American Blackout

So I just watched American Blackout tonight and I think I can safely say that I have never been so righteously indignant in my life.
The movie is an examination of the systematic disenfranchisement of black voters in Florida in 2000 (under Florida Secretary of State/Florida Chairwoman for the Bush's campaign Katherine Harris) and in Ohio in 2004 (under Ohio Secretary of State/Ohio Chairman to reelect Bush Ken Blackwell).

It then goes on to show how how the congresswoman from GA's 4th district, Cynthia McKinney, opened up investigations into the matter and later lost her seat in 2002 due to Republican cross over voting in the primary.

This, to me, was one of the more interesting aspects of the film. Georgia operates on an open primary system, which means that one need not be registered as a Democrat or Republican to vote in either primary. The Republicans, knowing that they couldn't capture the seat in the general, chose instead to support a more moderate alternative. The alternative was another black woman, Denis Majette, who they thought would be able to win some of the black Democratic vote of DeKalb county. This vote, if supplemented by enough support by Republicans, might be enough to beat McKinney in the primary. It was.

During the primary, 117,000 voters showed up for the Democratic primary while only about 5,000 showed up for the Republican. This was in a district that I think was about 65--35 Democrat. Unbelievable. There's almost a kind of hideous brilliance in that strategy. Political machination at its finest. I think this moment was best captured as McKinney was filmed at her laptop watching results role in and saying "There just really good at what they do. We have to get better."

There's all sorts of other great stuff: the wildly inaccurate list of Florida felons from 2000, the voting machine malapportionment in Ohio in 2000, the courageous stands by Barbara Boxer and the black congressional caucus before Bush was officially declared the winner, etc.

McKinney is the star though, and it's worth watching just to observe her in action. True, she had that run in with the security guard not too long ago (which probably contributed to her defeat in 2006), but she is so warm and intelligent and strong that I just wanted to jump off the couch, grab a sign, and start chanting slogans. Kind of gets me in the mood to do some canvassing. . .

and January is only seven months away.

Here's a kind of fuzzy, and heavily edited tape of McKinney questioning Rumsfeld and the DOD comptroller. Just a taste of her spirit.