Month: October 2008

We Are All Joe The Plumber Now

by dday

There were early reports by Internet sleuths that the ubiquitous Joe the Plumber, the manifestation of the guy in “Swing Vote” come to life, was not a registered voter in the state of Ohio. As it turns out, he is, but with a slight misspelling – and if all elections systems were run by Republicans, that would be more than enough to disenfranchise him.

Purging voters or blocking their registration because of data errors is disenfranchisement by typo,” said Michael Waldman, the executive director of the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal legal group involved in litigation in those states. “Joe is a perfect example. If he were anew voter, he would be being challenged right now as not eligible to vote.”

“Joe the Plumber is not committing voter fraud by having his name spelled differently on two different lists,” he said.

Republicans have argued that there are safeguards against improper purges, and state officials say their lists are more accurate, and their purges more careful. They also note that voters whose registration is challenged can vote by provisional ballot.

National Review’s Jim Geraghty wrote that “if there’s a typo in the voter rolls, I trust local election officials to sort it out and ensure that that provisional ballot is used and subsequently counted once it’s certain that the voter in question is the person on the registered voter list.”

“Provisional ballots are not a substitute for actually voting,” said Waldman, who pointed to data suggesting provisional ballots are rejected at a high rate, and that voters who are told their names don’t appear on the rolls often simply walk away.

And he produced cases in which typos similar to the one affecting Wurzelbacher have knocked citizens off the rolls.

For instance, Florida officials in 2006 removed the name of Jose Lopez-Sandin, after officials typed his name in as “Joseph Lopez-Sandin.” They also removed the name of Anne Nguyen after election officials typed her name as “Ann Nguyen.”

“Because he’s the famous ‘Joe the Plumber’ it seems like an obvious typo, but this is the sort of error that will keep people from voting,” Waldman said.

The idea that Jim Geraghty has so much “trust” in local election officials is laughable. Because the Republican Party has spent the better part of 40 years trying to break that trust.

There is a current lawsuit in the state of Ohio that would force the Secretary of State to check hundreds of thousands of new registrants, by Friday, against government documents and databases, which is explicitly not required by the 2002 Help America Vote Act. The insertion of “Friday” is important, since this is clearly impossible. We know this is going to result in thousands of Ohioans losing their right to vote at the very minimum. People like Joe the Plumber, who because of a typo would be pushed to use a provisional ballot were he a newly registered voter. (Other reports say this is less of a problem, but I’m going on the word of the Secretary of State).

Our grip on the franchise of voting is so tenuous that a mishit letter at the DMV, poor penmanship on a voter registration form, could be all that stands between you and ineligibility. And this has been exploited by experienced voter suppression operatives in the Republican Party, a number of whom work on John McCain’s campaign, who
have raised this bogus spectre of voter fraud, against all known evidence, to try and lower turnout, historically in lower-class and minority regions of the country. Last night John McCain accused ACORN as “destroying the fabric of democracy.” Physician, heal thyself.

A few braver Republicans are speaking up about this coordinated effort to undermine American confidence in elections and delegitimize any Democratic President.

Florida’s governor says his fellow Republicans may be exaggerating claims of voter fraud in the state.

Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday that he has confidence in Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who says there’s only been a scattering of isolated incidents.

Crist said in the closing days of any campaign “there are some who sort of enjoy chaos.” There may be more of that going on than fraud, he said.

I can identify those “some” for you, Gov. Crist. They are the members of your own party who use chaos to create opportunities, in voting as well as governing.

UPDATE: Outrageous. The FBI is now directly investigating ACORN, turning the federal government into an aide for voter suppression. More at my site.

.

Still President Bush

by dday

There are 19 days until the general election replacing George Bush (I’ll wait for the cheers to die down). We all know he can still cause a lot of pain, and not just to 401(k) accounts. But there are things occurring in the shadows that aren’t getting enough attention.

• He’s still making signing statements exempting himself from current law.

President Bush asserted on Tuesday that he had the executive power to bypass several parts of two bills: a military authorization act and a measure giving inspectors general greater independence from White House control.

Mr. Bush signed the two measures into law. But he then issued a so-called signing statement in which he instructed the executive branch to view parts of each as unconstitutional constraints on presidential power.

• The laws he doesn’t amend are really crappy.

