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Election 2008

The 10 Dirtiest Election Tricks the Republicans Have Tried So Far

AlterNet. Posted October 20, 2008.


From intimidating minority voters to whipping up racism and hatred at political rallies, the GOP has pulled out all the stops.
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As Arianna Huffington warns Democrats, an increasingly desperate John McCain and the GOP are throwing the kitchen sink at Barack Obama. No wonder they called Joe the Plumber. So this week brought racist mailers, a tidal wave of robo-calls, more Bill Ayers, Sarah Palin's love of the "pro-American areas of this great nation" and McCain's outlandish claim that ACORN is "destroying the fabric of democracy."

Reed Hundt from Talking Points Memo writes, "The McCain plan will be to give up on the national popular vote and re-run the Bush campaign of 2000. By voter intimidation and robo-calls and litigation and outrageous allegations, it will aim for victory in the states that can provide an Electoral College victory. In this case, that means McCain will focus his diminished but vigorous efforts on Florida, Ohio, Colorado and Virginia. In each state we need hardly ask what images, stereotypes and fears the McCain campaign will hope to evoke."

The attacks by McCain and his surrogates are already at fever pitch -- and there is clearly a tidal wave on its way:

1. Rush Limbaugh's Racist Tactics: Bringing this toxic collection together in one despicable no-goodie bag was Rush Limbaugh, who charged that Obama -- aided and abetted by Ayers and ACORN -- is "smack dab in the middle" of a 30-year plot to teach black children to "hate, hate, hate" America.

2. Racist Attacks on Immigration: Sarah Posner for the American Prospect's blog writes: "A newly formed political action committee, the National Republican Trust PAC, is buying up e-mail blasts to the readers of conservative outlets like Newsmax and Townhall to raise money for what it calls a 'shock and awe' advertising blitz against Barack Obama in key states in the last weeks of the campaign. One of the e-mails uses the screamer headline, 'Obama's Plan: Mohamed Atta Gets His Drivers License,' while another says Republicans should 'employ Hillary Clinton's strategy' to 'expose Obama for the dangerous radical he is.'" The PAC was founded by Scott Wheeler, a former correspondent for the Moonie-owned Insight magazine, and Peter Leitner, a former Pentagon adviser and president of the Higgins Counterterrorism Research Center, which trains law enforcement personnel on counterterrorism.

3. Robo-Calls: John McCain and the GOP have launched a massive robo-call effort across the country that the normally soft-spoken Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called "scummy:" "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he's surprised at 'scummy' tactics employed by Republican John McCain's presidential campaign and 'can't believe John McCain knows what's going on.'" And Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins decried the robo-calls last week: "These kind of tactics have no place in Maine politics," said Collins' spokesman, Kevin Kelley. "Sen. Collins urges the McCain campaign to stop these calls immediately."

