Comments (82)

dalloway wrote on May 11, 2007 10:06 AM:

Seems Unca KKKarl put his tried and true playbook into action here: if you're guilty of a crime, scream bloody murder that your opponent is guilty of it. If you're lucky, you knock him out or at the very least, are able to cover up your crime because the impression created is that "it's all politics" anyway.

Spencer's Mom wrote on May 11, 2007 10:11 AM:

The swirl of scandal is getting more and more rapid, and the center remains Rove.

As more folks come forward, those "missing" e-mails WILL turn up, and Rove's fate will be sealed.

All we can hope is that Bush/Cheney/Gonzo will also be implicated by the e-mails.

Can't wait for the final flush to occur, sending all the fetid crap down the toilet.

PEACE

chimpeach wrote on May 11, 2007 10:11 AM:

Not that this web of deceit and fraud isn't already big enough, but I'm hoping someone will also look for Rove's fingerprints on this effort by the Florida legislature in '06 to drive down voter turnout:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Florida+legislature+voter+registration+%22League+of+Women+Voters%22&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
"At issue in the case, League of Women Voters v. Cobb (case no. 06-21265), was a punishing and tiered regime of deadlines and fines for groups engaged in non-partisan voter registration in the State of Florida. Under the law, (Fla. Laws 2005-277, Secs. 2 and 7), which went into effect on January 1, the government would have imposed a mandatory fine of $250 for each and every voter registration form submitted more than ten days after the form was collected from a prospective voter, $500 for each registration form submitted after the passing of a registration deadline, and $5000 for each registration form not submitted, for any reason."

edog9 wrote on May 11, 2007 10:11 AM:

Makes you wonder if Karl has ever been kissed by a girl?

chimpeach wrote on May 11, 2007 10:13 AM:

Sorry. Correct URL for item about "League of Women Voters v. Cobb" is:

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1720&Itemid=852

Buck Batard wrote on May 11, 2007 10:13 AM:

When are we going to find out who Senator's Specter's aid was? I'm talking about the one who inserted that nasty provision into the Patriot Act that allowed this thing to happen?

A snowball is rolling down a big hill because of that aid, and we certainly need to know who he was and why he did it. And what wereKarl Rove's connections to that aid?

Codeword: muscle - which is needed to pin the mussel.

nofltwlt wrote on May 11, 2007 10:15 AM:

What happened to the voter suppression acknowledgement by Tim Griffin the newly appointed USA in Arkansas?

Where is Gonzales on Griffith's actions, which represent true voter fraud involving 70,000 voters? Griffin acknowledges that he participated in the "caging" of blacks, soldiers and students.

Why does the press allow DOJ political operatives to make huge press regarding voter suppression involving one confused immigrant when Griffin basically confessed to a crime? Why has Griffin not be charged with the crime he has admitted to?

ARG in Chicago wrote on May 11, 2007 10:16 AM:

Can anyone explain why this story is not leading to more calls for impeachment hearings? It is clear there has been a conspiracy to mis-use the apparatus of government for political gain, and that this conspiracy was being led by the White House. Sounds like "high crimes and misdemeanors" to me.

Oh, I forgot. Nobody got his willy wet.

-- ARG

COLORADO BOB wrote on May 11, 2007 10:17 AM:

Horsey on Karl :

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/

coltergeist wrote on May 11, 2007 10:18 AM:

Paul:

Outstanding work at TPMMuckraker. I would like to note that you or Josh or someone at TPMMuckraker earlier reported on the outcome of those 20 or 14 prosecutions, as the case may be. It is my recollection that the crimes were essentially ministerial in nature and furthermore that the conviction rate was not all that stellar, at least not compared to that of other types of prosecutions by USAtt's. You would think that if a USAtt is going to prosecute someone for something as mundane as voting in the wrong precinct or voting while on probation (does WI bar felons from voting?) or falsely filing voter registration forms for fictitious people in order to get more money on a per capita reward system that the conviction rate would be close to 100%.

security code: degree, as in this stink needs some serious deodorant

Tom Betz wrote on May 11, 2007 10:20 AM:

Buck: We have known the answer to your question for some long time now: Brett Tollman, now US Attorney for Utah, appointed to that position under those same provisions he snuck into the law.

Click on my name for a Harper's story about him

Dataman wrote on May 11, 2007 10:20 AM:

There's another angle to "Voter Fraud". There is good evidence of *vote fraud* -- that is, messing with the actual vote totals by electronic means (e.g. with equipment that lacks any method for auditing, as in Florida), by purging registration lists of legal voters, and by other methods that have been documented. I suspect that the administration wants to conflate "voter fraud" with what they were doing to confuse the issue.

If we expose their "voter fraud" investigations, others may miss the fact that the GOP was involved in widespread vote fraud of another type entirely. Even if they never convict anyone of "voter fraud," they muddy the waters about vote fraud.

