<nettime> Dadapop.com campaign

[mollybh@netspace.net.au]

The Corporate Media Engineers an Election By the Numbers 

By Lloyd Hart 

Never has there ever been a more profound example of the corporate media 
engineering an election and yes I mean a more profound example than even 
election 2000. I decided to keep track of this election statistically and 
compare how the statistics play out with the hyperbole and slant that the 
corporate media indulged itself in during the special election to recall Gov. 
Gray Davis in California. 

With 99.8% of precincts reporting as of October 8th. 2003 at 2:43 p.m. the 
number of Californians that had voted in the recall was 7,898,606. The 
corporate media overwhelmingly from CNN to NBC to NPR described the number of 
voters going to the polls on the day of the election as a "huge turnout". One 
commentator even went so far as to say "record turnout". And of course the 
number being touted around by all the corporate media outlets the day after 
the election was a "60 percent turnout". No matter where I went all I heard 
were that huge numbers were going to the polls while I was monitoring the 
corporate media the day of the election. And of course this is what the 
corrupt establishment elites want us to believe. They want us to believe that 
Arnold Schwarzenegger has such overwhelming support in California and that he 
has such a huge mandate to knock heads in Sacramento that the Democratic 
dominated legislature in California will simply roll over to Arnold's demands. 
In fact, it is strictly an illusion of numbers. Registered voters vs eligible 
voters. 

In California there are 21,833,141 eligible voters. Of those eligible voters 
70.45% or 15,380,536 are registered. In order for 60% of the registered voters 
to have cast ballots, the number of those that voted in California's recall 
would have to have been 9,228,321 not the 7,898,606 that did. By putting out 
the hype that a perceived "60 percent turnout" occurred the corporate media 
are leading the public to believe a well crafted lie. That 60 percent of 
Californians voted whereas in fact only 51% of registered Californian voters 
went to the polls in the recall which represents a most terrible, horrendously 
low 36% of eligible Californian voters. Hardly the overwhelming a majority the 
corporate media is leading us to believe went to the polls to give Arnold 
Schwarzenegger a mandate. As long as the corporate media continues to lie to 
you in order to create the impression that democracy is alive and well and the 
lie is believed, the elites can continue to control the policy process in 
America. This deception is done with absolute deliberate intent for there has 
never been any feudal rulers that had any desire to give the ruled the lives 
that nature intended for them. 

One of the other themes of the recall the corporate media was putting out was 
the "widespread dissatisfaction" and "anger" in the minds of the "majority of 
Californians" with the way Gov. Gray Davis was handling the budget and the 
economy. But as the above numbers prove, an overwhelming majority of 
Californians did not vote in the recall. So the corporate media cannot prove 
any of the statements that were made along these lines. Even the timing of the 
L.A. Times article, seven days prior to the recall, concerning the sexual 
assault Arnold Schwarzenegger allegedly committed against many numbers of 
women played into Schwarzenegger's camp. Not giving the allegations time 
enough to be transcended by the broader Californian public. But what does the 
corporate media care about the broader California Public, they have 
successfully engineered a majority of Americans out of the democratic process 
leaving them and their bosses and their bosses colleagues that make up the 
narrow minded elites in complete control of all policymaking in America. A 
heavily weighted toward the elites policy process indeed. 

Now that the recall is over we can put our minds back on presidential 
candidates squaring off for the 2004 general election in which the corporate 
media are carefully attempting to engineer the next corporate shill out of the 
Democratic line up of candidates to either win or lose against George W. Bush. 
But who won't challenge the outcome of the election using the excuse Democrats 
used during Iran-Contra of not wanting to put America through another 
nationally demoralizing impeachment process removing a corrupt president like 
Ronald Reagan and his administration from office. 

Pretty bleak outlook I realize. There is however a way out. The way out of the 
corrupt American electoral process is to promote overwhelming participation in 
the upcoming Democratic Party presidential primary. To promote the idea that 
people should vote for Congressman Dennis Kucinich and the Rev. Al Sharpton in 
the Democratic Party presidential primaries so that a Progressive platform can 
be created so a progressive candidate can inspire a majority of Americans to 
register and to vote. 

The only way a progressive candidate can win the Democratic Party presidential 
primary is if the alternative media focuses on the issues that Congressman 
Dennis Kucinich http://www.kucinich.us/ and Reverend Al Sharpton 
http://www.al2004.org/ are focusing on. The overwhelming evidence is that 
Americans do not vote unless the issues that they care about are given an 
honest airing. And quite frankly, all my political research shows that if the 
American public are not provided with universal health care by either party as 
the baby boom generation begins to retire, a majority into poverty, a 
political crisis will begin to explode on to the political map of America. If 
the most harassed generation, the largest generation in history the world that 
is presently coming-of-age doesn't see the drug war ended and jobs provided to 
them an even larger political crisis will breakout. If the collapse of the 
global food and fresh water supply are not dealt with the world's worst 
political crisis will on leash a global war for food and water. If we do not 
make an effort to remove the elites from political power in America we will 
betraying the very flesh and blood that gives all of us life As of today 
Dadapop.com is officially endorsing the candidacies of Congressman Dennis 
Kucinich and the Rev. Al Sharpton for president in the Democratic Party 
presidential primary. 

Dadapop.com has launched a voter registration bumper sticker campaign 
entitled "They're Corrupt Cause You Don't Vote!" 
http://dadapop.com/corrupt.html . Please come to the web site and take a look 
at this campaign. Americans need a new civics lesson and need to be told by 
other Americans that "They're Corrupt Cause You Don't Vote!"

dadapop.com


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