The robo-calls, sent Thursday in several states, said Obama "worked closely with domestic terrorist" Ayers. Obama, a child when Ayers was active in the Weather Underground in the late 1960s and early 1970s, has denounced Ayers' radical views and activities.
The robo-call message was repeated in a campaign flier mailed this week by the Nevada Republican Party. The four-page mailer calls Ayers a "terrorist, radical friend of Obama" and contains several images of both men.
On "Fox News Sunday," on Oct. 19, McCain defended himself to Fox Host Chris Wallace:
Wallace: But Senator, back, if I may, back in 2000 when you were the target of robo-calls, you called these hate calls and you said --
McCain: They were.
Wallace: And you said the following: "I promise you I have never and will never have anything to do with that kind of political tactic." Now you've hired the same guy who did the robo-calls against you to, reportedly, to do the robo-calls against Obama, and the Republican senator Susan Collins, the co-chair of your campaign in Maine, has asked you to stop the robo-calls. Will you do that?
McCain: Of course not. These are legitimate and truthful, and they are far different than the phone calls that were made about my family and about certain aspects that -- things that this is -- this is dramatically different and either you haven't -- didn't see those things in 2000.
Wallace: No, I saw them.
McCain: Or you don't know the difference between that and what is a legitimate issue, and that is Senator Obama being truthful with the American people.
4. Widespread Voter Intimidation: AlterNet's Steve Rosenfeld reported on the widespread efforts by Republicans at various state offices to intimidate voters: "As the presidential election comes to a close, the Republican Party -- and its allies in law enforcement at the FBI and at county levels in Ohio -- are announcing voting-related prosecutions that civil rights advocates say are intended to intimidate voters, despite prosecutorial rules that bar these disclosures before an election." Recently in Wisconsin, Democrats accused the state GOP of trying to "intimidate voters by seeking people with military and law enforcement experience to watch Milwaukee polls on Election Day." In a recent e-mail, the state GOP director of Election Day operations, Jon Waclawski, said he was looking specifically for names of "Milwaukee area veterans, policemen, security personnel, firefighters, etc." Rosenfeld reports that a potentially much larger intimidation effort is on its way:
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court told Ohio's Republican Party it was not entitled to a list of 200,000-plus Ohioans whose voter registration information did not match Social Security and state driver's license databases. What did the Ohio party do? It went judge shopping, filing a closely related suit before Ohio's Supreme Court. Pennsylvania's GOP filed a similar suit on Friday. In Wisconsin, litigation on this issue is ongoing. Why are Republicans so intent on obtaining this information? ...
In recent weeks, the McCain-Palin campaign and Republican Party have embarked on a major media and litigation strategy to cast as much doubt as possible on the veracity of the 2008 vote. A look at the campaign's recent messaging and GOP tactics from Ohio's 2004 election suggest another use for the non-match lists: to target voters for mass phone calls, mailings or other messaging to deter them from voting on Nov. 4.
5. RNC Sends out Preposterous Mailer Suggesting Obama Hates Newborn Children:

Sam Stein at the Huffinton Post reports: The Republican National Committee is blasting out a new mailer charging that Barack Obama opposed a bill protecting newborns that survived botched abortions from being "left alone to die" in the operating room.

Two readers in North Carolina passed along the literature, which they received on Saturday.

The charge, which has been made many times before (including in a series of robo-calls earlier this week), is based on Obama's opposition to the Born-Alive Infant Protection bill. A review by PolitiFact found the accusation "false." Obama opposed the measure not based on a callous position on abortion rights, but because he wanted to ensure that there were measures to protect doctors from criminal lawsuits, among other factors. Illinois law already required doctors to provide immediate life-saving care to such infants.

The sole source of the mailer is an article from The Weekly Standard, and it paints Obama as far more extreme than other senior Democrats, including John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.

6. Smears on ACORN:

In the past few weeks the McCain campaign and its Republican allies have launched a series of vicious attacks against ACORN, accusing the social-justice organization of everything from causing the financial crisis to perpetuating voter fraud. Republicans are also playing up the basically nonexistent link between Obama and ACORN in an attempt to paint the Democratic candidate as untrustworthy.

In the third presidential debate, McCain preposterously accused ACORN of "perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history ... maybe destroying the fabric of democracy." On Friday, Palin made the vague yet sinister-sounding claim that "this group needs to learn that you here in Ohio won't let them turn the Buckeye State into the Acorn State." An ad released by the McCain campaign on Friday ominously asked, "Who is Barack Obama? ... He was asked to train the ACORN staff. What did ACORN in Chicago engage in? Bullying banks. ... ACORN forced banks to issue risky home loans, the same types of loans that caused the financial crisis we're in today."

These attacks have no bearing on reality. While ACORN has come under fire for submitting fraudulent registration forms -- an inevitable outcome of any voter registration effort -- elections experts agree that the group's activities will not lead to voter fraud on Election Day. As Rick Hasen notes, "Even if Mickey Mouse is registering, he is not showing up on Election Day to cast ballots, and so far as I am aware, there have been no cases of phony voter registrations leading to the casting of votes in any election that have been on any large scale -- much less affected the outcome of elections." The claim that ACORN somehow helped trigger the financial crisis is equally absurd: For years, ACORN has helped working-class families buy homes while fighting to protect them from predatory lenders.