This is also out of the playbook: Accuse others of whatever you are guilty of (or something like it).

Thomas Charles wrote on May 11, 2007 10:24 AM:

Actually you give them too much credit when you say the 30 page report is a summary of news clips.

Much of it is actually a summary of Republican Party of Wisconsin press releases.

drmoore wrote on May 11, 2007 10:25 AM:

Security code: snake

Nuff' said.

JEP wrote on May 11, 2007 10:27 AM:

Karl was responding to Melanie Sloan's barrage of seedy revelations with an attempt to foment retaliatory trash the implicated Democrats in voter fraud schemes.

Rove wasn't trying to UNCOVER these schemes, he was trying to get the DOJ US-A's to FABRICATE them. like Schlotzman did in Missouri, and others did in assorted states with close races.

Rove was, of course, not the least bit concerned with the actual crime as much as the public's perception that Democrats, too, were crooks.

But the public failed to fall for it, and Rove's heady prognostications that the Dems would only pick up 12-15 seats only served to topple his "master politician" delusions, and brought his highly vaunted "genius" into real historic perspsctive.

There is no doubt in my mind that by re-upping these investigations, Rove wasn't LOOKING for any existing crimes, he was trying to encourage loyal Bushies like Shlotzman INVENT those crimes, and hoped the public would hold his lies in the same esteem as the truths revealed on blogs like this one, particularly CREW and Melanie Sloan's truthful. (and for Rove, frustratingly timely) revelations about so many Republican sleazebags.

But, unfortunately for the future of the entire GOP, Rove's delusions of grandeur proved politically futile, if not fatal. The Republicans face the worst political climate they have seen in a generation, since Nixon's resignation, they are in failure mode.

And Karl Rove was the political mastermind of that total failure.

LTO wrote on May 11, 2007 10:28 AM:

What comes around goes around. This will be investigated again and again until they get it right and put someone's ass in the clink.

Code word "fear", which they ought to be full of about now.

JEP wrote on May 11, 2007 10:29 AM:

correction; Karl IS the mastermind of the ultimate GOP political failure.

jb wrote on May 11, 2007 10:33 AM:

So use bogus voter fraud allegations to perpetrate election fraud, have I got that right? Could we see a recap of investigations into election fraud specifically in Ohio and Florida in 2004?

Bill P wrote on May 11, 2007 10:38 AM:

Ok, it is clear to all that Rove is guilty of many things: leaking Plame's name, US Attorneys, etc. Bush will never fire him (how could you fire your own brain?), and Rove will never resign (he has no conscience or sense of shame).

So what do we do?

JEP wrote on May 11, 2007 10:39 AM:

Bradblog covered Ohio pretty extensively, http://www.bradblog.com/ and still is very focused on the voter fraud fraud.

TheraP wrote on May 11, 2007 10:41 AM:

Apparently actual convictions do not matter anymore. Indeed, if there is no conviction, they can keep recycling all the charges - forever.

And now that we can be arrested and held without charge or protection of habeas corpus, what's to keep them from using the DoJ from threatening people with all sorts of false allegations, arresting them and doing this over and over?

This whole thing is based on generating fear. And now that they have the laws rigged in their favor, how much more fear can they generate?

This is getting worse and worse. The more you look at it, the more you think about it, the more you understand this huge spiderweb of wrongdoing and slight of hand. It's like watching a magic show. There's no real magic. It's only tricks. But somehow the tricks are on us!

gcs wrote on May 11, 2007 10:44 AM:

Given their epic history of breathtaking hypocrisy, it's really not all that hard to figure out what the Republicans are up to or what they really believe. Just look at what they say, and the opposite must be true.

Charging Dems with Voter Fraud = Republicans are doing it
Healthy Forests = clear cutting
Clear Skies = no pollution regulations at all
Leave No Child Behind = leave them all behind
The Biggest Reconstruction Project = New Orleans still empty
Clinton was Immoral = Newt screwing his own intern
Invading Iraq has nothing to do with Oil = Duh
Mission Accomplished = Please

I'd go on, but the list would be endless. And besides, you get the idea.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on May 11, 2007 10:45 AM:

Meehan is from CurtWeldonville.

From USA-EDPA Patrick L. Meehan's DOJ bio:

"Mr. Meehan’s career in public service began in 1995 when he was elected District Attorney of Delaware County, Pennsylvania...

Prior to being elected District Attorney, Mr. Meehan served as senior counsel and executive director for United States Senator Arlen Specter, and worked as an associate with the law firm of Dilworth Paxson. He earned a B.A. in 1978 from Bowdoin College and his J.D. from Temple University School of Law in 1986. Mr. Meehan grew up in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, and currently resides in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania."

