When will the other shoe drop?
On Sept. 21, Raw Story reported that Karl Rove was telling conservative groups that he had a surprise scheduled for the last two weeks of October that would turn the midterms in the Republicans’ favor.
Now, as mid-October approaches, we have to assume that Rove’s other shoe will drop within a week or so.
We have already seen how suddenly the narrative can change in an election. Eight days after the Raw Story report, Rove found the shoe on the other foot, for once, when an unnamed Republican operative outed GOP Rep. Mark Foley as chickenhawk who had been stalking Capitol Hill page boys for years. And worse, GOP leaders, including Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader John Boehner and others, have known about Foley’s predatory ways for months and years, and have been covering it up to keep Foley’s seat in GOP hands. The scandal has had Republicans on the defensive and off-message for two weeks.
There may be more surprises coming in the Foley case — a wholesale outing of all the GOP staffers and elected officials on Capitol Hill has been threatened, for example. But it is just as likely that the story will fade, or be trumped by bigger news. (When was the last time the word “macaca” was in the news?)
What is Rove’s October surprise? As early as Sept. 8, we suggested that the Bush team could have captured or killed Osama bin Laden recently, and have been waiting to reveal this news closer to the election. Others, including BuzzFlash, had similar thoughts.
This election is far from over, and Pres. Bush and his cohorts are desperate. Their entire agenda — not to mention their freedom from investigation, perhaps indictment and even impeachment — rests on a Republican victory on Nov. 7.
They will do anything to win.
Not sure about the surprise, many possibilities…OT, could Rove have been behind “Foleygate” to keep the headlines off a potentially more damaging story: “Abramoff visits white house 485 times”? Followed by Abramoff/Rove aide Ralston resigns?
If so, did it backfire?
I don’t see them bombing Iran, since that would vastly inflate gas prices. Right now the recent decreases in gas prices are the only positive thing the Republicans can point to as an accomplishment on their watch.
Of course we’ve been hearing an awful lot of noise from the third member of the Axis of Evil lately, and I don’t believe that they have any oil production to disrupt…
Why not look at the real truth behind 9-11 and all events included?
http://www.iamthewitness.com/mp3/DarylBradfordSmith-12Oct2006.mp3
http://www.thetruth247.com
http://www.iamthewitness.com
http://cytations.blogspot.com
http://nomorefraud.blogspot.com
http://whatreallyhappened.com
That’ll give you the real answer
In light of the ground swell of anti-Republican sentiment and voter disgust with their do-nothing Congress (for which they all got paid tidy salaries by the way), the only way to turn the election in their favor is:
Stop the election.
Major terrorist alert, raise the threat level to “red” for the first time, and then attempt installing marshal law, with the president “suspending” the elections for the first time in American history. What if their scare tactics involved frightening people from going to their polling places?
Scary, folks.
This is a dangerous world they’ve created. So much for their “culture of life.”
VOTE ABSENTEE–the only way NOT to be forced to use a machine. All paper ballots must be hand-counted.
It could be that, this time, Rove is just blowing smoke about an October Surprise to reassure his base. It’s not necessarily a bad thing for the Repugs.
If they do lose one or both houses, their plan might be to use the Democratic Congress becomes a handy scapegoat for each subsequent disaster this administration stumbles into. Between the right-wing media echo chamber and the “bipartisian” Vichy Democrats who are willing to cross the aisle if the price is right, they could avoid indictment/impeachment and still advance their agenda.
As pessimistic as this sounds, I certainly hope there IS no October Surprise. Any small surprise could be shouted down by the Democrats as “timed to manipulate the electorate”. To avoid that, any October Surprise would have to be jaw-droppingly HUGE and horrific, near 9-11 caliber. Whatever that might be, it’ll be far worse for our country than no surprise would be.
Have to go along with the “bomb Iran” crowd. The refinement this time will be that Iran can actually fight back outside its own borders, and there will be a US carrier battle group within cruise missile range. Of course, another unresisted slaughter-fest like Iraq would only backfire; but if we were actually losing fairly large numbers and big-ticket weapons platforms like carriers–sad but true–a big chunk of John Q. would feel obliged to rally behind the troops…where, of course, the commander in chief is already hiding.
I agree with Robert, there is a big suprise coming. But its only a suprise to the repugs. The democrats are going to kick some repug ass in Nov and move on to locking a bunch of them up.
This is no suprise to any true AMERICAN.
Re: war with Iran. Bush doesn’t need any authorization from Congress to attack Iran. The War Powers Act gives him 60 days of carte blanche to do whatever he wants, and an automatic 30-day extension if he wants one, without having to ask Congress’ permission.