7. Outrage and Barbarism at McCain-Palin Rallies:

David Neiwert writes, "It was kind of strange, dintcha think, that John McCain came to the defense of his supporters last night after Barack Obama pointed out that people at McCain/Palin rallies were shouting out 'terrorist' and 'kill him!' in reference to Obama." An Al Jazeera camera crew caught the honest sentiments of McCain/Palin supporters at an Ohio rally:
I'm afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He's not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?
When you got a Negra running for president, you need a first-stringer. He's definitely a second-stringer.
He seems like a sheep -- or a wolf in sheep's clothing, to be honest with you. And I believe Palin -- she's filled with the Holy Spirit, and I believe she's gonna bring honesty and integrity to the White House.
8. McCain Hires Slimeball GOP Operative Who Sank His Own Chances in 2000 in South Carolina:

Jake Tapper of ABC writes:
ABC News has learned that Warren Tompkins, one of the strategists of then-Gov. George W. Bush's South Carolina campaign in 2000 -- which Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., blamed for his family being slimed -- is now a part of the McCain-Palin campaign team, albeit in an "unofficial" role.
Tompkins, a protégé of Lee Atwater, has been dispatched to North Carolina to assess the state for the McCain-Palin campaign, Southern GOP strategists tell ABC News.
... The news of Tompkins being brought on board the McCain campaign brings to a total of three the number of GOP operatives McCain now is using despite the fact that he once held them responsible for the ugly campaign that contributed to his South Carolina primary defeat, a campaign in which McCain's wife Cindy was attacked for her past addiction to painkillers, and the McCains' adopted Bangladeshi daughter, Bridget, was targeted as his illegitimate black baby.
9. Insider Whispering Campaign That Obama Is Really a Muslim:

In his interview on Meet the Press, Colin Powell made three separate references to Republican Party operatives spreading rumors and lies around:

  • "I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim."


  • "I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists.'"


  • "John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I'm troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions."


10. Insinuating that Obama's Gigantic Small Donor Fundraising Operation Is "Dangerous:"

Perhaps overwhelmed and frightened by Obama's $150 million haul from September, McCain argued that Obama's fundraising totals -- $605 million -- showed the "dam has broken" for future White House races. McCain also complained that the identities of people who contributed more than $200 million of Obama's total take have not been reported, although that is allowable under federal law because the individual donations fall under the $200 reporting limit. "I'm saying it's laying a predicate for the future that can be very dangerous," McCain said. "History shows us where unlimited amounts of money are in political campaigns, it leads to scandal."

What Angry Obama Supporters Are Doing to Stop These Attacks:

Fighting the mainstream media's attempt to have a close race, and a potential come-from-behind narrative, the media will in some cases intensify the ugly allegations made against the Obama campaign and its allies and supporters and treat it as news, or just outright ignore the stories too hot for the media to touch. Reed Hundt of Talking Points Memo argues that "Democrats need to knock on every door in those key states; respond to every charge, no matter how crazy, in every media forum that can be found; stay on the air; stay on the offense. And remember the essential voters in those key states won't finally decide until the weekend before that Tuesday."

AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.

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voting machines will decide this election
Posted by: georgiaorwell on Oct 20, 2008 2:49 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have never seen such an ugly campaign as McCain and the RNC are running - they are the biggest dishonorable bunch of liars and hypocrites I've ever witnessed. and the world is watching this theater of the absurd play out - with disbelief.

The only thing, though, that really matters is the voting machine fix by the Repugs as evidenced by what has been reported in West VA. How could this country have had 2+ failed stolen elections and the last 4 years not to address this issue? I voted absentee ballot and I think everyone should get a paper receipt to prove their vote no matter what state you're in. If you can't get a paper receipt, you should vote by absentee ballot - you can't just use the computer generated vote system as it was switching Dem votes to Repug votes automatically, it seems. No wonder McCain seems so smug and self-assured about the way things are going - he figures the fix is in and no way is he going to lose. Fellow citizens, we cannot let this happen or it will be the end of America as we once knew it. Please, be mindful of the voting process and demand accountability.

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» RE: PISS ON VOTING MACHINES Posted by: jeffrey7
The article left out
Posted by: Last Chance on Oct 20, 2008 3:03 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
McCain's racist body language in the debates. His refusal to look at Obama in debate #2 and his persistently astonished glare during debate # 3 pandered to racists who cannot accept the fact of a highly intelligent Black American who speaks eleoquently and acts wisely. This was supposed to be a subliminal message, but if I noticed it, so did millions of other voters.