President Bush on Monday signed into law legislation creating a copyright czar, a cabinet-level position on par with the nation’s drug czar.

Two weeks ago, the House sent the president the “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act” (.pdf), a measure the Senate approved days before creating a cabinet-level copyright czar charged with implementing a nationwide plan to combat piracy and “report directly to the president and Congress regarding domestic international intellectual property enforcement programs.”

• He continues to break the law and ignore Congressional oversight.

Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) came together today to criticize the White House for their use of executive privilege in the Valerie Plame leak scandal.

The two lawmakers called Bush’s refusal to disclose the report of the FBI interview with Vice President Cheney “legally unprecedented” and “inappropriate.” The committee seeks the document in order to establish the White House’s role in the leak of Plame’s name to the media.

• Like I said, he continues to break the law.

A draft Committee report circulated by Chairman Waxman finds that in the months before the 2006 elections, the White House Office of Political Affairs “enlisted agency heads across government in a coordinated effort to elect Republican candidates to Congress,” directing them “to make hundreds of trips – most at taxpayer expense – for the purpose of increasing the electability of Republicans.”

• And he’s making rules that could have deleterious effects far into the future.

WASHINGTON — Bush administration officials, in their last weeks in office, are pushing to rewrite a wide array of federal rules with changes or additions that could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states.

The administration has written language aimed at pre-empting product-liability litigation into 50 rules governing everything from motorcycle brakes to pain medicine. The latest changes cap a multiyear effort that could be one of the administration’s lasting legacies, depending in part on how the underlying principle of pre-emption fares in a case the Supreme Court will hear next month […]

These new rules can’t quickly be undone by order of the next president. Federal rules usually must go through lengthy review processes before they are changed. Rulemaking at the Food and Drug Administration, where most of the new pre-emption rules have appeared, can take a year or more.

We haven’t even come to the inevitable pardons. Or the illegal programs he has started and continues to run. Or the failed policies.

What a terrible President. No wonder nobody wants anything to do with him.

.

Oh. My. God.

by tristero

We can’t be this lucky:

Joe the Plumber, the star of tonight’s debate, may have a very interesting connection to John McCain. In fact, Joe the Plumber (Joe Wurzelbacher) of Cincinnati, Ohio may be related to one Robert Wurzelbacher of Cincinnati, Ohio, who happens to be Charles Keating’s son-in-law.Robert Wurzelbacher was implicated in the Keating 5 scandal, and sentenced to  40 months in prison in 1993.Wurzelbacher is also a huge Republican donor.So, let’s find out a bit about Joe Wurzelbacher.

Whoa.

UPDATE: Looks like he’s the Joe that keeps on giving. Well, actually, not.

Votes Like A Bush, Quacks Like A Bush

by tristero

Watching at the debate party we had with friends in our building, this exchange caused our collective jaws to hit the floor. Looking at what McCain said in the cold light of day shows it to be even more revealing than I originally thought :

SCHIEFFER: But even if it was someone — even someone who had a history of being for abortion rights, you would consider them?

MCCAIN: I would consider anyone in their qualifications. I do not believe that someone who has supported Roe v. Wade that would be part of those qualifications. But I certainly would not impose any litmus test.

Think you understand that? Chances are you only think you do, ’cause when you examine what McCain actually said, it really doesn’t make much sense. But its incoherence has a strange property, especially when spoken: You hear in it what you want to hear.

If you’re a member of the reality-based community, your mind boggles, as ours did: In the space of two sentences, McCain flatly contradicted himself – he would impose an abortion litmus test then claimed he wouldn’t – and he doesn’t even know it! If you’re undecided or a McCain fan who supports abortion rights, you’d give him the benefit of a doubt: a President McCain (perish the thought) would not weigh a nominee’s opinion on Roe in determining whether s/he was qualified.

But if you’re a pro-coathanger nut, however, McCain just sent you a clear message. He said that anyone who supports Roe v. Wade doesn’t have the “qualifications” to be on the Supreme Court.

Now, who else speaks this way, often seeming to be befuddled and incoherent when he’s actually sending dog whistles to the far right? I know, that was an easy trick question.

McCain claimed he was not Bush – a line I’m sure his campaign thinks made the perfect zinger.