Meehan was present when AG Gonzales visited the Delaware County courthouse on 12/12/06, ostensbily in connection with the DOJ Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Two weeks earlier, the Philadelphia Inquirer published a story about John J. Gallagher and his phony front company, CSG Software that significantly expanded the Weldon investigation. CSG Software, a paper company, was awarded a contract to re-train Russian nuclear weapons scientists.

Was the AG's visit to Media PA a coincidence? I think not.

Mehitabel wrote on May 11, 2007 10:45 AM:

...and the beat goes on...

This from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal--posted yesterday: Milwaukee woman accused of voter fraud
Prosecutor expects others to be charged within next 10 days

"If Ramsey is convicted as charged of the felony counts of voting as an ineligible voter and providing false information to election officials, she could face up to seven years in prison and a $20,000 fine."

Mary wrote on May 11, 2007 10:48 AM:

Matthew Friedrich is who Gonzales sent up to Judiciary last year to put a smiling face on the DOJ retaliation against leaks about its unconstitutional warrantless wiretaps of American citizens on American soil program.

Monica should have just taken her cues from him and she'd have reaped less media.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR2007051001963.html?nav=hcmodule

*********
"You're basically taking what would be called a testifying Fifth Amendment. You should be ashamed of yourself, or your superiors should be ashamed of themselves," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) told Friedrich after he declined to answer questions from committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).
*********

Be very interesting to hear who gave Schlozman the approval to sidestep the rules.

This, from law.com, adds a little to the McClatchy above:

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1178787886422&pos=ataglance

************
During the hearing, House Democrats released a transcript of an interview with a top adviser to Gonzales, who said that last fall -- just before the firings -- he met with at least two prominent New Mexico Republicans, who expressed their frustration with Iglesias' reluctance to pursue a voter fraud investigation.

Matthew Friedrich, a senior counsel to Gonzales, told congressional investigators that in late November 2006, he had breakfast with lawyer Pat Rogers and lobbyist Mickey Barnett.

"I remember them repeating basically what they had said before in terms of unhappiness with Dave Iglesias and the fact that this case hadn't gone anyplace," Friedrich said, according to the transcript of his interview with congressional investigators. "It was clear to me that they did not want him to be the U.S. Attorney. And they mentioned that they had essentially ... they were sort of working towards that."

Friedrich told investigators that the two men had said they'd expressed their concerns to White House aide Karl Rove and Sen. Pete Domenici ...
************

Code word: Scale

As in: Lobbyist's pay scale.
Not as in: Scales of Justice.

So did Iglesias actually serve at the pleasure of lobbyists?

714Day wrote on May 11, 2007 10:48 AM:

I realize it seems premature (lack of evidence)for me to suggest that this all points to the actual vote fraud that occurred, rather than the bogus business being sold by Rove and the Screw Crew. At the very least, it is in keeping with the techniques generally used by "this thing of theirs" in every regard. When people are convinced that frightful things are happening (WMD - Al Qaeda=Iraq - and so on) even ordinarily reasonable people act less than judiciously. If "moderate" Republican operatives will buy the snow job that Democrat boogeymen are loading the ballot box with "illegal" votes of shiftless, no account, colorful sorts, what would they be willing to do to counter said hocus pocus? It's not tough to follow this through to it's logical conclusion. (Listen to Tenet "we don't torture prisoners" prattle vehemently about the threat level that existed during his tenure and why various urgent methods of extraction were required by U.S. intelligence agencies. He drives the point home on an annoyingly redundant first name basis, of course; to make it a personal experience for the interviewer.)
People do all sorts of bizarre things when they think there is a ghost under the bed. All one has to do is get them to believe in ghosts. From that point forward, it's easy to get them on board with whatever the ghost buster tells them to do.
Considering that HAVA was defunded once it recommended that rampant vote tampering was more than possible if the election occurred with paperless e-voting and exit polls in every swing state were nearly exactly flipped (particularly in minority districts already shackled with Rovian shenanigans), I think this is ALL going to be pretty interesting.
After all, it was Karl who suggested the winner would be the one to "stuff" "best" and "most" to the Republican attorneys last year.

Mehitabel wrote on May 11, 2007 10:49 AM:

oops. URL didn't post.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=604176

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on May 11, 2007 10:52 AM:

In the most recent post here about Rachel Paulose, I commented about an 11/3/04 Minneapolis Star-Tribune story about voting problems on Election Day in '04.

One name that pops up on the Republican side is Roger Magnuson. Magnuson is an attorney with Dorsey & Whitney where Paulose worked for three years up until the time she went to work for McNulty in 1/06.

On her resume, Paulose claims to have defended the Rpeublican Party in a lawsuit while she was with D&W.

Maybe Roger Magnuson had something to do with getting Paulose appointed USA.

vetagnstwar wrote on May 11, 2007 10:54 AM:

This admin is really stealing the American way of life. I can't understand what's happened to the press. Apparently the press allowed these "Men in Tights" to get away with a lot of S#*t. This admin looks and smells like the Hitler puppets. Is anyone accountable for any actions or is the blame game. I don't get it. I feel frustration almost everyday when I see and hear of what this bastards are getting away with. There must be some recourse. IMPEACH/CONVICT/SENTENCE

TheraP wrote on May 11, 2007 10:55 AM:

714Day:

Well said.

