Back in april of 2005, reflecting on the recent election, Senator John Kerry told a voter's group that all US citizens must demand their right to vote and resolutely refuse to be restrained saying, "Last year too many people were denied their right to vote, too many who tried to vote were intimidated."
I'd like to think that people enter politics for the best of reasons--to help folks out, to chart a better course, to provide new leadership. But sadly, as campaigns unfold, too often it seems, somewhere along the line, somebody doesn't get the proverbial word, somebody forgets the game plan, or somebody fouls up.
In the movies, it's always some madman who launches a missile or sends his bombers past the fail safe point when he hasn't been given the go-code or a SWaT team member who mows down some poor sap without the proper authorization.
In politics, a problem usually crops up when someone forgets to pass the word on, like telling someone to do something, picking up so and so or dropping something off. Which, for the most part, falls in the realm of poor management or problematic command and control.
However, in Milwaukee, on the night before the last Presidential election, it was a bit more of a sinister snafu and involved the local Kerry/Edwards machine in what appears to be one the few actual prosecutable acts of voter strong-arm tactics on record and involves a staff which allegedly ran amok.
Five of the movers and shakers in the Kerry 2004 campaign office in Milwaukee are charged with slashing some 40 tires on 25 vehicles rented by the Republican Party for their own get-out-the-vote efforts in the early hours before sunrise on Election Day, causing some $5,000 in damages and grounding about 25% of the fleet of vehicles. and with Kerry carrying the state of Wisconsin by about 10,000 questionable votes, what with the dead, the homeless and felons casting so many ballots, these vehicles would've come in mighty handy in whittling down that lead.
The alleged culprits, charged in the matter, are Michael Pratt, the son of the former Milwaukee Mayor who served as the Chair of Kerry's Milwaukee Campaign, Suwande Omokunde, who also goes by the moniker of Supreme Solar allah and is the son of Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI), Lewis Caldwell, Lavelle Mohammed and Justin Howell. Each member of the group is facing up to 3 years in the pen and a $10,000 fine, which is not, by any means, chicken feed, particularly the hard time, given the sensitive and contemplative nature of the lads involved.
after giving up on their first plan to paper over the Bush HQ with Kerry stickers and to put Kerry signs in the front yard because a reconnaissance run revealed a rogue security guard on the premises, they decided to alter their tactics, up the ante and go nuclear with knives issued all around.
apparently the boyos tipped their hand when they resurfaced at the Kerry HQ, still garbed in their Ninja outfits. alas, hardened and well trained undercover operatives they were not. Bubble headed with their success, the code of Omerta was quickly forgotten by the city slickers turned domestic terrorists for a night, as they bragged about their success with the Republican vehicles.
The details of their actual get up and associated accoutrements remain sketchy, but suffice it to say that they were memorable enough for the witnesses to recall. Judging from their unique costuming, I'll bet the lads were brandishing Rambo-style survival knives with the mini-flares, fish nets and tool kits in their colossal hilts.
again, I'm struck by the fact that the names of Mohammed and allah keep cropping up in the darndest places, including this ham fisted attempt to keep the Republican voters at home in Milwaukee, of all places. although direct ties to Osama bin-Laden can be ruled out, it appears this lawless act can at least be traced to paid operatives in the Democratic Party, with four of the five suspects said to be directly on the party dole, and where interestingly enough, cell phone calls have played a crucial role in the evidence presented by the prosecution. Surprisingly, the aCLU and the senators on the Judicial Committee have been strangely silent on this particular use of phone records, conversations and cells towers in a prosecution of such potential magnitude.
as the verdict was awaited, with no assurance of a result equal to the maximum extent which the law provides for the acts alleged, especially in a blue state like Wisconsin, it must be remembered that when the proceedings go to the jury, the situation remained a potential nightmare for the Milwaukee Democrats and the Kerry/Edwards staff. after all, when a criminal case lands in the hands of the people, who are unruly, often fractious and many times more difficult to domineer, and not those of a friendly, sympathetic and normally controllable liberal judge, the jokers are wild.
Then suddenly, in the middle of Friday's deliberations, with the passing of a note from the jurors to the judge which indicated, gasp, possible guilt, four of the boyos quickly rolled over, copped no contest pleas, while one, Justin Howell, got a walk from the jury later in the afternoon.
Yep, John Kerry picked a good time to visit the quiet streets of Baghdad, what with all the excitement in Wisconsin, especially with the his campaign workers going down for willful destruction of property during an election and paying $5,317 in damages. Will the guilty pleas send Kerry further afield, to, say, Diego Garcia? Who can say.
as Kenny Rogers said, "Know when to fold 'em, know when to run."
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