the Senate and co-architect of ObamaCare and the Democrat agenda against which the Tea Party movement is motivated, Democrat Harry Reid is facing a serious challenge from Sharon Angle (barely mentioned by the BBC in between full-length features about Christine O’Donnell, who is challenging nobody even remotely important). Apparently Reid is offering free food and Starbucks gift certificates in exchange for votes. Where’s Greg Palast now?
Significant Election Complaint Filed in Nevada
The complaint alleges scores of union tactics designed to undermine the integrity of the voting process and intimidate voters.
Specifically, the complaint notes that union officials are busing in union workers, leading them to the polls, deterring or preventing the union member from going to unobserved polling locations set up in Las Vegas, etc.
Raul Grijalva ally committing voter fraud in Yuma County
The group responsible for this is the racially-oriented Mia Familia Vota. Of course, we recently learned from Beeboid Andy Gallacher that it’s a perfectly natural instinct to vote with one’s own kind – when they’re not white – so it’s cool. However, this particular racially-oriented group has it’s Arizona headquarters at the same address as the SEIU. This is the same White House-connected union trying to influence the election in Nevada.
Grijalva’s opponent, Ruth McClung, is supported by the Tea Party. And she’s a rocket scientist. Put that in your biased pipe and smoke it, BBC.
Where is Newsnight now? Where is any mention of this voter fraud by Democrats – including the top dog in the Senate? Instead, the BBC is continuing with the White House propaganda about the Tea Party movement. Tomorrow will be interesting.
UPDATE: Voter Fraud in Minnesota
On Friday, October 29th, 2010, a member of the Minnesota Freedom Council witnessed apparent voter fraud occurring at the Crow Wing County Courthouse in Brainerd, Minnesota. Upwards of 100 residents from a local group home for mentally disadvantaged individuals were brought into the County Courthouse to cast absentee ballots. The witness reported that supervisors were telling voters to cast a straight Democrat ticket. There was even a report of a voter prematurely leaving the voting both and a supervisor casting the ballot for the voter.
Perhaps international observers should be called in to supervise?
That used to be a joke. Now I’m not so sure.
No thanks. They always get Jimmy Carter involved.
The BBC failed to report the story of the black panthers and their court case being thrown out. Remember this? Well you won’t if you watch the BBC.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/06/ex-official-accuses-justice-department-racial-bias-black-panther-case/
If the BBC want to investigate voting fraud they should look at the country which bares their name viz Britain, but their aim to “inform, educate and entertain” does not include “investigating” the wilful destruction of democracy in this once enlightened country.
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2010/10/banana-republic-britain.html
The BBC should have no right to have “British” in their title. They look for any tit-bit of gossip against anyone who has libertarian leanings magnifies it 10 fold and then ignores massive corruption by the people who care nothing for peoples liberties.
Will the Black Panters be out in force this time? And if so will their actions have any implications for them? http://notasheepmaybeagoat.blogspot.com/search/label/Black%20Panthers
Great post David, well researched and well presented.
“A Vote-Early-And-Often Cinematic Interlude: ‘The Great McGinty'”http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/30490
Gievn the vast numbers of staff the BBC usually sends to US elections I’d expect a much more comprehensive coverage. Telling me how awful the Tea Party and Sarah Palin are only needs couple of staff.
Hugh Hewitt: Pelosi and Obama’s agenda down in flames
By: Hugh Hewitt, October 31, 2010
It takes a powerful collective repugnance to propel a national political rebuke.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and President Obama have accomplished an extraordinary thing. Tomorrow they will enter the history books as the most spectacularly failed partnership in modern American political history.
Never in the last 100 years have two American politicians squandered so much political capital and achieved so complete a rejection as this duo. (I omit intentionally the hapless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is very much the Lepidus in this triumvirate.)
..
Pelosi is in a class by herself. Her particular style of leadership — arrogant, humorless, imperious and dense — will guide by negative example many generations of future legislative leaders.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Pelosi-and-Obama_s-agenda-down-in-flames-1398024-106409463.html
———–
Obama’s achievement: Rousing the pro-Israel vote
By ABE KATSMAN
11/01/2010 00:02
Some congressional Jews who have been silent on Obama’s Israel stance, facing tough challenges from more courageously Zionist non-Jews.