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» RE: The article left out Posted by: sirios
» RE: The article left out Posted by: Last Chance
» RE: The article left out Posted by: Livemike
If they steal this one...
Posted by: Rungle on Oct 20, 2008 3:20 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
get ready for blood on the streets.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: If they steal this one... Posted by: Fishbone Soldier
» But are WE dumb enough? Posted by: Beck
» Are we brave enough? Posted by: Last Chance
» RE: But are WE dumb enough? Posted by: Fishbone Soldier
» RE: If they steal this one... Posted by: Last Chance
» RE: If they steal this one... Posted by: Fishbone Soldier
» If they steal this one... Posted by: HomerScarborough
Voter ID
Posted by: jlohman on Oct 20, 2008 3:59 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It is beyond me that the Dems oppose voter ID, the one thing that would eliminate disenfranchisement and ensure people the right to vote.

See Voter ID

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Voter ID Posted by: xvictor
» RE: Voter ID Posted by: brunowe
» RE: Voter ID Posted by: Crazy H
» RE: Voter ID Posted by: JustBrowzin
» RE: Purple fingers! Posted by: Cybershaman
Songbird McCain showed his treasonous nature by allowing dirty GOP campaign tricks.
Posted by: USAFVeteran1966 on Oct 20, 2008 4:47 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Webster says a traitor is someone who "betrays his country, cause or friends."

Because McCain's "friends" -- the American people -- deserved an honest presidential campaign which he abandoned for political gain, the Arizona senator proved what many Vietnam vets think about him, including yours truly. Songbird McCain is a traitor who betrayed his country in 2008 just like he did 40 years ago in North Vietnam.

Vietnam vet/Obama supporter
To learn how McCain betrayed America during the Vietnam War, click on: Songbird McCain

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» We need a back story on USAFVeteran1966 Posted by: Illiteratilumen
The South sees RED!
Posted by: Ottomatic on Oct 20, 2008 5:19 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You Forgot: Caging, Vote Rigging, Purging, War, Black Box Voting, ETC!

Read the Conyer's Report.
They left out all the opportune: Assassinations, Car Wreaks, Heart Attacks and Plane Crashes, out!

The Coincidence of Circumstance.

Please travel separately before the 4th!
WARNING!
Democrats in a tight Senate Races should
Never travel with their Families.
The Welstone Effect
Yes, they have done and will do anything and EVERYTHING to stay in POWER!
The whole:
Military Media Police State is designed to:
Squash change and retain Con-trol!
That's why, continued FUNDING is so important.
Rummy said, "Two Trillion Missing and counting".
Pay as you go,
Build your own Prison.
"Intervention" anyone?
Where does it all belong?
In the Garbage with the rest of their
BU__! SH__!

We can do better!

Dead Eye Dick issues The Prime Directive,
Install
The Crypt Keeper into The Black House
By any and all means.

Be ready for the W-orst!

The Dungeon Master Dick Chainey is Cooking up something special for
Halloween!
The Monster carries The W-rong Flag, again!
This time,
Into the Heart Land!
Obi-Wan,
Ben, there Already.

The South sees RED!

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Okay, we keep seeing articles called "10 this" and "10 that"
Posted by: Beck on Oct 20, 2008 6:50 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But we really need a list of 10 responses to a stolen election. We need to plan on it (we all seem to expect it), to not get depressed and hopeless again, to not let another Democrat (hear me, John Kerry?) waste OUR votes by conceding immediately even if there are problems, we need a plan. Those writing articles about this need to write another, Best Ten Responses to a Stolen Election.

We need at least 3 responses that alot of us agree upon. We need another large group of responses that enough of us agree upon to make an impact. How many would strike? For days, or even weeks? I would. Anyone else? How many would withdraw all their money? Wouldn't necessarily have to be for very long, remember. How many would go to Washington and snarl up streets there? How many of us would WALK to Washington with signs? How many are willing to announce to their bosses now that if the election is fishy AGAIN, we plan to strike as long as necessary?

What else? I believe we need responses like the financial one, withdrawing all assets until the vote is rectified to our satisfaction, things that are effective, don't have to be on the evening news to make a difference, and that people don't risk their jobs for. A comsumer strike? How many would vow to give up the purchase of absolutely everything except the bare essentials? And reduce those? Give up driving so that you only buy enough gas to get to where to need to go, not where you want to go? THAT would hurt, too, and wouldn't need covereage to have an impact. We have this and other forums to keep up with each other and know we're not alone in our efforts.