But, considering the way he talks and the way he votes, the main difference between Commander Codpiece and St. John of Scottsdale is, as some brilliant wag once noted , that Bush may have been the better pilot.

UPDATED with a link to the “brilliant wag.” Thanks to our commenters for tracking that down!

Post-Game

by dday

The snap polls are coming in for Barack Obama in much the same numbers that they did in the first two debates. CNN has it 58-31 for Obama. CBS’ poll is similar. That’s because Obama came out, in the same way as the other debates, with the same even keel. And also, the fundamentals of the race have crashed on McCain and Republicans. All Obama has to say is that McCain supports the same policies as George Bush and everyone gets knocked over as if with a feather. McCain can make ideological arguments about big government and higher taxes and liberal ideas all he wants, but the public has thoroughly rejected them. Just completely. Obama’s specifics are pretty cautious and circumscribed and nuanced and I don’t agree with all of them. But he doesn’t have the weight of party identification against him. Given the Bush/Republican known they are more than willing to grasp the unknown.

People know one thing that can’t be dislodged from their minds – Republican governance has been a total failure. A 90-minute debate isn’t going to change any of that.

And staying focused like a laser on the issues about which Americans clearly care the most helped as well. This is the anti-smear campaign no matter how much the fever swamps want it. The Ayers question in this debate – which I rightly called as Bob Schieffer’s wet kiss to McCain – was a microcosm of the campaign. McCain wanted to simultaneously take the high road and the low road. He tried some ju-jitsu by forcing Obama to distance himself from John Lewis’ remarks. No sale, Obama rightly brought up the impetus for the remarks – the hateful rhetoric coming from McCain/Palin rallies. Then McCain shifted into a backlash-type defense of his supporters. Obama flicked it off, and was finishing up the question, and McCain sensed he was losing his moment, and cut off Obama mid-sentence to get in his licks about Bill Ayers and ACORN, in kind of an erratic way. It was a meandering exchange, was highly negative and misleading, and it ended with Obama saying that making Bill Ayers the centerpiece of his campaign says a lot more about McCain than anyone else.

John McCain is a terrible candidate and that is the perfect example. But even if he was a stellar, superior candidate, I just don’t think it would matter. People have rendered their verdict on conservatism.

.

Oh. My. God.

by tristero

I saw this when it first aired but forgot the details. In any event, it would take a Republican, and only a Republican, to realize that it could serve as the entire strategy for a presidential campaign in 2008. After all, these are the folks who thought Murphy Brown was a real woman.

I’m sure if search the Bat Archives further, I’ll find out that The Joker was a neoconservative.

h/t Ezra Klein via Josh.

Debate

by digby

This is long overdue:

The Open Debate Coalition has three primary objectives: (1) Make raw footage of the debates part of the public domain, so that journalists, bloggers, and citizens can access it without concerns about a major network slamming them with a copyright suit. (2) Allow citizens to vote for questions in advance using the internet, so that town halls aren’t conducted at the whim of a moderator. And (3) reform or replace the Commission on Presidential Debates, a group which declines to make information on its funders public and has not released the debate rules to which both presidential campaigns have reportedly agreed.

This is not a commission that holds itself to iron-clad ethics rules. Anheuser-Busch has sponsored the presidential debates in every cycle since 1996 — as a result, its hometown, St. Louis, has hosted at least one debate in all but one of the last five presidential elections. Reports the Center for Public Integrity, “For its $550,000 contribution in 2000, the beer company was permitted to distribute pamphlets against taxes on beer at the event.”

While seeking sunlight is never easy, the Open Debate Coalition would be excused for thinking they have an ace up their sleeve: the support of presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain. Both candidates have written letters (here’s Obama’s; here’s McCain’s) expressing support for the coalition’s ideals.

So far, no luck. But the members of the coalition aren’t giving up — they see a future where debates bear no resemblance to the ones we have today, which, should anyone need reminding, are essentially identical to the ones held between presidential candidates 25 years ago. “2008 will likely be the last year that the Commission on Presidential Debates will exist as we know it,” Adam Green, Director of Strategic Campaigns for MoveOn.org Political Action, told me. “In the future, voters will demand interactions with the candidates that are democratic, transparent, and accountable to the public.”

