Part 2


Prior to this alleged threat, "Anonymous" was notorious for attacking PayPal, Mastercard, and Visa with denial of service attacks – as retribution for those corporations blocking donations to WikiLeaks. Further, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange would probably qualify as organized-media-anointed poster representatives for the anti-establishment. To emphasize the point: "Anonymous" acted in direct, symbolic sympathy for WikiLeaks.

Ron Paul, meanwhile, is the only presidential candidate (among Republicans or Obama) who’s voiced principled support for Bradley Manning, the imprisoned Army intelligence analyst the Military claims provided WikiLeaks with "restricted" materials that allegedly "aided the enemy" in the first place. Neoconservatives uniformly revile Manning as a traitor, while Ron Paul hails Manning as a "patriotic hero" government whistleblower.

Yet now, at this particular moment in time, this allegedly anti-establishment group "Anonymous," complete with Guy Fawkes masks, threatens the Iowa caucuses – just when it appears likely that anti-establishment Ron Paul is poised for victory there? That makes no logical sense.

This uncanny synchronicity between Anonymous and a desperate GOP establishment provided a convenient pretext for party officials to announce that they will "move the vote tabulation" of the caucus precinct results to "an undisclosed location." Needless to say, the best remedy to counter any potential vote fraud is transparency and the light of day – not secrecy and isolation. Instead, this move takes the precinct results into some "undisclosed location" for counting by Republican Party insiders.

Considering the recent self-destructive antics of the GOP over the prospect of a Ron Paul victory in Iowa, will the public accept as legitimate any results that emerge from a secret room?

Meanwhile, in the absence of another suitable "anybody-but-Romney" "Frontrunner!" to grab the baton, the organized media now attempts a narrative that Romney is suddenly no longer the same radioactive flip-flopper who inspired the entire "anybody-but-Romney" sweepstakes until now.

We’re supposed to believe that Mitt Romney suddenly, and I would add inexplicably, is surging for an upset in Iowa.

Romney, the original "health insurance mandater" – of navy blue Massachusetts – whose signature achievement, Romneycare, became the design model for Obamacare (a GOP primary heresy), and which now festers over with the trappings of institutional, interventionist failure: runaway costs, shortages, and complaints.

As for seeking that conservative standard bearer, voters will discover Romney to be his own worst enemy. For a man who’s only managed to win a single election out of a limited run of campaigns, an impressive array of YouTube clips immortalizes his past fervency for current Republican heresy: especially abortion, gun rights, and bailouts.

Presumably, this discovery already occurred, which is why Romney’s never pulled away from the rest of the pack, and why we’ve had no fewer than five establishment "frontrunner" lead changes so far, not counting Donald Trump. Do voters suddenly find "conservative" issues irrelevant? Or is something more nefarious at work?

Two likely possibilities exist:

This time, the establishment media is telling the truth about Romney’s supposed surge in Iowa, and the rest of the media’s history of manipulative bias against Ron Paul can be ignored – again, this time.
These stories about Romney’s surge in Iowa are a cynical ruse, a cover for a direct plot to manipulate the vote tabulation in the sequestered secrecy of the "undisclosed location" and change the outcome of the caucuses.

Tainting the caucus results by way of a staged, forensically unverifiable "hacking attack" – and more importantly, delaying the certification of the results – would allow ample opportunity to falsify any required forgeries if bad actors chose to steal it outright. But at a minimum, delaying the certification of the results robs the winner, and for the sake of argument we’ll say that’s Ron Paul, of priceless momentum heading into New Hampshire just seven days later.

Could this be the plan to prevent a Paul victory in Iowa from cutting into Romney’s once formidable lead in New Hampshire? The GOP establishment certainly has demonstrated motive: in December alone, multiple GOP luminaries overtly expressed their desire to squelch the impact of a Paul victory in Iowa, after all. Blaming it all on "Anonymous" even grants party hacks plausible deniability.

Unfortunately, conducting the caucus vote tabulation "in an undisclosed location" will lead directly to speculation and questions about the legitimacy of the results – regardless of the announced winner. Party officials are setting themselves up for controversy, and seemingly on purpose.

All of the chaotic drama surrounding the Iowa caucuses evokes an over-cited quotation: "You know, comrades," says Stalin, "that I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this – who will count the votes, and how."

Time will tell.

January 2, 2012

Dave Trotter [send him mail] is a technical communications manager in Central Texas. Follow him on Twitter.

Copyright © 2012 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

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