Strike, demonstrate, march, financial withdrawal, consumer strike. Some of you must have other ideas. Surely we don't have a tacit, unacknowledged "plan" to do what we did before, which was either nothing or not enough. You know, they expect us to take it. Again.

Can we all start sending emails to our friends asking what the joint response should be? Can we email McCain starting within a few days of what we plan? Start writing to our papers? Show we care about voting, care about our votes being counted, care about democracy? It's easier to organize now than after the election.

This is just Golden Rule stuff, Republicans. Treating Democrats as you want to be treated. And this is also just democracy, Republicans. The freedom you keep talking about. Don't show us that your talk is once again meaningless and self-serving.

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"A" game
Posted by: Quasar on Oct 20, 2008 6:58 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Demagogue: a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.

McCain learned his lesson well in 2000. Now, he and Schmidt are bringing their "A" game.

But how do you tell someone who falls for these cheap tricks that they are the dupes? And it is a fantastic trick. Instead of stealing your vote outright, they convince you to give it up for nothing.

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Re Racism Race
Posted by: Lilly on Oct 20, 2008 7:24 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If you have the slightest doubt that racism is playing a huge part in this election season, just imagine the whole situation in black-white reverse like a photographic negative, with Obama white and both McCain and Palin black:

A black McCain loves to brag that he graduated 894 in his Annapolis class of 899.

A black Palin appears onstage with her five children.

A black McCain is known to have dumped his disfigured first wife so he could marry up to a rich beer heiress who would bankroll his political ambitions.

A black Palin presents her unmarried pregnant teenage daughter, then the baby's father talks like a street tough who seems in no hurry to marry the mother of his child.

A black Palin's black husband has been member of a secessionist group with a leader who tells us eloquently how he hates the United States.

A black Palin is known to be a crack shot who supports universal concealed carry of firearms.

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» RE: e Racism Race Posted by: sliver
» RE: e Racism Race Posted by: jarbo
Our fault
Posted by: maxx1968 on Oct 20, 2008 7:55 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We the people of the United States of America have sat back on our collective asses while our government and its corporate handlers have systematically raped pillaged and destroyed this country. I am so pissed.

We the citizens of this country have no one to blame but ourselves. While we were busy wrapping ourselves in the red, white and blue shouting to the world that “we’re the greatest, strongest and richest” our leaders were dumbing us down, dividing us along racial, religious and financial lines, stealing every dime possible and plunging us into war after war for profits. Our government has done one hell of a job of turning us into paranoid little puppets of individuality and suspicion.

What did we do…we did exactly what they wanted; we shopped! We begged borrowed and stole to get what these morally and ethically bankrupt people told us to buy. We allowed ourselves to be caught up in the whole mess of credit, cause if its good for our government then it must be great for us, right?

Make no mistake about it we will pay for our lack of responsibility. As citizens of this country we have a responsibility to make sure that our politicians do what is best for us. By allowing these people to turn us into paranoid shop-a-holic individuals they have taken the one greatest control measure we had; our willpower.

Americans have become so completely spoiled. We take for granted that our elected officials have our best interest at heart, well understand this, they are Americans too and want to shop like the rest of us. Politicians are just as paranoid as us, so is it any wonder they act the way they do?

What is happening to this country and what is going to happen could have been slowed down or possibly stopped if we the people had been more diligent in keeping tabs on our political leaders and by holding them accountable.

If we had spent more time trying to get to know one another, came together as a collective group and forced, yes, forced our government to change its ways; maybe things would have turned out differently.

I hope that what is coming will eventually change us for the better.

J. Maxx – snafucentral[dot]com

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» RE: Our fault Posted by: Lilly
» RE: Our fault? Posted by: Cybershaman
Its clear
Posted by: RedFoxOne on Oct 20, 2008 8:06 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Its pretty clear that McBush is a desperate man. Lies, lies and more lies. I find it difficult to believe that anyone with an ounce of common sense would be taking him seriously.

