12 posts tagged “palin”

There are few, if any, things one can do to undermine democracy that would be worse than denying citizens the right to vote.  And yet this is precisely what the Republican Party is trying to do.  They figure, if you can't win an election fairly, then steal it.  This is something they cannot be allowed to get away with.  All this shrieking and hand-wringing from Republicans about ACORN and illegal aliens committing voter fraud is ... well, trying to keep my PG rating, I'll say, balderdash.

As I've mentioned before, this is the very issue at the heart of the U.S. Attorney firing scandal, which has yet to be fully resolved.  One of the USAs fired, David Iglesias of New Mexico, described it this way:

"I'm astounded that this issue is being trotted out again," Iglesias told TPMmuckraker. "Based on what I saw in 2004 and 2006, it's a scare tactic."

The Obama campaign has responded to this latest round of voter fraud accusations:

"With this voter fraud [investigation], we're seeing an unholy alliance of law enforcement and the ugliest form of partisan politics," Bob Bauer, an elections lawyer with the Obama camp, said on a conference call with reporters just now. Bauer compared the decision to launch the investigation with the US attorneys scandal, in which several US attorneys were fired for their unwillingess to pursue politically charged cases, including voter fraud, with sufficient aggression to satisfy the Bush administration.

Bauer released a letter sent to Attorney General Michael Mukasey calling on him to have the issue taken on by Nora Dannehy, the prosecutor he appointed to investigate the US attorney firings.

The U.S. Supreme Court has also weighed in on the Republican efforts to suppress the vote in Ohio:

The Supreme Court on Friday overturned a lower court’s order requiring state officials in Ohio to supply information that would have made it easier to challenge prospective voters. The decision was a setback for Ohio Republicans, who had sued to force the Ohio secretary of state, a Democrat, to provide information about database mismatches to county officials.

The fact is that the whole voter fraud scare is nothing but smoke and mirrors.  It makes no sense if you think about it logically, but of course the Republican Party operatives who promote this are counting on people not thinking about it at all, but simply reacting emotionally to it.  Dahlia Lithwick has an excellent article in Slate on the issue, in which she says:

Large-scale, coordinated vote stealing doesn't happen. The incentives—unlike the incentives for registration fraud—just aren't there. In an interview this week with Salon, Lorraine Minnite of Barnard College, who has studied vote fraud systematically, noted that "between 2002 to 2005 only one person was found guilty of registration fraud. Twenty others were found guilty of voting while ineligible and five were guilty of voting more than once. That's 26 criminal voters." Twenty-six criminal voters despite the fact that U.S. attorneys, like David Iglesias in New Mexico, were fired for searching high and low for vote-fraud cases to prosecute and coming up empty. Twenty-six criminal voters despite the fact that five days before the 2006 election, then-interim U.S. Attorney Bradley Schlozman exuberantly (and futilely) indicted four ACORN workers, even when Justice Department policy barred such prosecutions in the days before elections. RNC General Counsel Sean Cairncross has said he is unaware of a single improper vote cast because of bad cards submitted in the course of a voter-registration effort. Republican campaign consultant Royal Masset says, "[I]n-person voter fraud is nonexistent. It doesn't happen, and ... makes no sense because who's going to take the risk of going to jail on something so blatant that maybe changes one vote?"

That doesn't stop the McCain-Palin campaign from trying to use ACORN as a boogeyman to whip up anger on the right.  Plus, it goes hand in hand with their demonization of illegal aliens.  Anonymous Liberal puts it in perspective:

Some suggest that this willing army of criminals might be recruited from the ranks of illegal aliens or unnaturalized citizens, people who are not eligible to vote. That's nonsense. Illegal aliens live in constant fear of being discovered and deported. Good luck getting an illegal alien to submit a registration form much less actually go to a polling station. And legal residents have very similar fears. Voter fraud is a deportable offense. These folks value their immigration status more than anything in the world and would never risk it in order to cast a vote.

And now the right-wing fringe is acting on the provocation from McCain and Palin by threatening and vandelizing ACORN offices.  These kinds of tactics deserve to wind up on the trash heap of history.  There's nothing honorable or American about it.

With poll after poll in the last couple of weeks showing Obama-Biden with a widening lead over McCain-Palin, McCain's campaign has taken a particularly nasty turn.  Unable to present a coherent message about the economic meltdown, jumping erratically from one tactic to another, both McCain and Palin have been trying to attack Obama with appeals to fear and hate that are truly disgraceful.  The connection to former 60s Weatherman, William Ayers, that they are putting so much emphasis on is an irrelavent distraction.  For some first hand, authoritative comment see this letter to the NY Times from William C. Ibershof, who was the lead prosecutor on the Weathermen case in the 70s:

I am amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers’s terrorist activities 40 years ago when Mr. Obama was, as he has noted, just a child.

Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen.

Because Senator Obama recently served on a board of a charitable organization with Mr. Ayers cannot possibly link the senator to acts perpetrated by Mr. Ayers so many years ago.

That this tenuous association is being used in campaign advertising is bad enough, but McCain and Palin are beating this issue like a drum at their campaign rallies, working their supporters into a frenzy, and making many people very concerned, such as Joe Klein:

Watch the tape of the guy screaming, "He's a terrorist!" McCain seems to shudder at that, he rolls his eyes... and I thought for a moment he'd admonish the man. But he didn't. And now he's selling the Ayres non-story full-time. Yes, yes, it's all he has. True enough: he no longer has his honor. But we are on the edge of some real serious craziness here and it would be nice if McCain did the right thing and told his more bloodthirsty supporters to go home and take a cold shower. But McCain hasn't done the right thing all year. His campaign is appalling, as the New York Times editorial board said today--and more, it is a national disgrace.

And this from Glenn Greenwald:

Just look at the videotapes of the angry, hateful hordes attending these rallies — screaming that Obama is a socialist; that he’s both a Muslim and a terrorist as proven by his “bloodline” and his name; that his supporters are “commie faggots”; that he’s guilty of treason; underscored by increasing racial invective and even punctuated in one case by a call from an audience member for someone to be killed.  These aren’t just isolated individuals; these sentiments are common at these rallies and becoming increasingly virulent and enraged — at the rallies and otherwise:

Here's what makes this tactic truly reprehensible: McCain knows the accusations aren't true, any more than the allegation made in the 2000 campaign that he had fathered an illigitimate black baby.  But he is allowing certain people, represented by the crowds at their recent campaign rallys, to believe they are true in hopes of gaining a political advantage.  Disgraceful.

We've been warned: the presidential race between now and election day is going to be attack, Attack, ATTACK!  Many Democrats have criticized Obama for not taking the fight more aggressively to John McCain.  It may be a good sign that Barack, seems not to have let the advice of nervous supporters sway him from his overall strategy, because in retrospect, it seems that what he has done was the right thing at the time.  Obama said the following in Asheville, North Carolina, today in reference to the McCain campaign's desire to turn the page from focusing on the dismal economy:

Think about that for  a second.  Turn the page on the economy?  We’re facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and John McCain wants us to "turn the page?"  Well, I know the policies he’s supported these past eight years and wants to continue are pretty hard to defend.  I can understand why Senator McCain would want to "turn the page" and ignore this economy.

But I also know this:

You’re trying to pay your bills every week and stay above the water – you can’t ignore it.

You’re worrying about whether your job will be there a month from now – you can’t ignore it.

You’re worrying about whether you can pay your mortgage and stay in your house – you can’t turn the page.

[...]

Senator McCain and his operatives are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance ... It’s what you do when you’re out of touch, out of ideas, and running out of time. 

Sarah Palin wasted no time going into attack mode (via DailyKos):

"Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country," Palin told a rally of about 10,000 gathered at a tennis stadium in Carson, a suburb of Los Angeles.

And the basis for Palin's attack? Besides desperation and falling poll numbers, I mean? A New York Times article about William Ayers and Obama that concluded the two men "do not appear to have been close." In other words, living in the same neighborhood and serving on the same charitable boards does not mean you're "palling around" with someone, nor does it mean you endorse their actions from 40 years ago.

And if Sarah Palin wants to talking about palling around with people who find America less than perfect, then it's time to talk about her association with the Alaska Independence Party (AIP), the secessionist group whose founder, Joe Vogler once said:

The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government...and I won't be buried under their damn flag...

I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions.

Palin's complete dealings with the group isn't entirely clear, and unfortunately we can't ask Mr. Vogler about it since he was murdered in a plastic explosives sale gone bad," but we do know this: Sarah Palin probably attended the AIP convention 1994, the McCain campaign admits she attended in 2000, and as governor, Palin taped a welcoming message to them in 2006.

Via CNN:

The Statement: Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin said Saturday, October 4, that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is "someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

Verdict: False. There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now "palling around," or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are.

