Former U.S.-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi — has denounced the policies of President George W. Bush as an “utter failure” that gave rise to the sectarian venom that ravaged his country… Allawi found fault with American management of Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 as well as the government of present Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki…”Yes, Bush’s policies failed utterly,” said Allawi, describing the U.S. administration that once backed him. “Utter failure. Failure of U.S. domestic and foreign policy, including fighting terrorism and economic policy. His insistence on names like ‘democracy‘ and ‘open elections,’ without giving attention to political stability, was a big mistake. It cast shadows on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Egypt, and I believe this will be remembered in history as President Bush’s policy,” he said. | Read More |
Under the guise of protecting elections from voter fraud, the GOP is seeking to disenfranchise new, poor, minority and new voters. Is It a racist strategy, absolutely, and African-Americans and Latinos are perfect targets. It is a simple three-step process. Fraud allegations lead to restrictive voter laws, which lead to a class-skewed electorate. As the Democrats try to get out the vote, Republicans will try to stop it. — Andrew Burmon, Salon.com.
It is a fact that Republican’s have always tried to suppress turn-out, while Democrats have tried to increase it. This time around they (McCain and Co.) do not have the resources with which to carry out “voter intimidation” — hence the cry of FRAUD.
The most recent being the theft of Florida in broad daylight, in 2000, for George Bush, when his Florida campaign manager, Republican Secretary of State Kathleen Harris and Governor Jeb Bush, the president’s brother, illegally removed 57,700 voters from the rolls, 90% of who were Democratic.
How Bush Stole Florida – Part 1 0f 2
How Bush Stole Florida – Part 2 0f 2
According to Lori Minnite, a professor of political science at Barnard College, who has spent the last eight years studying the role of fraud in U.S. elections, the Republican crusade against voter fraud is a strategic ruse. Rather than protecting the election process from voter fraud — a problem that barely exists — Minnite says the true aim of Republican efforts appears to be voter suppression across the partisan divide. According to Minnite, investigating voter fraud has become a Republican cottage industry over the last 20 years because it justifies questioning the eligibility of thousands of would-be voters — often targeting poor and minority citizens in urban areas that lean Democratic. Playing the role of vigilant watchdog gives GOP bureaucrats a pretext for obstructing the path of marginalized and first-time voters headed for the polls…..[MORE]
As I write this post, there are plenty of ‘Jim Crawford’ Republicans working overtime to keep blacks, new voters and other minorities from voting.
The GOP relies on voter suppression methods developed in once-segregated South, and perfected for 2008. These include:
• Intimidating and mis-leading black voters through phone calls
• Making ballots in heavily Democratic neighborhoods ambiguous and hard to read. Some, especially the poorly educated end up voting for the wrong candidate. In 2000, because of the confusing layout of the ballot papers, thousands of Al Gore supporters across the state of Florida, ended up voting for Reform Party candidate Patrick Buchanan, a Racist White Nationalist. Buchanan is currently peddling his Nativist Views at MSNBC News.
• Physically tampering with voting machines. This includes statewide computer database manipulation
• Sudden equipment shortages — causing long lines, confusion and thousands fail to vote
• Burdensome residency requirements and periodic registration
• Literacy or understanding requirements with stringent dis-qualification provisions
• Over aggressive voter roll purges
• Giving the power to challenge to private poll watchers — in some instances the police have been used to intimidate minority voters — The current Florida statute on voter challenges permits poll watchers to challenge a voter merely by signing an oath that states they have “reason to believe” that the voter is ineligible to vote and stating the reasons for the challenge.
• Voter Caging — a practice of sending mass direct mailings to registered voters by non-forwardable mail, then compiling lists of voters, called ‘caging lists,‘ from the returned mail in order to formally challenge their right to vote on that basis alone….[MORE]
ACORN — The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which registers low-income and minority voters who tend to favor Democrats, is under siege for allegedly falsifying voter registrations, and Republicans have sought to taint Obama with the allegations.
According to Politico: Obama in the 1990s represented the group in a lawsuit, and on Tuesday, he said that ‘as an elected official, I’ve had interactions with’ the Chicago branch of the group, which he said has ‘been active,‘ according to a pool report.
‘But they are not advising our campaign,‘ stressed Obama, who himself worked as a community organizer in Chicago before attending law school.
Nevada authorities last week raided ACORN’s state headquarters after the branch submitted voter registrations with the names of celebrities including Dallas Cowboy stars Tony Romo and Terrell Owens, and other voters came forward alleging they were asked by ACORN employees to submit multiple registration forms.
Smelling blood, a malicious John McCain pounced on the controversy, releasing a statement last week asserting that given ‘ACORN’s recent efforts to engage in voter fraud and to disrupt our political system, Obama’s affiliation with this group raises serious questions about his judgment and ability to lead this nation.’ …[MORE]
It is important to note that ACORN pays its “Paid Volunteers” on a quota basis, therefore it is reasonable to expect a few bad apples who will concoct several fake registrations to earn some extra bucks. Yglesias wrote last week about the problem with “paying people based on the number of names they bring in — it creates an incentive for people to pad their lists.”
Registration FRAUD is not Voting FRAUD, and it is pretty obvious why McCain and the GOP are running so scared. This time around, they so overwhelmed by the millions of new Democratic registrations — they can’t stop the flood that is coming their way. A flood that will probably sweep McCain and the GOP filth away into permanent purgatory.
After all, a voter still has to present state issued documents before voting. So, a fake “Tony Romo” registered in Nevada will definitely not surface somewhere in Ohio to vote!
Fox News and affiliated barbarian “Hate News” outlets, have been all over this issue, vomiting huge quantities of lies on top of humongous falsehoods — and conveniently forgetting that McCain had no trouble fraternizing with ACORN in 2006, as the Key-Note speaker [see video below], when their political interests coincided with his. Now, his campaign is writing e-mails in his name bashing ACORN as a tool of the Obama machine.
Feb. 20, 2006 — McCain Praises ACORN
Olbermann Special Comment: McCain Suspend Your Campaign
Two days ago Obama had this to say: We’ve got the best voter registration and turnout and volunteer operation in politics right now, and we don’t need ACORN’s help,’ he told reporters in Toledo, Ohio while preparing for Wednesday’s debate. “We don’t need ACORN’s help.”
So, desperate McCain — Please SHUT UP! You are losing, and this time there is no THIEVING WAY AROUND IT!
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Overheard: ‘If he were white, this would be a blowout.’ ‘I think the country has come a long, long, long way since the 1960s. I think everybody would agree with that. But if you talk to people in certain states, they will say there are impulses that do not benefit Barack Obama because of the color of his skin.’ — Harold Ickes,Senior adviser to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in her race against Mr. Obama this year.