US President Barack Obama has succeeded in at least one area in his controversial presidency: He inadvertently has galvanized American public support for Israel, making Mideast policy a surprisingly potent issue in this congressional election. And, thanks to the Obama administration’s perceived hostility toward Israel, the reticence of even Jewish elected Democrats to criticize their president and the emergence of a new generation of vocally pro- Israel Republican candidates, the pro-Israel vote has shifted in a decidedly Republican direction.
The anticipated election results favoring Republicans would result in one of the most pro-Israel Congresses ever. Ironically, that will be due in part to push back against the perceived anti-Israel orientation of this administration.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=193468
Obamacare is deeply unpopular with a majority of Americans, not just for what it is, but the the manner in which it was forced through. So they have planted a stake in the heart of the Democrat party.
What happens the day after? It seems the Republicans are riding a wave of anti Obama-anti incumbent feeling but have no program of their own. Not that the BBC would tell us.
Of course the Republicans have ideas of what they want to do if they take over the House. Step Number One: Repeal as much of ObamaCare as possible. Step Two: Help small businesses with tax breaks that are about to expire. Step Three: Get on with the ethics hearing for Charles Rangel and kick him out (okay, that one’s just my idea). Step Five: Figure out who is worth a damn for 2012.
None of this is a secret. I agree that the media sure as hell have tried to portray them as little more than “the Party of No” with no plans themselves. Does that sound familiar? It should.
These are in fact the exact things the Tea Party movement has been pushing for the last 18 months. It remains to be seen, of course, just how many real fiscal conservatives get in, and whether or not whichever Republican establishment figures are left do as much as they can to reform themselves.
Great blogpost DP.
I see Palast still describes himself as a BBC reporter on Twitter. He has been a guest speaker at the left-wing Fighting Bob Fest on 3 occasions (2006, 2009, 2010). I’m pretty sure BBC editorial guidelines are against that sort of thing, and yet Newsnight was still employing him as recently as March this year. As I’ve said before, those guidelines must be printed on toilet paper so that it’s easier for staff to wipe their arses on them.
I notice that this year he’s been reduced to doing his Republican voter fraud story for an NBC affiliate in Little Rock. I bet that would’ve been on Newsnight if not for us.
My unanswered tweets on the subject.
Superb post, David Preiser ! BIASED, DISHONEST BBC
I’m Meirion – this is just a personal note – I normally ignore this sort of thing but I think I should point out that David Preiser’s memory is, well -let’s be generous – unreliable. He says
“Newsnight producer Meirion Jones is a co-conspiritor…(what exactly is a conspiritor by the way? – is it like a conspirator who you share a bottle of Jack Daniels with?)…of Palast’s, having worked with him previously on an investigation of voter fraud in Florida in the 2004 elections…Jones and Palast are convinced that Bush stole that election”
In fact I patiently explained to David at the time that while I did believe that the 2000 election had been fixed – with good reason – I did not believe that Bush stole the 2004 election. My email said
“I agree with Greg about the 2000 elections but disagree about the 2004 election”.
That couldn’t be clearer. I told him we filmed private eyes hired by the Republicans intimidating voters in 2004 but I didn’t think it made any difference to the overall result of the election. David now says about my views on 2004
“it was clear that he believed that Bush stole the election”
Well, only if you’re wearing the upside-downy glasses. I don’t think election fixing is anything to do with being right wing or left wing. John Horne Tooke makes the valid point that…
“If the BBC want to investigate voting fraud they should look at the country which bares (surely “bears”, i know John is 274 years old but I’m surprised that such an erudite philologist is letting his spelling go) their name viz Britain”
And indeed as I pointed out in my email to David in 2008 that’s exactly what I’ve done – finding and broadcasting evidence of Labour fixing elections in the Midlands. The fact that I’ve not made any films about Conservatives or Lib Dems fixing elections here or Democrats fixing elections in that ex-colony across the pond does not mean that I think they all have clean hands. I’ve been too busy with other stuff recently to spend any time in the States this year – for instance, stopping British companies selling bogus bomb detectors which may have claimed hundreds of lives in Iraq, uncovering the Trafigura scandal, and stopping the firm who make Gaviscon ripping off the NHS. Greg’s old enough and ugly enough to defend himself but the last film I made with him was that final Vulture Fund film in February this year. The next day Conservative Treasury Minister David Gauke (amongst other Conservatives) specifically raised that film in the Commons as he pledged the Conservative support which helped the bill become law with all-party support. The fact that their politics was very different from Greg’s didn’t blind them to the truth of what he was saying. That law, which would never have reached the statute book without Greg’s help has already saved poor countries (and British and American taxpayers who ended up paying the bill) millions of dollars.