And then there's the Al Franken approach to responding to personal attacks:

Joe_Biden

Joe Biden and Sarah Palin faced very different challenges in last night's Vice Presidential Debate (transcript here).  Expectations for Palin were so low that she would be considered a success if she didn't trip and knock the podium down.  She exceeded most people's expectations and provided flashes of the personality that made many people like her in the first place.  That said, it was obvious that she was repeating memorized phrases, presenting it well, but it seemed to me that her knowledge was as thin as paper.  There were no follow-up questions, as a result of the aggreed-upon debate format, and that saved her.

Joe Biden, in contrast, appeared knowlegeable, relaxed, able to address the topics contained in the questions, and ready with the rapier, not so much for Palin, but for John McCain.  There were a number of memorable moments throughout the debate, and if you missed it, you should watch the whole thing (below) so you can make your own evaluation.  My favorite bit, particularly relevant in this context, was Joe's response about the consititutional basis of the Vice President's powers:

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history. The idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he's part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

That nailed it.  And this was after Palin said she hoped the Vice President's powers should be expanded. No contest.  Here is the complete video from CNN:

Things have gotten to a really strange place when Saturday Night Live can do skit that is hilarious using a political candidate's actual words, will only very minor modification.  The Republicans really are killing political satire.  How do you outdo people who are so over the top?  Here is a side-by-side comparison of the actual Sarah Palin interview and the Tina Fey version that appeared on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

Let's have a quick look at the people Obama and McCain have picked for their second in command.   First, Joe Biden reacting to the first Presidential debate:

You may have heard that John McCain was scheduled to appear on David Letterman's late night show on CBS on Wednesday night.  At the last minute, McCain called to cancel, saying he was hurrying back to Washington to deal with the financial crisis.  It turned out that the crisis McCain had to deal with was Sarah Palin's interview taped that morning with Katie Couric.  McCain scheduled an interview the same day with Couric, thereby bumping much of the Palin interview from the evening news cast (though it was still available on the Internet).  Here' David Letterman talking about the situation on his show that night:

By now most of you have probably seen the Saturday Night Live bit with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Pohler as Hillary Clinton.  In case you haven't, here it is:

Finally, here's a little humor.  Andrew Sullivan says "I really don't think what is happening now and will happen soon can be better described than this. Yes, Wile E. Coyote is McCain and Palin is that bow and arrow he thought would bring down Obama:"

I'm sure you've heard complaints like this one from the AP: "Many liberals are belittling the choice, suggesting that as a mother of five children -- including an infant with Down syndrome -- she has neither the time nor the experience to become vice president. "

As blogger Glenn Greenwald reports on Salon:

The only problem with Raum's central point: it was plainly untrue. Though right-wing icon Dr. Laura Schlesinger published a brutal attack on the choice of Palin based exactly on this ground ("Couldn't the Republican Party find one competent female with adult children to run for Vice President with McCain?"), not a single identifiable liberal or even Democrat had voiced any such objection.

The straw man argument is a favorite of Karl Rove's disciples: you create the political enemy you want to fight, often with just enough truth to make it believable, and then attack your creation instead of your actual opponent.  (The notorious "Some say...")  I read a pretty broad cross-section of Liberal commentary, and I have not seen a single example of this particular attack on Palin from any of them.  There are no doubt some questionable and even sexist comments, but here's the point, NOTHING "...suggesting that as a mother of five children -- including an infant with Down syndrome -- she has neither the time nor the experience to become vice president. "  This is just a way to get people worked up.  And it's pretty effective.

For a list of attacks on Sarah Palin that are definitely NOT by Liberals, see this from Blue Texan at the Firedoglake blog.

The nomination of Sarah Palin has unquestionably energized the McCain campaign and the conservative base.  Those folks have a right to their opinions and have a right to vote for someone they agree with.  This is still America, after all.  For my part, though, things like this send a cold shiver down my spine (James Fallows at the Atlantic Monthly):

What Sarah Palin revealed is that she has not been interested enough in world affairs to become minimally conversant with the issues. Many people in our great land might have difficulty defining the "Bush Doctrine" exactly. But not to recognize the name, as obviously was the case for Palin, indicates not a failure of last-minute cramming but a lack of attention to any foreign-policy discussion whatsoever in the last seven years.

And here's some extra detail for those who think that Obama/Biden's position on admitting Georgia and Ukraine into NATO and risking war with Russia in the process is the same as McCain's or Palin's, via Josh Marshall.  These are serious matters, life and death on a global scale, and she simply doesn't know what she's talking about.  As for Palin's comment that "... you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska,”  as a commenter on one blog remarked, "And when I look out my window I can see the moon. Doesn’t make me a !@#&! astronaut now, does it?"