Jiff
Online PRivacy when it Counts

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Voter beware!
Posted by: sirios on Oct 20, 2008 8:12 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Here is an interesting note about possible voter purging. I took my vote by mail ballot to the county offices friday and noticed on the instructions that the envelope must be signed in order for it to be valid. Now, here is the catch. if the signature does not match the one that they have on file then the ballot is thrown out. The clerk informed me that the signature is read by a computer and that the computer is very accurate. If the computer cannot read the signature then the comparison is made by the staff. they are supposed to inform you if the computer cannot read the signature. however, the ballot could easily be thrown out by an unscrupulous staff member with no timely contact ever occuring.

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Paul Cardwell
Posted by: Paul Cardwell on Oct 20, 2008 8:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You, of course, left out the one involving both Democrats and Republicans - the silencing of all but the two corporate parties.

This involves setting up a debate committee consiting of only those two parties rather than the old League of Women Voters' debates. The corporate media assists in this disenfrangisement.

In Texas, Republicrats (mainly Democrats who ultimately admitted being Republicans) passed a law making it virtually impossible for any other party to get on the ballot or stay there once they should make it. (Libertarians stay by being the "none of the above", but barely.) This was passed to destroy Parti La Raza Unida, a south Texas regional party mainly of Tejanos (those whose ancestors were here all the way back to the Republic of Texas, 1836-1849) and is now used against the Green Party.

The Republicans are far worse, of course, but both are far more alike than diffrerent.

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My suspicions...
Posted by: bking7698 on Oct 20, 2008 8:54 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I haven't heard this possibility broached, but I think there's a very good chance that the whole ACORN brouhaha is a Republican operation. With the addition of the entire Rove team to the McCain campaign, I believe either they had operatives sign up as signature gatherers or signed up with legitimate ACORN employees using bogus names. Completely Rovian - create a scandal and blame the Dems for fraud.

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» RE: My suspicions... Posted by: sirios
» RE: My suspicions... Posted by: Cybershaman
Refuting the GOP smear of Obama's 2006 African trip and meeting with Rada Odinga
Posted by: USAFVeteran1966 on Oct 20, 2008 9:00 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Letter to the Editor below was written by retired USAF Major-General J. Scott Gration, a former Republican now working as a policy advisor to Senator Obama.

In 2006, Gration accompanied Obama to Africa on a fact-finding tour the GOP has tied to connect with terrorism. Because of the trip, the general later endorsed Obama, saying he had the "judgment, wisdom, courage, experience, and leadership capability that we desperately need.".

The Washington Times
Friday, October 17, 2008

LETTER TO EDITOR: No ties to terrorism

Mark Hyman's "Obama's Kenya ghosts," (Commentary, Sunday), was a disgraceful smear on Sen. Barack Obama. Because I accompanied Mr. Obama on his trip to Kenya, I can say unequivocally that Mr. Hyman's piece was filled with lies and innuendo.

• Mr. Obama's 2006 trip to Kenya was authorized by the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who congratulated Mr. Obama on a successful trip when he returned.

• Mr. Obama did not "campaign" on behalf of Raila Odinga, has never endorsed him, and was not "nearly inseparable" from Mr. Odinga during his time in Kenya. Mr. Obama met with a wide range of Kenyan and American officials, including a Nobel Prize winner, human-rights defenders, and President Mwai Kibaki. He did not have a single scheduled meeting with Mr. Odinga.

• Mr. Obama was accompanied throughout his trip by myself and two other active-duty U.S. military officers; and the U.S. ambassador attended meetings and events throughout the trip. The Obama staffer - Mark Lippert - that Mr. Hynes names is a naval reservist and Iraq War veteran whose deployment began several months before the Kenyan elections and continued well past it.

• The Obama speech that Mr. Hyman references was a widely praised effort that condemned corruption and tribalism while urging the promotion of private enterprise and accountable, transparent government.

• Mr. Obama and Mr. Odinga are not cousins, and efforts to assert otherwise have been described as "stretched to the point of ridiculousness" by an independent fact checker.

Mr. Hyman references telephone contacts that Mr. Obama had with Mr. Odinga in January. He fails to mention that those contacts were encouraged by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and were accompanied by public statements that Mr. Obama made on Voice of America, Kenyan radio, and in a Kenyan newspaper, calling for calm and a peaceful resolution of Kenya's political crisis. Repeatedly, Mr. Obama asserted, "the opposition (led by Mr. Odinga) must turn away from the path of mass protest and violence in seeking participation in government."