These debates have become a media entertainment event along the lines of American Idol finals where who “won” is determined by spin and bullshit marketing devices. They are not helping our democratic processes.

One thing I would demand of the new debate sponsors (whoever they end up being) — refuse to allow the networks to feature this ridiculous “spin room,” “expert commentary” that colors the reaction to the debates before people even have a chance to absorb what happened. I don’t know what mechanism they can use, but without that I’m not sure what purpose debates even serve except as backdrop for conventional wisdom.

Debate drinking game tonight:

One shot for the word “bipartisan.”

A whole bottle for the words “Ayres” or “Wright.”

Update:

Oh Jesus.

ACORN is destroying the fabric of democracy.

I just cracked the tequila. And that’s not going to be pretty.

.

Lepers

by digby

You can have my steaming hot latte when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers:

“I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls,” Obama told me. “If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me, right? Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?

Obviously, no one in their right minds.

*Disclaimer: I get why Obama is saying this and I’m not knocking him for it. It’s SOP. Still, someday it would be nice if Democrats didn’t feel the need to define their base as liberal freaks. One tends to lose interest in helping those who wipe their feet on your face after a while.

Update: I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with being a liberal. I am proud to call myself one. I’m whining a bit about being called a freak who no one would ever want to vote for. So shoot me …

.

Looks Like A Threat To Me

by digby

It isn’t just the South and it isn’t just the fringe:

Sacramento County Republican leaders Tuesday took down offensive material on their official party Web site that sought to link Sen. Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden and encouraged people to “Waterboard Barack Obama” – material that offended even state GOP leaders.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has pushed the party to try to broaden its appeal, took issue with the site. “In the governor’s view, it’s completely and totally inappropriate,” said Julie Soderlund, a Schwarzenegger spokeswoman.Hector Barajas, a California Republican Party spokesman, said Democrats have been playing the race card, but that the local party went too far in this instance. He said the campaign should be about who is ready to be the nation’s commander-in-chief, that Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has never questioned Obama’s patriotism, and that he’d ask local leaders to take down the offensive content.Taking credit for the site (sacramentorepublicans.org) and its content was county party chairman Craig MacGlashan – husband of Sacramento County Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan.The Bee asked MacGlashan about the content after seeking his reaction to hate-filled graffiti that was spray-painted over an Obama display on a fence at Fair Oaks Boulevard and Garfield Avenue.In recent weeks, MacGlashan, an attorney, joined local Democratic party officials in condemning vandalism to political displays.The vandalism to the Obama display appeared to have been done overnight Monday. A racial epithet, profanity, “KKK” and the words “white power” were clearly visible from the roadway. Six of the nine fence panels were defaced.”What you are describing to me is not free speech, it’s vandalism. We don’t condone it,” MacGlashan said.But he defended his Web site. “I’m aware of the content,” he said. “Some people find it offensive, others do not. I cannot comment on how people interpret things.”

This is here in California. Limbaugh said it yesterday.

It’s going mainstream.

Update: Here’s a different approach.
.

Tire Swinger To The Rescue

by dday

I think people are misreading this. John McCain did NOT vow to raise Ayers in the debate. Listen to the audio. He passive-aggressively leaned on Bob Schieffer to bring it up. He feigns astonishment at Obama saying that he wasn’t man enough to talk about McCain to his face, and explains that “it wasn’t a topic” that came up in the Brokaw debate. Then he says that “I think that guarantees it will be a topic” tonight.

If McCain answers a health care question with “Bill Ayers bombed the Pentagon,” he loses. But if Schieffer raises it, he isn’t dinged for bringing it up. They want Schieffer to raise it, and considering Bob’s brother is the current US Ambassador to Japan, I think they may get their wish.

McCain wants to take the high road and the low road at the same time. He will not bring up Bill Ayers unprompted. He will wait for the question to be fed to him by Bob Schieffer. And Schieffer is subtly giving away his punch.

The veteran “Face the Nation” host won’t telegraph what he will ask. But he said he will be seeking more details about their potential presidencies than have been evident so far.

I say he goes for it.

Schieffer, you recall, is the guy who couldn’t fathom how being shot down in a plane over Vietnam wasn’t a qualification for the Presidency. If there’s anyone who’s willing to save McCain’s honor, it’s Schieffer.

.