Update: Greg Palast Responds to Criticism

Greg Palast has already responded, it seems I've been under a rock. He basically argues that all anyone can do with all the raw data is fact check it to death and do exactly what he and the BBC is doing. He's not a rouge blogger with no credentials, he's an investigative reporter with the best news agency in the world. He goes on to say that large portions of the evidence and investigative work are laid out in his book and none of that was disputed because none of it was considered. For now I'm placing my trust in Greg Palast. If he's over selling himself, it's a bold gambit.

Controversy Over Palast Claims

the community over at Daily Kos is having a heated debate regarding the validity of Greg Palast's claims. Some people, perhaps more rational than me, have argued for a bit of scepticism since Greg Palast has only produced dozens of the "500 e-mails" and only 1800 of the "tens of thousands" of names on "Caging Lists". I don't think this is meant to downplay the seriousness of this accusation, its merely meant to demand evidence before judgement, a worthy sentiment.

Why “Vote Caging” Should Have You Rioting in the Streets

3 million votes were challenged AFTER they were cast in the 2004 election, and it turns out that many of them may be from a GOP tactic called “Vote Caging”, here’s how it works. Bare with me, this is a thick and tangled web of scandal.

When ex-Alberto Gonzales aide Monica Goodling testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee she mentioned the term “Vote Caging” several times, in reference to Karl Rove’s protégé Tim Griffin (more on him later). The term was unfamiliar to many and it prompted Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., to ask Goodling, to explain the term. Goodling fumbled and muttered something about it being a “direct mail” term.

Monica was right; Vote Caging does use direct mail. But she left out the most important aspect of vote caging; it’s used to suppress votes.

This is how it works;

Step One: Send registered, first class mail to black people. Mark the letter “do not forward” so if they happen to be fighting in Iraq it will not go to them.

Step Two: Every letter that comes back “undeliverable” can then be challenged as being fraudulent. Voters are purged from the rosters, and the ones that demand their right to vote cast provisional ballots, which are less likely to be counted anyway.

Step Three: Repeat in every tight race in the country.

It’s a complicated GOP tactic that’s been used since the 80’s to win races with slight margins of victories.

You might remember that Tim Griffin was installed as a U.S. Attorney for Arkansas after Bud Cummings was fired. Of course Griffin immediately went to work “vote caging” and the focus of Monica’s testimony was in exonerating him from wrongdoing. She claimed there were good reasons for it, and that he did not believe anything he was doing was wrong.

If that’s the case then why did Tim Griffin resign? Because it seems like he’s worried that a contentious confirmation hearing might draw attention to the fact that the GOP has been subverting democracy.

This story was cracked open by BBC reporter Greg Palast. He’s an American but has to travel across the Atlantic to find a worthy news agency the hire him. I could tell you what he did, but let’s just listen to him. The part at 5:20 is particularly relevant.

I suggest watching the whole series, its long, but FUCK, your country is being stolen.

These articles are the base of this story.

Here is one on Greg Palast’s site

Here is another on Think Progress