Magpie

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Five reasons to vote against the latest version of the Wall Street bailout plan.

David Sirota's got em.

Pay particular attention to #4. If I were a member of the House or Senate, I'd think at least twice before I voted for the bailout.

Labels: Bailout, Economy, Elections, Politics, Wall Street

| | Posted by Magpie at 4:22 PM | Get permalink

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Where was Sarah, hmmm?

Here's the latest sign that Republicans know what a disaster Sarah Palin is as a VP choice: While Dem VP nominee Joe Biden was all over the media after last night's debate, praising Obama's performance, Sarah Palin wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Palin's absence from the debate postmortems isn't all that surprising, given this item from progressive radio host Ed Schultz:

The campaign has held a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as "disastrous." One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, "What are we going to do?" The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is "clueless."

This magpie is, of course, anxiously awaiting Palin's performance in next week's VP debate—allowing, of course, that the Republicans don't find a way to keep her from fulfilling her obligation.

Labels: Elections, GOP, Incompetence, McCain, Politics, Sarah Palin

| | Posted by Magpie at 11:54 AM | Get permalink

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Another reason why the US attorneys scandal matters.

Let's not even worry about whether it's appropriate to turn the nation's federal law enforcement apparatus into a hotbed of partisan political action. I think we can all agree that this is a bad idea.

What matters at least as once is what Dubya's administration wanted to do once it had the US attorneys' offices under firm control:

For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates.

The administration intensified its efforts last year as President Bush's popularity and Republican support eroded heading into a midterm battle for control of Congress, which the Democrats won.

Facing nationwide voter registration drives by Democratic-leaning groups, the administration alleged widespread election fraud and endorsed proposals for tougher state and federal voter identification laws. Presidential political adviser Karl Rove alluded to the strategy in April 2006 when he railed about voter fraud in a speech to the Republican National Lawyers Association.

Questions about the administration's campaign against alleged voter fraud have helped fuel the political tempest over the firings last year of eight U.S. attorneys, several of whom were ousted in part because they failed to bring voter fraud cases important to Republican politicians. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could shed more light on the reasons for those firings when he appears Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Civil rights advocates charge that the administration's policies were intended to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of poor and minority voters who tend to support Democrats, and by filing state and federal lawsuits, civil rights groups have won court rulings blocking some of its actions.

That's just the beginning of an excellent story by McClatchy's Greg Gordon, in which he details the specifics of the GOP's assault on the electoral process and the right to vote.

Via McClatchy Washington Bureau.

Labels: Al Gonzales, Elections, Scandals, US attorneys

| | Posted by Magpie at 11:51 AM | Get permalink

Thursday, April 12, 2007

That threat of voter fraud in the US.

You remember it, don't you? That plague of fraudulent voting that was so bad that the Justice Department started a big investigation just after the 2002 elections?

You probably won't be surprised to find out that — like so many other threats that Dubya's administration uses to scare the US public — no significant voter fraud is taking place in the US. In fact, the problem is almost nonexistent.

Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews.

Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year.

Most of those charged have been Democrats, voting records show. Many of those charged by the Justice Department appear to have mistakenly filled out registration forms or misunderstood eligibility rules, a review of court records and interviews with prosecutors and defense lawyers show.

It's important to note, however, that both the Justice Department was looking at voter fraud — that is, acts by individuals that enabled them to vote when they weren't legally entitled to do so. The department hasn't looked at all at the question of electoral fraud, which is the stuff that political parties and public officials do to swing election results. Like the lack of voting machines in heavily Democratic precincts in Ohio in 2004. Or the butterfly ballots in Florida in 2000.

For some reason, the Justice Department didn't think that electoral fraud was such a problem that it required an investigation. Gee, I wonder why.

Via NY Times.

Labels: Elections, Fraud

| | Posted by Magpie at 9:02 AM | Get permalink