Mr. Hyman's piece concludes with an astonishing attempt to tie Mr. Odinga, the sitting prime minister of Kenya, and, by absurd association, Mr. Obama to acts of terrorism committed against the United States of America. This false and outrageous charge says a lot more about Mark Hyman than it says about Barack Obama.

MAJ. GEN. J. SCOTT GRATION
Air Force (retired)
Nutley, N.J.
-----------------------------------------------

Vietnam vet/Obama supporter
Say NO to McCain/Palin

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Just call me Joe the dsabled American veteran
Posted by: Doyle Wheeler on Oct 20, 2008 9:22 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Just call me Joe the American disabled veteran with a few tough question I have a right to ask Senator McCain. Senator McCain please answer these questions the American people have a right to know the truth before the election!
I served in Vietnam and I was warned upon my arrival that if I was ever captured that I was to only give my name, rank, and serial number. I served in a unit that was made up of 90 % black men, and I was one of only two white Sergeants in this unit. I clearly had my life saved by my fellow black soldiers at great risk to their own personal safety. This was during a time when there were parts of America, that they were still being told they could not enter because it was for whites only.

I was wounded along with a number of my brother soldiers in an attack. While waiting for the helicopter to arrive to take us to the rear area hospital, I noticed that I was bleeding along side of a fellow black soldier.
As strange as this might sound to Gov. Palin I could not distinguish my blood from the other soldiers as they ran together onto the ground in Vietnam. They were exactly the same shade of red blood. Just two American soldiers bleeding together, one black one white imagine that.

Now in light of the very ugly racist campaign McCain has run and his demand for Senator Obama to answer and answer over and over his having worked on a school board committee with an old radical from the 1960 when Obama was eight years old. I want to ask a few questions of my own.

McCain is it true that you gave into blackmail and fought for the establishment of normal relations with the country of Vietnam as a means of keeping them from playing their tape recordings of you spilling your guts? I want you to answer this question sir the American people have the right to know!

Sir what exactly is the long term relationship you have carried on with the convicted burglar and one time suspected terrorist G. Gordon Liddy? Please answer me sir the American people have the right to know!

Sir when you were attempting to interfere with regulators so your good buddy Keating could fleece the American people out of over $250,000,000.00 how much did he bribe you with sir? We know about the $112,000.00 but how much did he give you under the table? Sir the American people have the right to know!

Senator McCain do you believe you can trash one the brightest men to run for President in the last fifty years or more, and not get asked some tough but fair questions yourself?
I expect an immediate response as you owe the American people an accounting of your actions on these very serious matters sir!
Your party talks about family values, how many times did you commit adultery with your current wife, while married to your previous wife sir! The American people have the right to know?

Senator last week when you were making a speech and you stubled and said "My fellow prisoners of war!" when it was clear you were trying to say "My Fellow Americans". Sir was that related to your dementia? Sir the American people have a right to examine your medical records. You want us to elect you and place Sarah the lest qualified VP candidate in history a heart beat away from the oval office and your attacking erratic! The American people have the right to know!

Sir you can call me "Joe the American disabled veteran". Lastly sir why have you been AWOL when it comes to votes on "Veterans Benefits"leaving you sir with one of the worst records in the Senate? Sir the American veterans and the men and women fighting for this country have a right to know why you have consistently been missing in action when it comes to supporting veterans!
Anticipating your immediate reply
Sincerely,
Joe the American disabled veteran! I can be reached Senator McCain at doylewheeler@yahoo.com Please answer my questions.

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What if...?
Posted by: zooeyhall on Oct 20, 2008 10:05 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Just suppose--hypothetical and for argument's sake--that two or three days after the election that it is clear that Obama will be the next president, that the following scenario occurs:

there is a sudden cryptic annoucement on the media about some uspecified "terrorist threat" to the country, or that something has actually happened.

The skies fill with helicopters. The media has been taken over by the government "for the duration of the emergency".

Blackwater mercenaries are suddenly patrolling your neighborhood.

