A Fellow Blogger WARNS Neo-Cons

This is a Blog written by a Fellow blogger over at Daily Kos. He wants people to feel free to use this anywhere the Neo-Cons will see it. So Get It out there.


Dear Republicans who may be inclined to cheat in this election:

You need to watch out, before you agree to do anything wrong in this election -- either dirty tricks before the campaign or election fraud or intimidation the day of -- because we have a special weapon on our side this year.

I was going to tell you to watch out because we have spies. But "spies" isn't the right word. What we have is some good-hearted Republicans on our side. And by "our side," I don't mean that they're supporting Democrats; I mean that they are supporting honest and civil elections.

And they will turn you in and you will take the fall.

Major Danby's diary :: ::
This is an election where a lot of Republicans, even if they are willing to cast their ballots for the elephant, feel real serious conflict about what the authoritairans in power have done to our government. In the past -- in a Presidential election -- maybe they could be convinced that winning is everything. Not this year. A lot of Republicans think, rightly, that your party may be better off with a little humbling this year. That maybe things are out of control.

I'm talking about loyal Republicans here. It doesn't mean that they won't vote your way. It does mean that they're not as likely to avert their eyes if you try to cheat. Average, salt of the earth Republicans want the public to believe that the cheaters -- along with the page-fondlers, the meth-snorting prostitute patronizers, the bribe-takers, and the bribe-makers -- are being purged from the party. What better way to do that than by turning you in?

If you're asked to do something a little bit sneaky, do you know that it's legal? Do you know the name James Tobin? Do you know what happened in the New Hampshire election last time around? People are going to jail. When the party leaders decide who's going to take a fall, do you think that they'll protect the small fry like you? The White House is already pretending that they barely knew who Jack Abramoff and Ted Haggard were. Do you think you'll be protected?

The law has started catching up to you. We're already discussing tonight whether what the sabotage robocalls being used across the country are legal or not. As a lawyer, I'm not sure; it may vary state by state, or maybe not. If I'm not sure, how much of a risk do you want to take? After all, you are expendable, and they may try to say it was all your idea.

The most critical part of the law is one involving "conspiracy." The law considers a normal crime to be bad enough, but when more than one person get together to plan the crime, it is extra bad, because it tears at the social fabric in a different way. And you don't have to know much about what's going on to still be guilty of conspiracy.

Can you afford a lawyer? Do you think that the party will provide good ones to the small fry?

If you see stuff going on that a reasonable person would think might be illegal, you should certainly not participate it. More than that, you should report it. Because if there's one guy around hanging off on the sidelines, who do you think they're going to try to pin things on? You have to protect yourself. Reporting it is the only sure way to do that.

Now you may ask: why am I not directing this at Democrats? Well, first, I will: Democrats, don't cheat. If you do, I will love to see you take a fall. But really, guys, we don't have to worry much about Democrats cheating. The reason is pretty simple: if we do, we'll get caught. That's because there are already enough Democrats around who won't get involved in it, and there's more than enough media to report on any little thing we do as if it's front page news, while refusing to report on what the Republicans do that's much worse. We're honest because we had damn well better be. Your party tends to be less honest and more fast-and-loose with the rules because you assume that people will laugh and say "boys will be boys." But maybe not so much anymore.

It's a new world starting Wednesday, one in which many people will be looking around the Republican Party looking to cast blame -- and looking for scapegoats. Don't be an idiot. Don't make it easy to be the sap left holding the bag.

If you drop the dime on election fraud, you get to be a hero. If you don't, you need to be looking around at everyone around you, wondering whether one of them will. They may smile and agree to everything going on, but what's in their heart? You don't want to find out from a quiet brief talk the public defender assigned to you.

I'm not appealing to your ideology here, I'm appealing purely to your self-interest. Don't just refuse to cheat because it's right -- refuse to cheat because you'll get slammed. Don't make this year even worse for yourself.

This was a Diary written by Major Danby. This can be found on Kos, F.I.N.G.E.R.