Let's Talk Voter Suppression

President George W. Bush loves to use the line, "Freedom is on the march!" while describing elections being held in Afghanistan and Iraq. Meanwhile, in the USA, a different march is occuring:

In Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell, Republican operatives wanted to conduct a last minute move of the polling precincts.

In Florida, Jeb "brother of Freedom Marcher W." Bush put in place a voter purge list that he knew was bogus.

In Nevada, where prositution is legal in some parts of the state (talk about Freedom!), former Voter's Outreach of America employee Eric Russell said the Republican-backed organization paid only for Republican forms and tore up any Democratic registration forms - perhaps hundreds of forms were destroyed.

In Oregon, where Freedom marches so defiantly against terror that only one state trooper is needed to protect the entire coast, the same outfit accused of destroying Dem registrations in Nevada has been so charged in the Emerald state.

In New Hampshire, where they know a thing or two about elections, the guy who orchestrated an illegal phone-bank jamming attack on the local Democrat's GOTV effort in 2002 has been running the Bush-Cheney 04 North East campaign until late last week when he was forced to resign for being a criminal.

Perhaps you are seeing a pattern here? Well, go here and read about a man named Nathan Sproul, who seems to be real good at this game.

West Virginia and Pennsylvania get in on the act with Mr. Sproul's outfit.

More from the Institute for Public Accuracy:

This summer, Michigan state Rep. John Pappageorge (R) was quoted in the
Detroit Free Press as saying, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're
going to have a tough time in this election." African Americans comprise 83
percent of Detroit's population.

In South Dakota’s June 2004 primary, Native American voters were prevented
from voting after they were challenged to provide photo IDs, which they were not
required to present under state or federal law.

In Kentucky in July 2004, black Republican officials joined to ask their
State GOP party chairman to renounce plans to place "vote challengers" in
African-American precincts during the coming elections.

Ohio, where Freedom marches to the tune of the Buckeye fight song, the Republican Secretary of State is invalidating voter registrations because they aren't printed on the right paper.

Finally, the RNC threatens Rock the Vote with legal action because they say the word "draft" a lot.

I guess Freedom is on the march in Afghanistan and Iraq because it sure ain't marching here.