Further, a Sept. 14, 2001 Senate Joint Resolution (S. J. R. 23) gave Bush explicit statuatory authority to attack any nation he deems, at his sole discretion (with no consensus, proof or even credible standard of evidence as a constraint), to have had anything to do with 9/11, or that now harbors, or is found by Bush, again at his sole discretion, to have harbored any al Qaida fugitives at any time in the past, if it’s deemed that such an action is necessary to prevent future attacks. Not too tough for the Prez to spin it that way if he wants to, eh?
Either of those items on their own, or combined, means the Prez can legally bomb Iran into the stone age tomorrow if he wants to. Nobody can say boo.
And there ‘aint a-gonna be no impeachment, cuz it’s all legal like, see? Heh heh heh…
All of this courtesy of the fine, upstanding folk we all sent to D.C. to represent us.
Neoliberal: No, paper ballots are no more secure than electronic ballots, unless they are hand-counted in a recount. The bulk of paper ballots are scanned and the data is dumped to a server; these servers have been shown by BBV.org to be easily hacked.
There will certainly be an October surprise for The Repubs are in trouble. Given their aggression, paranoia, and ultimate goal: my prediction is war with Iran – and, perhaps in such a way that it shuts down election day in the U.S.A.
If for some reason, like the entire military and the select Republican Senators told about this, refuse to go along with it – then they will fall back on their domestic plan of disrupting the elections in every significant state: Missouri, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, etc. etc.
Make no mistake, they cannot afford to lose.
The citizens of the United States are about to be faced with the largest crises of conscience since 1776. Believe it. Get ready. Fill your gas tanks, get your food and water and be prepared.
Rigged election will give repugs 51%.
A few hacked voter machines will be outed, giving reason to void entire election. To be rescheduled by the existing congress/supreme court someday(?) if ever. Meanwhile-incumbents quo.
Surprise everyone it wasn’t October it is November!
Good-bye America
There have been no free elections in our country for 6 years.
Guilt by association, legal gulags, and systematic torture are open government policy.
The Bill Of Rights has been cancelled along with the Magna Carta.
Our press, courts, ballot and congress have been respectively castrated by monopoly, nepotism, gerrymander, and presidential signing statements.
We have the highest per capita prison population in the world. The majority incarcerated for victimless crimes.
Our economy is being squeezed like a dry lemon. The only domestic industry expanding now is the military.
In short, the UnitedStatesOfAmerica is over. We have become what we were formed to oppose. You’re only permitted to read this page to promote an illusion of that controls your willingness to rebel.
Surprise.
Iran is clearly a possibility, but somehow I don’t think so. Too obvious. OBL/Al Quaeda tapes are too wimpy and wouldn’t work. Expect the unexpected.
These guys will not go gently into the night. Consider the possibility of mass death in either Israel or here, even nuclear or biological mass death.
Whatever it is, it must not be allowed to induce us to change “our course.” They have to go. Period.
Rove may know of something happening with Iran, but he cannot control the timetable. I do not think he would promise something in a 2 week period so specifically which is open to the vagariies of weather, military planning and execution, and Ramadan. Nor did he anticipate the North Koreans or the size the Foley matter. I suspect he planned something more controllable–a smear or fraudulent “I’m a victim” ploy–and he the timetable is still good, but the scenario needs amplification. Would the US have hidden bin Laden all this time? I am not so sure the Arab allies of bin Laden would be forthcoming if bin Laden were already killed or captured; it is possible he is out of commission. But I am not so sure the Saudi,Egyptian and Israeli secret services would be totally silent about it if they had foreknowledge either. Bin Laden’s stock isn’t what it used to be, so annoucing his death would cause a press frenzy for a while; however, his value as a “target” could be wiped off the map by the rising toll in Iraq. If 110 people in your hometown were found dead in one day–for any reason, let alone war– I think you would suspect something very rotten in your hometown. Bin Laden isn’t killing anyone in Baghdad.
These comments remind me of dogs nipping at the heels of a caravan, butterflys flapping in a hurricane, etc. Tis better to live out to live out our remainig days conitinuing to pursue those hedonistic pleasues that got us here.
-Bomb Iran after Gulf of Tonkin-type incident
-Raise terrorist threat
-Postpone/cancel elections
-Use those already built “camps
(remember no more habeas corpus!)
-Continue to gut the Constitution
They’ve got everything in place for alla that and more…..
The October surprise could just be Diebold voting machines. These elections are close. There is no paper trail. The machines will be hacked. The outcomes will be skewed. The media will label anyone who questions the results as ‘sore losers.’ It’s all Rove needs.