Habeus Corpus has been suspended, and the full emergency powers of the Patriot Act are invoked.

The current president's term in office is extended "for the duration".

How many Americans would fully SUPPORT and APPLAUD such an action? Surprisingly quite a few, I feel!

I live in rural Nebraska, and the RAW and UNRESTRAINED FURY that some people out here have expressed at the election of Obama as president is REAL and PERVASIVE!

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» RE: What if...? Posted by: jarbo
» RE: What if...? Posted by: Doyle Wheeler
How many dirty lies
Posted by: willymack on Oct 20, 2008 12:17 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Are the American people capable of swallowing before they choke on them? I have a sneaking hunch we're rapidly reaching the saturation point with the Acorn and "voter fraud" whoppers. This leaves the racial bigotry of far too many potential voters who'd NEVER vote for a person of color, no matter how well qualified. How do you get to them? Is it even necessary at this point?

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Tell McCain to Choose Hope over Hate
Posted by: ProgressiveReb on Oct 20, 2008 12:49 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If John McCain wants to know why he is so far behind in the polls, he only needs to look in the mirror. He seems determined to continually choose the politics of hate and anger -- and Americans are not buying it.

From time to time, I think McCain needs a solid reminder that Americans will choose Hope over Hate every time. Please send him this message today.

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THEY HAVE'NT TRIED THESE YET.....
Posted by: jeffrey7 on Oct 20, 2008 12:51 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
1. Have McCain come onstage ass-fucking a donkey telling supporters " This is what THAT ONE will do to you!"
2. Have 'Barack's Economic Plan' tattoed on a moose with Sarah Palin gutting it yelling " I told you so!!"
3. Show McCain pissing on the Constitution telling us " We must do everything to win!"
4. Show Sarah Palin,with her pregnant daughter,barging into a Family Planning Clinic,armed to the teeth yelling "Fuck Roe v. Wade, just try to get by."
5. McCain hits the mic with " And now,in our swimsuit compitition the lovely Sarah Palin,Miss Whatdafuka, in a sharp little red,white and blue number."
6. Palin tells the truth " The Party picked me because this old fossil won't last 100 days
and really would'nt you all rather look at my ass than at THAT ONE!"
7. McCain and Palin do a duet of Meatloaf's 'Paradise by the Dashboard Lights'..
and then gets sued by Meatloaf.
8. Palin and McCain start chucking folks out the doors of their foreclosed homes singing
'Thanks Obama for the memories'
9.McCain will pull an arm out of his ass and say " See, I'm not controlled like THAT ONE!"
10. McCain and Palin will go off on a rant about how they're more American than Obama, at which point they will moon the crowd with red,white and blue skyrockets shooting out of Palin's ass while McCain sprouts a waving flag out his and plays a slap bass version of 'God Save the Queen' on his streched out sack.

Now should any of these come to pass I tell you true, It's time to get out of here because the rulership is truly nuts!!!

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McCain / Palin Campaign worst in US history
Posted by: gopblowsgoats on Oct 20, 2008 11:26 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Same old, same old. We're all supposed to be afraid of someone 'different'. Plays on fears, stereotypes and pure ignorance and hate.
Sarah Palin needs to go crawl back under the rock whence she came, and back to her cave.

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planning a response to or defense against dirty tricks
Posted by: albany_ed on Oct 21, 2008 6:01 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I hope the democratic leadership has a secret plan to thwart the secret dirty tricks the RNC has planned. At least a plan to thwart the same tricks used in 2000 and 2004.

the vote results from unreliable electronic touch screen machine should be challenged and rejected just as spoiled paper votes are rejected.

Voters could ask their House of Representatives candidates if how they will respond to stolen evidence of election fraud. Will they at least demand an honest review and will they second a challenge to questionable electors? In 2000 or 2004 one representative rose to challenge the fraud, but not one other representative would second the motion.

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Robo calls in Colorado
Posted by: rainpanda on Oct 22, 2008 1:26 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have heard from a friend in Colorado that robo calls from the Obama campaign are nastier or as nasty as those from the McCain campaign. Not living in a battleground state, I was curious to know the content of some of the Obama robo calls, but there was no response to that question from her. Could someone else post roughly (or even exactly) what the texts are of the ones from the Obama campaign, please? Thank you!

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