Yes, they scare their side with false reports that our side is doing wrong.

Then they do worse wrongs (like kids cheating because they think everyone is doing it anyway...).

And when we cry foul, they say: "You're victimizing us!"

It's hard to be the honest guy trying to battle the dishonest, especially when the dishonest have usurped the reins of "justice."

JEP wrote on May 11, 2007 10:58 AM:

Thomas Heffelfenger

"Ten Little US-A'a"

One little, two little, three little prosecutors...

Lance wrote on May 11, 2007 11:01 AM:

If Rove is so concerned about voter fraud, shouldn't he be going after Ann Coulter?

Anonymous wrote on May 11, 2007 11:02 AM:

Remember Rove's comment last fall about an "October Surprise?" Obviously, he was counting on one of the Democratic voter fraud investigations he was pushing bearing fruit. Now, of course, it just provides further evidence that he was the one behind all the prosecutorial mischief (or attempts at it).

714Day wrote on May 11, 2007 11:02 AM:

Whatever happened to the Ann Coulter phony registration address business? I guess her distended neck veins got her head off the chopping block, huh? (I know, cheesy personal attack on physical appearance; but the truth matters.)

JEP wrote on May 11, 2007 11:06 AM:

Does anyone know, is it even legal to add language to a bill after floor discussion and deliberations are over?

Isn't the insertion itself a nullifying factor in those legal procedures?

If not, it should be.. There's a law worth writing, that makes it a crime to serriptitiously insert language into a bill after arguments have closed...

Frederick wrote on May 11, 2007 11:17 AM:

What a disappointment the House investigation was yesterday, they wanted to talk about issues not related to the attorney firings. What an asshole Chris Cannon was, and Conyers was far from inspiring in his handling of the hearing. The Senate did a much better job, if those House members had followed the TPM coverage
they could have asked the questions that matter.

Mary wrote on May 11, 2007 11:18 AM:

BTW - Rogers happens to have admitted trying to influence Iglesias on prosecutions before the election; Rogers represented Wilson in her recount issues with her narrow victory and ...

wonder how this happened

...

Rogers ended up being one of the names given by Domenici to replace Iglesias.

ARG in Chicago wrote on May 11, 2007 11:23 AM:

Tom Betz:

Thanks for the Harper's link. However, that article only makes a passing reference to Tollman:

"And the figures involved once more include Brett Tollman, the mysteriously unfaithful aide to Arlen Specter who was rewarded for his services to the Department of Justice with a prompt appointment as the U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City."

Can you point us to an article that fingers Tollman as the Spectrer aide who inserted the US Attorney appointment language into the New and Improved Patriot Act??

If this part of the story is a "known known" (to paraphrase old Don Rumsfeld), then wouldn't it make sense to follow up and find out whether this guy Tollman had anything else to do with the US Attorneys' turnover? How 'bout the Utah USA Tollman replaced? What's the rest of the story there?

Just wondering.

-- ARG

Ron Rich wrote on May 11, 2007 11:26 AM:

It would be very revealing if TPM could investigate how agressively the US Attorneys in Ohio, Florida, and New Mexico pursued the widely reported voter intimidation and voting problems with respect to lost votes in the 2004 and 2006 elections.

It was clear with respect to statistically significant exit polls that there was a problem with the vote count.

mo2 wrote on May 11, 2007 11:26 AM:

concern because in a number of districts the courts had questioned the propriety of their appointing power because of separation of powers. As Mr. Tolman explained it to Mr. O’Neill, those were the reasons and the provision was added to the PATRIOT Act
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002487.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/usa-timeline.php

Anonymous wrote on May 11, 2007 11:27 AM:

Did anyone catch Dick Cheney on Fox News yesterday telling republicans to go f*ck themselves? Seems big Dick was angry with the 11 mavericks who dared to speak with Bush while Dick was out of town and then had the nerve to tell the press what they had told him.

Here is the quote: “We didn’t get elected to be popular,” Mr. Cheney said. “We didn’t get elected to worry just about the fate of the Republican Party.”

Mary wrote on May 11, 2007 11:27 AM:

BTW - Rogers happens to have admitted trying to influence Iglesias on prosecutions before the election; Rogers represented Wilson in her recount issues with her narrow victory and ...

wonder how this happened

...

Rogers ended up being one of the names given by Domenici to replace Iglesias.