Anyhow I’m sure David will find a way to misunderstand this too so I’ll retire from this error-strewn noticeboard forthwith.
Meirion
Dear Meiron
Not knowing the ins and outs of your disagreement with David, it would be pointless of me to comment on that matter.
However, you piqued my curiosity regarding your expertise and experience regarding voter fraud.
Your (guilty?) comment “John Horne Tooke makes the valid point” about UK election fraud, was interesting.
Surely someone with your experience and knowledge would jump at the prospect of exposing the scandals going on up and down the country. But neither you, or anyone else at the BBC have uttered a squeak about this.
Why? – I think I can answer this for you.
Any journalist suggesting this would be dismissed/blacklisted and never work for the BBC again.
Now why would that be, I wonder….. Would it be that most (but not all) of these scandals concern the Labour Party? (Woolas just the latest); Or would it be that most (but not all) of these scandals concern the Asian/Muslim communities? – Or is it both?
If you or any of your colleagues report on these outrages in a neutral and impartial manner; In other words – the truth, and the BBC broadcasts it, I’ll listen to your story about how you exposed (Republican) electoral fraud – Why Republican, I wonder…….
You gotta be joking !!! BBC investigate rampant voting fraud in the UK ?? Pigs might fly.
Meirion, thank you very much for your reply and correction. Even if you won’t be seeing this.
You’re right – I was wrong: You thought the election in 2000 was stolen from Al Gore, not the 2004 one. That’s my mistake, and I should have checked the email.
Your finding voter fraud done by Labour is irrelevant to the US, and does not alter the fact that Newsnight and the BBC have not done a single report on voter fraud by Democrats. Nor does it alter the fact that Palast whitewashed ACORN’s sins.
I’m going to add one more thing as an update to the main post itself.
It’s a shame Jones won’t be joining us again because I would like to see him defend the BBC’s employment of a reporter who speaks at left-wing rallies and fails to mention his close activist links with one of his interviewees. It would also be quite interesting to know why, having been unimpressed with Palast’s take on the 2004 election, Jones and the BBC were so ready to work with him again. Furthermore I’d like to see Jones’ explain why the BBC is so relaxed about using a left-wing US investigative journalist when it would never consider commissioning similar work by someone from the American Right. I’d quite to hear a better reason why Newsnight never investigates Democrat voting fraud, too.
But as he’s retired forthwith, I quess I won’t get any answers.
People know it’s annoying to flounce off like that. Hit and run. They’re keen enough to tell some error-strewn nobodies where they’ve gone wrong, then they’re off, because we’re not worth it.
I thought the BBC had instructed its employees not to visit B-BBC – under the ‘never add credence to crackpots’ principle.
Quite so. Jones addresses certain points but not others, and then runs away.
Talking of error-strewn – just re-read my repsonse to Jones. Bit rushed, hope it still makes sense.
Anyone who pretends ACORN is not a massive vote-fixing fraud is a fraud himself.
Peter Jones of the Broadcasting organisation which embarrasses itself and the country every day with its errors:
He says
“Newsnight producer Meirion Jones is a co-conspiritor…(what exactly is a conspiritor by the way? – is it like a conspirator who you share a bottle of Jack Daniels with?)…of Palast’s, having worked with him previously on an investigation of voter fraud in Florida in the 2004 elections…Jones and Palast are convinced that Bush stole that election”
==========================
Now, now Jonesy! That would be a conspirator whom you share a bottle of Jack Daniels with. It would be more elegantly expressed as a conspirator with whom you share a bottle of Jack Daniels but I would let that pass. And while you are at it, I wish you would correct some of the BBC’s more persistent and egregious errors. For one, please tell BBC newsreaders and writers to stop telling us that the seriousness of a situation cannot be underestimated. If it cannot be underestimated, that means that it isn’t serious. Do they think about what they are saying and what the words mean? How many times do errors like that have to be pointed out for it to sink in?