Beyond Barney: How PBS accidentally showed that Rove stole the Florida vote

I can't believe it! Frontline, the PBS news show, just explained to us on national television just exactly how Karl Rove managed to jimmy the election vote both in 2000 AND in 2004! And Frontline exposed Rove purely by accident too. They didn't MEAN to give away Rove's trade secret. But after they got done quoting our Karl, even Barney the Purple Dinosaur could have put two and two together and figured this one out.

According to political commentator John Machado, "On a recent Frontline segment featuring the grand accomplishments of Karl -- the architect -- Rove, the bottom line reason that Rove's vote goal was reached in November of 2004 was that 'his base came out' after the polls had indicated that Kerry was the winner by a comfortable margin. Does Rove's base, the holy rolling Right Wing, vote only after 5 PM?"

Rove's base came out AFTER the polls had already implicated that Kerry was the winner? Karl Rove actually said that? Wow!

"It seems," Machado continued, "that the holy rolling Right Wing 'came out' all of a sudden .. around 8 PM ... and in 2000, too, just when Karl needed a 50,000 vote bulge...and he got it in Broward County, of all places...50,000 magical votes showed up after...after 8 pm...after 8 pm....when all the polls...almost always correct polls...readily called Gore the winner in Florida... handily..." Double wow!

"The Frontline program presented Rove's image as one of hard work, dedication and cleverness," stated Machado. "All true. But, there is one more tool in the architect's bag.....and, it has been the difference maker. When all else fails, and your team has ended the game one foot short of the goal line......use your remote to change the score on the scoreboard."

Why is this information so important? Election security expert William Rouverol explained it to me the other day over lunch (turkey sandwiches on home-made bread with Greek olives and lemon meringue pie from Berkeley's famous Bread Workshop!): Rigged votes can only be changed late in the day because the riggers need to find out how much rigging they could get away with before they can make their move.

According to Rouverol, "Vendors need at least six hours, with NO rigging, to see how much rigging in the last six or seven hours is needed in order to win the election. Either too little or too much rigging leads to trouble; failing to win or exposing the fraud by making the manipulation too blatant." That probably also explains why Florida state troopers were sent out to limit access to the polls directly before and after closing time....

I'm so happy that Barney...er...Karl Rove...spoke up the other day and explained this to us. "At the last minute, we energized our base." Yeah right. Traditionally, base voters usually vote early in the day. Just before closing time, people are usually kinda reluctant to go to the polls.

Can you imagine Rove actually calling up recalcitrant Republicans just before they were about to sit down to dinner and ordering them to RightMarch out the door to vote? "It's 7:55 pm! The polls close in five minutes! Dubya needs you! JESUS is telling you to vote!" Would the Republicans have actually left their fried chicken and key lime pie to go vote? They might have. Would Rove actually have been busy calling Republicans at 7:55? He might have. But it's far more likely that the election was rigged.

This statement of Rove's is extremely important. It implicates him in the election rigging scam -- and with Rove implicated, the finger is also pointed at George Bush.

Both Bush and Rove belong in jail.