Don't you wonder a bit why Friedrich was having that meeting with Rogers and Barnett?

trank wrote on May 11, 2007 11:28 AM:

these stories of Dem fraud would be useless unless they were part of the pre-election PR. most of that would start and happen on talk radio and maybe mailings to the faithful. it could then trickle up.

so, when the local talk show hosts like Pat Frisch in Albuquerque (770KKOB) got their DEMS ARE STEALING ELECTIONS talking points (along with "Dems are corrupt"), did they come from a source close to the horses mouth?

If Rove was in a hurry were his people trying to get info from the prosecutor's office they could use? were there any leaks from ongoing investigations?

these talk radio stories served various purposes including:

1)get the vote out
2)short circuit growing exposure of real GOP election fraud
3)get the base ready to get out in the streets protesting and intimidating election officials in case Dems got out in the streets for real GOP election fraud, or recounts.
4)paint the Dem candidates

JEP wrote on May 11, 2007 11:32 AM:

"did they come from a source close to the horses mouth?"

I think you're looking at the wrong end of that horse...

trank wrote on May 11, 2007 11:33 AM:

5)and of course continue to drum up the anti-immigration issue to help them pass legislation to require us all to get ID chips etc.

bordersmuggler wrote on May 11, 2007 11:37 AM:

From Murray Waas

The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protégé of Rove's, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/070510nj1.htm

mo2 wrote on May 11, 2007 11:40 AM:

http://desspec.blogspot.com/search/label/scandal
scroll down to Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Joe Mama wrote on May 11, 2007 11:40 AM:

That Wisconsin report sounds like a bunch of nutcakes. They use huge numbers in their subject headings (300, 000!, 5,600!) but eventually they only come down to a handful of discrepancies. Part of their 'non-existent' address fact finding is based on using a 'software program also used by the US Postal Service' (which they do not name) - who knows what the controls were in that process. Having used many address verifications softwares, the us postal system changes daily and the postal system itself has been found to have discrepanicies. Afterall, everything is entered by a human being at some point. It is consistently being refined. When you are trying to VERIFY an address there are several programs that can be used - when you are trying to DENY an address, the easiest thing to do is use one program and stop there - why check several times when you've gotten the answer you already wanted? Also in the section of non existent addresses which they supposedly took pictures - notice they are all streets with a directional component (West, East, North, South etc) these are the easiest typos, mistaken data entries to make.

Based on the percentages of overall registration addresses these numbers are ridiculously insignificant and do not indicate any kind of 'mass conspiracy', and instead are common human error.

Mike Valentine wrote on May 11, 2007 11:42 AM:

Just a quick, Has anyone asked President Bush why he has not fired Mr. Rove yet? The Commander-in Chief (guy) said that anyone having anything to so with the outing of Ms. Wilson would no longer be part of the administration. This was right after Bush 41 said that the outing was treason.

Does this qualify as another Bush lie?

Time to show Rove, Cheney, Bush and the rest of this corrupt bunch the (code word) door to the federal pen.

et wrote on May 11, 2007 11:56 AM:

You are leaving out an important point in these stories. Were there convictions in these various voter fraud cases? If so, you need to be sharing this. If there were convictions it somewhat undermines your narrative and reflects a clear bias that you need to be avoiding or this all risks being seen as anti Bush raving.

Buckley wrote on May 11, 2007 11:57 AM:

"He hadn't convinced the person whose opinion matters most at the Justice Department: Karl Rove's."

This is so obvious. When will we hear this reported anywhere but here?
Thanks,
B

Elisa wrote on May 11, 2007 12:02 PM:

Now we know what Karl meant by having "the math."

Security code: shame

Duckman GR wrote on May 11, 2007 12:07 PM:

Lest we forget, the voter fraud they're talking about is people voting twice at the polls, or voting under a different name, or voting without being registered. And as we all know, that just doesn't happen.

Henry Clay wrote on May 11, 2007 12:10 PM:

Makes one wonder if maybe Gonzo's telling the truth...that he really doesn't know what the hell was going on, since all the orders came straight from Karl.

Richard L. Adlof wrote on May 11, 2007 12:27 PM:

Frederick @ May 11, 2007 11:17 AM,

The opening up of additional topics for inquiry WAS the purpose of the House having the hearing yesterday.

Yes, the Senate did a better job on th US Attorneys issue - Hell, Senators tend to know how to talk and think (Considering that is all they do) AND yes, talking and thinking do not seem to be job requirements to be a member of the House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee B-U-T (!!!) this crap NEEDS to be shown ballooning outta control.

Justice is not the cathartic termintion of Bush and his jackhole butt-buddies.

Justice IS stamping out the attempt to wipe-out our reppublic and replace it with never-ending fascist plutocracy. Justice is turning the Republican Party into a footnote in history just like its predecessors the Whigs and the Federalists. Justice is turning right wingnuts into a permanent minority - we need to be informed by their thought . . . we must never allow them to lead again.

The committee yesterday did a really crappy job. They missed a significant number of really big opportunities to blow a large number of lids off a lot of kettles but at least they got some of the other shit into the public record.