Osama will never be caught by this administration. The Bush family and the BinLaden family have too long a relationship for one to whack a member of the other. The goal of the neoconservatives is to disable OPEC, and allow Israel to control the economies of the middle east. They don’t care how many innocents have to die to accomplish this.
Starting a war with Iran would hurt them and they know it – even the idiots who voted for them are getting sick of all that money being wasted and the sheer ugliness of the US being at war constantly.
Osama whathisname is a yawner for the average USian dolt.
Rove didn’t get where he is by being that dumb.
He got there by manufacturing terrorizing events (most of which we don’t know about because they were executed against individuals who were in his way).
He needs a terrorizing event so the repug Congress and Chimp in Chief can look smart, decisive, and in command. Think of the terrorizing events in Europe and you’ll get a clue.
And I think I’ll stop there – the CIA is catching every word of this conversation. Or at least I’m terrorized enough already to think so.
Surprise! There’s no surprise!
A major surprise is that nobody has gone to Diebold with a subpoena. Another surprise is that nobody has hacked Diebold’s software to completely disable it and put Diebold out of business. Until an independent, audited agency is established to regulate voting practices on a federal level no election in the USA will be reliable. The biggest surprise will be a Democratic win of any kind in November. Expect Iran to be invaded *after* the election, no matter who wins. Expect to be lied to, cheated, and robbed blind until an actual, functioning government of, by and for the PEOPLE is established in feral America!
Here’s part of what I emailed to the one lawmaker in my state who may be accidently listening to us (but probably not). I don’t refer to Bush as president, because he’s not, but I do call him Mr. Bush in the same spirit a criminal court would refer to a serial killer as “Mr.”. The more we publicize the coming war with Iran and any false flag attacks on our ships (or on our shores) that may spark it, the more we force these squirmy, dark loving maggots into the light:
It appears as though Mr. Bush is preparing for another war for political gain, but this time the American people are on to him: should anything happen to our ships heading for the Persian gulf, we will reasonably suspect Mr. Bush is behind it. Would Mr. Bush even do the unthinkable and sacrifice his own people in a false flag attack to avoid losing Congress in November? Would he dare sink , for example, the USS Enterprise, with it’s 5000 on board and claim Iran had done it? Would he then declare Martial Law and “disappear” innocent Americans who dare to speak up through the use of the egregious and unconstitutional Military Commissions Act? Are innocent Americans to be horribly tortured and killed in the “detention” camps Haliburton has set up countrywide?
Formerly in America, real statesmen who were deeply concerned with the well being of their people would have roared a resounding “NEVER could this happen in America”! Now, though, since many of America’s lawmakers are corrupt beyond human imagining, addicted to the senseless exercise of brute power, and overtly hostile to the Constitution, the answers to these awful questions are not at all clear.
I have seen references to the 800 camps constructed by BK&R many times, but have not found the genesis for this story. Can someone direct me to this information ?
Thanks,
Jeff
Valencia
Award-winning investigative reporter and journalist Dave Lindorff has written;
[Retired] Colonel Gardiner, who has taught military strategy at the National War College [of the United States], says that the [U.S. Navy] carrier deployment and a scheduled Persian Gulf arrival date of October 21 [2006] is “very important evidence” of war planning. He says, “I know that some naval forces have already received ‘prepare to deploy orders’ [PTDOs], which have set the date for being ready to go as October 1 [2006]. Given that it would take about from October 2 to October 21 to get those forces to the [Persian] Gulf region, that looks about like the date” of any possible military action against Iran. (A PTDO means that all crews should be at their stations, and ships and planes should be ready to go, by a certain date—in this case, reportedly, October 1.) Gardiner notes, “You cannot issue a PTDO and then stay ready for very long. It’s a very significant order, and it’s not done as a training exercise.” This point was also made in the Time article.
(…)
“I think the plan’s been picked: bomb the nuclear sites in Iran,” says [Colonel] Gardiner. “It’s a terrible idea, it’s against U.S. law and it’s against international law, but I think they’ve decided to do it.” Gardiner says that while the United States has the capability to hit those sites with its cruise missiles, “the Iranians have many more options than we [the United States] do.
(…)
McCain makes a halloween visit to the troops in Afghanistan. Just as he’s being filmed sipping coffee with some soldiers in the middle of nowhere, a tall bearded guy on a moped zips by and lobs a grenade. McCain picks it up and throws it back,detonating and knocking the rider off of the moped,injured but not dead. All this caught on film,McCain calmly walks over,realizes it’s Bin Laden and holds him down as the soldiers tie him up to be brought back alive. OCTOBER SURPRISE ’08