the machine grinds on

Krugman's usual bleak outlook on de facto President Bush here. But just because it's bleak doesn't mean it isn't right. Read the Harpers for August (not yet on-line), the article by Mark Crispin Miller on how the GOP stole Ohio in the 2004 election and how the mainstream media (Keith Olbermann as a notable exception) have consigned this to the "crackpot theory" file. (That would make two stolen elections in a row, lest we forget.)

It's funny, isn't it, that exit polls were good enough for us to declare fraud in Ukraine's elections last year -- but when exit polls here didn't track with "official" results, we were instead treated to explanations of why they were poorly done. American democracy is descending into tragedy via travesty.