Quiddity wrote on May 11, 2007 12:31 PM:

Check out the charge on page 13 where Democrats are accused of bribery by offering free coffee.

Richard L. Adlof wrote on May 11, 2007 12:35 PM:

Buckley @ May 11, 2007 11:57 AM,

Thom Hartmann and Randi Rhodes of Air America Radio beat that drum fairly regularly.

Jon Stewart points out the Rove(r)'s foibles . . .

The corporate media has been bought out on this point though.

Mooser wrote on May 11, 2007 1:06 PM:

et, short answer, no, hardly any.

31 Tudor wrote on May 11, 2007 1:08 PM:

Who is the most powerful man in the world? Who will still be in power when presidents have come and gone? The brain of the GOP, Karl "turd blossom" Rove. The right will do whatever it takes to protect Rove. Not since Don Segretti have we seen such dirty politics, Rove is a true "ratfucker".

Buck wrote on May 11, 2007 1:21 PM:

Who is the most powerful man in the world? Who will still be in power when presidents have come and gone? The brain of the GOP, Karl "turd blossom" Rove. The right will do whatever it takes to protect Rove. Not since Don Segretti have we seen such dirty politics, Rove is a true "ratfucker".
Posted by: 31 Tudor
Date: May 11, 2007 01:08 PM

Yeah, right. I'm sure they're feeling real good about Karl's job performance about now.

kailuacaton wrote on May 11, 2007 1:29 PM:

I hate to go off topic or to be to cynical. I have an Idea for a new thread. Terrorist in Germany, American interest. On a Friday.It didn't stick yesterday. Whats coming down the pipe? Another document dump? Anything at all? Or, is it that I can't trust them enough to tell the truth without an ulterior motive.

phil james wrote on May 11, 2007 1:30 PM:

Ok, it is clear to all that Rove is guilty of many things: leaking Plame's name, US Attorneys, etc. Bush will never fire him (how could you fire your own brain?), and Rove will never resign (he has no conscience or sense of shame).

So what do we do?

What we do is continue to support the Congressional investigations, which, if they have any value at all, will lead to a criminal indictment of Rove. That and only that will lead to his removal as the head of government. What? You thought Bush was our president? Tut, tut...you haven't been paying attention.

trank wrote on May 11, 2007 1:33 PM:

Republicans are still in denial.

"Were there convictions in these various voter fraud cases?" "anti Bush raving."

Posted by: et
Date: May 11, 2007 11:56 AM"

Lest we forget, the voter fraud they're talking about is people voting twice at the polls, or voting under a different name, or voting without being registered. And as we all know, that just doesn't happen.

Posted by: Duckman GR
Date: May 11, 2007 12:07 PM

read recent works of Palast, Fitsrakis, Wasserman, RFK Jr, etc. and compare the widespread election fraud they document with the few dozens or something cases of vote fraud the GOP wanted to parade around.

the GOP congress fought EVERY effort to straighten out Fla and national electronic problems. instead they have pushed the anti-immigration movement to suggest "illegals" are voting illegally for dems in large numbers.

the GOP can't win a real election SO THEY HAVE TO STEAL VOTES! they woudn't investigate, wouldn't even give Dems hearing space to investigate electronic voting machines that work like Vegas machines and can be used to skim millions of votes. instead they want to investigate dozens of cases of double voting?

according to Greg Palast caging lists were used to wipe out the votes of thousands of black soldiers who were in Iraq!

the idea that a large percent of the votes in what used to be the worlds greatest democracy are counted on machines that are privately owned (by GOP party loyalists), and with software that can't be checked, is absurd. not only does the GOP congress have no problem with this, they fought every effort to fix it. and may still.

the GOP has become a criminal enterprise. WAKE THE FUCK UP

Anonymous wrote on May 11, 2007 1:56 PM:

Don't forget that Rove himself was investigate for his seemingly erroneous voter registration in Texas... Rove owns a two bedroom rental cottage in Texas and a substantial home (where he lives year round) in Washington, DC.

Yet Rove decided to vote in Texas. Locals smelled a rat because they've never seen Rove there (it's the type of small town where everyone knows everyone else).

Steve5117 wrote on May 11, 2007 2:10 PM:

I'm sitting here, feeling disgusted about this administration's machinations, wishing I could walk over to 1600 and tell George he has a problem. Of course I know my one small voice would mean nothing to him or his cohorts.

Is there not something that all of the people in America could do to send a message to the President that we’re not happy with his performance, his policies or his people?

Well how about a national "Don't Buy Anything" day.

If we were able to pick some day in the not too distant future and spread the word through cyberspace, do you think we could get people to not buy anything on a particular day?

If we could get people not to shop that day, would empty malls and parking lots be enough of a message?

asfd wrote on May 11, 2007 2:43 PM:

"Conservative columnist Ann Coulter Cleared in Elections Investigation"

WEST PALM BEACH, FL (AP) -- Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has been cleared of wrongdoing in an investigation into whether she violated Florida elections law by voting in the wrong precinct.

Palm Beach County elections officials received a complaint in February 2006 that Coulter voted in the wrong precinct during a Palm Beach town council election. The elections office looked into the matter for nearly nine months before turning the case over to state prosecutors.

The case was eventually handed to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, which concluded in a report that "there was insufficient probable cause to determine that Ann Coulter willfully or deliberately" violated any laws. The case was closed on April 12.

link below

asdf wrote on May 11, 2007 2:48 PM:

"FBI Agent Derails Coulter Voter Fraud Case"

It's been more than a year since I first asked Will Ann Coulter Be Prosecuted for Voter Fraud, and at last we have the answer expected: No. Jose Lambiet, who broke the original story in February 2006, reports in today's Palm Beach Post:

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter has been cleared of allegations that she falsified her Palm Beach County voter's registration and voted illegally -- this, after a high-level FBI agent made unsolicited phone calls to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office to vouch for Coulter.

The caller wasn't just any G-man. According to PBSO documents, he was Supervisory Special Agent Jim Fitzgerald, of the FBI Academy's Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Va. -- the closest reality gets to the serial-killer catchers on CBS' Criminal Minds.

link below

Aquaria wrote on May 11, 2007 2:53 PM:

Trank @ 1:33

But if 12 Democrats vote illegally, that's so much more criminal than Republicans illegally removing thousands of rightful Dem voters from the polls! /wingnut off

This is how Rs think these days.

They'll scream bloody murder if they go down to the voting booth and get turned away or challenged. But anyone else? Well, they had it coming!

Despicable scumbags. It's the only way to describe them.

RovingVandals wrote on May 11, 2007 3:08 PM:

If Congress can't get Karl's emails from Justice, the White House or the RNC, since all of them must have been accidentally deleted, why not ask the NSA? They have a copy of everyone's email, right?

The Oracle wrote on May 11, 2007 3:51 PM:

Unca KKKarl visited Ohio in October 2006, after which he returned to Washington and proclaimed (along with Unca DDDick) that the Republicans had the election in the bag.

While reading this short article about Unca KKKarl's pre-election Ohio trip, I remembered that Diebold has it's headquarters in Ohio. And strangely, this article just mentioned Unca KKKarl visiting Ohio, but never mentioned anything about who he visited or where he stayed.

Democrats in Congress need to subpoena all the election machine company CEOs and get them testifying under oath about any involvement/contacts (including emails) they've had with Unca KKKarl's corrupt office.

This Republican corruption has got to stop...or be stopped by voting even more of the "culture of corruption" Republicans out of office. Our democracy deserves better, much, much better.

bronxdem wrote on May 11, 2007 4:26 PM:

ARG:

Re Tollman and the former Utah USA, originally that job was supposed to go to Kyle Sampson, but Judiciary wasn't going to approve it. So they ended up with Tollman. Hatch seems to have been annoyed about getting rid of the former one--he mentioned it in one of the hearings that the administration didn't understand that he and the Clinton administration had "cooperated" on Paul Warner's appointment.

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/3/21/142237/781

malcontent wrote on May 11, 2007 4:34 PM:

The GOP is stealing elections and their primary form of defense - against this and the myriad other crimes they've committed - is transference. They accuse the Democrats of the very things they've done themselves to draw attention away from their crimes.

It's plain and simple. Look into Bernadette Noe in Warren County, Ohio in the 2004 election and tell me that wasn't manipulated.

cfaller96 wrote on May 11, 2007 5:55 PM:

Ok, was it Scranton USA Thomas Marino or Philadelphia USA Patrick Meehan that was on The List at one time? Or was it both?

Paul Kiel mentions Meehan in this post, but the McClatchy article from a few weeks ago specifically named Marino (along with Biskupic, Graves, and Heffelfinger) as one of the last USAs to be considered for firing (but ultimately weren't).

So, either Paul's mixed up, McClatchy's mixed up, or both were vulnerable. I'd love for someone to clarify this.

whizkid wrote on May 11, 2007 10:12 PM:

Let's not mince words.
These people - Rove, Bush, Cheney - are racists.
And they used racism as a ploy to gain votes in both 2000 and 2004. Having been successful, they intended to go on with the strategy last year and next year ad infinitum.
To create this phoney issue and prop it up as real required an inherent racism on the part of our media and electorate.
So let's see: No WMD's, no voter fraud.
Nice use of the red herring and lies to gain and maintain power.
But have laws been broken? Yes.

Brew City Brawler wrote on May 12, 2007 1:12 AM:

You're missing a part of the story.

The Wisconsin GOP raised fresh charges of voter fraud on Oct. 25 2006 -- about a week before the election.

From the 10/27/06 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Republicans launched new allegations Thursday of flawed Milwaukee voter lists, less than two weeks before the Nov. 7 election.

But the problem addresses represent a small fraction of the city's total voters, and many if not all of the problems appear to be minor errors, not vote fraud, the city's election chief said.

Democrats struck back by accusing the GOP of trying to suppress votes.

GOP leaders held a news conference in a south side parking lot, across from a freeway bridge. They said someone had voted after giving their address as 2056 S. 5th St., which is vacant land beneath I-43/94.

That was just one of more than 1,600 such suspect addresses, the Republicans charged.

"It means people are voting from these addresses, and they don't live here," said state Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield).

State GOP Chairman Brad Courtney said city election officials "have failed the voters of Wisconsin" by not correcting the errors."
______________

Could there be any connection? Could the White House have been coordinating its actions with the state GOP? Naw...

james risser wrote on May 12, 2007 2:04 PM:

ARG in chicago:

on tollman, you may find this daily kos diary directs you to where you want to go:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/18/211857/323

Rob LA Ca. wrote on May 12, 2007 8:47 PM:

"The GOP is stealing elections and their primary form of defense - against this and the myriad other crimes they've committed - is transference. They accuse the Democrats of the very things they've done themselves to draw attention away from their crimes."

You malcontents are pathetic. What a shameless attempt to deflect the facts that the Democrats own corruption , election and voter fraud and you can now add defeat/surrender to that list. Democrats are lying criminal frauds and those who continue to support those POS's are aiding and abbeting. You idiots are just happy to drive the get away car for your treasonous lily livered psuedo-Crats.

What a bunch of stupid lazy liars you are. Why is it that it's only the criminal Democrat party of perpetual fraud that cries voter fraud when they lose and dispatch an army of lawyers? Their cries fade when they realize they actually won seats and quickly canceled two braodcasts dealing with electronic Machines and voting fraud.

Slash any GOP tires lately? How about Crack for registering voters , Booze , cigaretttes and don't forget your looney tunes. Now you losers just performed a "Double Transference" and think you can wash yourselves clean of the filth that you are.

If you are such proud democrats , stand up and say ya , I'm proud that my democrat party whines that 85% of felons vote democrat. Take pride in your election/voter frauds. Take pride that your leaders are a bunch of lying criminal frauds. Oh ya , you are really not that proud of that. It's why you have been trying to "Clintonize" President Bush and his Administration since he beat your candidate frauds two years in a row.

"These people - Rove, Bush, Cheney - are racists."

Sorry liar, You are the party of racists and race baiters. You can't even debate it , all you can do is lie. Say hello "Sheets" Bobby Bird Grand Wizard and Race Baiters Jackson and Sharpton.

The greatest Country on Earth and mankind have been disgraced by the greatest embarrassment in our times called Democrats. They have used the most childish of instincts as a way to achieve that which they do not merit(dog catcher/any position of power) and slither away from what they deserve (gutter/prison/execution).

I stopped voting "DEMOCRAT" Nov 2 2004. You cannot claim ignorance because you are just plain criminally stupid.

Anonymous wrote on May 12, 2007 8:53 PM:

http://soundpolitics.com/archives/007238.html

"Democrat House Candidate Deb Eddy Admits Theft of KCGOP Property

Democrat Deb Eddy, 48th District state House candidate, has admitted to illegally removing lawfully posted campaign signs belonging to the King County GOP. (documentation here) :"

Just can't keep them criminal Rats down.

JNagarya wrote on May 14, 2007 8:34 AM:

". . . . The greatest Country on Earth and mankind have been disgraced by the greatest embarrassment in our times called Democrats. They have used the most childish of instincts as a way to achieve that which they do not merit(dog catcher/any position of power) and slither away from what they deserve (gutter/prison/execution).

"I stopped voting "DEMOCRAT" Nov 2 2004. You cannot claim ignorance because you are just plain criminally stupid.

"Posted by: Rob LA Ca.

"Date: May 12, 2007 08:47 PM"

Torture is a war crime, regardless the euphemisms used to disguise it by Bush, et al., even when Bush, et al., do it. The laws which define it as such, and prohibit it, target not the euphemisms but the act itself. And those laws are beyond the reach of Congress, the Executive, and Congress and the Evecutive together even with the approval of the Judiciary.

It is a war crime even when the US does it. Even when Bush, et al., do it. Even when they lie against the substantiated reality that they do it.

How does it feel to defend the most morally depraved of human acts by lying against Democrats, Mr. Transference?

Tully wrote on May 15, 2007 6:13 PM:

"Those three were Milwaukee, New Mexico and Philadelphia -- all battleground states."

Philadelphia is a state now?

Tully wrote on May 15, 2007 6:14 PM:

And Milwaukee too?

epenisa wrote on January 11, 2008 12:44 AM:

Hello
Nice work from your side... have a nice time with yoru blog :)
G'night