Obama Demands Special Prosecutor Investigate GOP Voter Fraud Activities

Source: Washington Independant

Citing an “unholy alliance” between Republican operatives and potentially illegal conduct by law enforcement targeting voter fraud, the Obama campaign demanded Friday that the U.S. special prosecutor looking into the U.S. attorney scandal investigate the matter.

General counsel Bob Bauer sent a letter to Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey charging that coordinated “misconduct” by McCain campaign representatives and GOP officials were relevant to the special prosecutor’s work, because the activities may relate to the dismissal of seven U.S. attorneys in late 2006.

The letter requests that the special prosecutor’s inquiry “include a review of any involvement by Justice Dept. and White House officials in supporting the McCain-Palin campaign {and RNC's} systematic development and dissemination of unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud.”

To advance the effort, the Obama campaign convened a conference call with national reporters, though Friday afternoon is not a time that campaigns usually push priority messages.


Read more: http://washingtonindependent.com/13548/breaking-obama-d...

We really need to push. Call and email all the national outlets.

Very good for him! I hope he kicks them in the TEETH!

perpetrated by the repukes against Democratic voters....particularly in low socio-economic areas. I will be very curious to find out what the distribution of voting machines will be like in this election. I recall that in 2004, the Dem areas that had a lot of voters had fewer machines, or non-working machines...while the areas that were leaning repuke were overwhelmed with voting machines.

I suspect this isn't pre-emptive but that the Obama organization has something credible that leads them to take this action

to go after an organization that has been proven clean as a whistle?

You betchur @ss they have something credible.

MACHINES developed, maintained and totally OWNED by "private" seriously RW companies, (content is "proprietary") whose employees have unfettered access... Can I get a fuckin' witness somewhere, somehow?

AGAIN.

Bugsby Berkeley ain't got nothin' on this!!!

Can document the Diebold switcheroo.

That is the type of evidence we will need.

And it is difficult to report any situations relating to unfairness -- if you notice a felony being committed in your neighborhood by some RW "voting activist" you must report the atrocity to the FBI - who simply refuse to document the crime.

CHECK IT OUT FOLKS. THIS MIGHT BE THE ONE WAY WE CAN GET DOCUMENTATION SHOULD THERE BE ANY QUESTIONS, FOUL PLAY, ETC. Sorry for shouting but this is so important. Here's the link, keep it and post it frequently here so people know.

http://www.youtube.com/videoyourvote

I'm going to vote early (this coming Monday) and I plan on not only taking my video camera then, but will be at the polls on November 4th to record the goings-on locally.

about the manipulation of the count on these machines, you aren't likely to actually SEE it. The dirty deed probably will be done in the guise of a "repair" or a company tech rep "helping" overworked and undertrained poll workers. Or maybe they just won't be able to afford to put enough machines at that polling place, so voters get fed up and leave without voting. Another thread about Virginia election problems says basically that. AND the elections officials are not even printing up paper ballots to use IN CASE of problems. So, the voters are just SOL.

But the videos might provide clues, if not direct evidence.

Thanks for posting this!

am thinking I should post this info everyday maybe so people know to do this.

The idea that youtube and PBS have come together to do this and that footage will come from all over the country is really exciting. Remember the books A Day in the life? I think it was Photographers who on the same day took pictures where they were and they were collected in a book. Welcome to the age of cell phones, video cameras and computers. From a film perspective this is an awesome undertaking. America votes. We will be able to see the different voting machines and lack of standardization, but also the experience across the country.


From a voting rights perspective, it provides the transparency and spotlight needed. This could be seen around the world. That mean republiCON lady who is always at my poll is going to be documented this year.

I am the ALTERNATE election judge for my precinct - the Republican party gets to field the election judge, since they won the last senate race in this precinct - and we have been told for the last few elections that cameras and recording devices are not allowed inside the polling place. Ther are no curtains on our booths so we would know if someone used one. Supposedly, the point is, not to let the voter call someone to ask them who they should vote for.

I am not sure what we are supposed to do if, for example, someone were to take pictures inside the polling place, but I could see a more aggressive judge confiscating the camera. Maybe any photographs wouldn't be allowed as evidence since they weren't legally taken? I will be attending a program about legal issues on the 27th so I will ask about this.

This is to document those voters who pressed "Obama" only to have the name "McCain" pop up on the screen, or other similar problems.

Insufficient voting machines/booths/ballots can be documented this way by voter testimony as they leave, and overlong lines and waiting periods can likewise be documented.

This can all be done in a legal manner outside the polling place.

They can also document any harassment they, as videographers, might experience.

Check the aforementioned website and info at PBS as well.

Hekate

I live in Texas and was planning to bring my (luckily very small) digital video cam to make sure that if I see shenannigans with my own machine I'll have the proof of it.

Thanks for the warning, though; I'll be sure to have an empty memory stick in case they confiscate it.

But the fact that there would be such a rule makes me wonder if they are trying to hide something.

In other words, he doesn't go on the attack for the wrong reason (or without reason), and he doesn't let those who do get away with it. In my book, that's just about the most appropriate way to deal with opposition - particularly when they're apt to play dirty.

This man is the epitome of competence with integrity. I don't know of many things in politics and politicians that could be more refreshing - and what this country is starving for...

This is a Constitutional Law professor ... President of the Harvard Law review ... civil rights attorney ... and no freakin' crawford cowboy slouch when it comes to fighting back. He CHOSE the Friday news black hole deliberately. He's not wanting the attention to be diverted from the ECONOMY.

Thank you for pointing this out, TahitiNut.

Hekate

These idiots are going to have to learn a basic lesson in street smarts-NEVER EVER MESS WITH ANYONE SMARTER AND MEANER THAN YOU ARE. Behind Obamas calm facade I think there is the heart of a warrior you don't want to mess with. He's serving notice enough is enough and that after the election a whole hell of a lot of people could end up behind bars.

to display genuine, unequivocal, no holds barred RIGHTEOUS ANGER.

http://www.politico.com/static/PPM106_obama_doj_letter....

These fuckheads never quit, do they? First Cheney and his gang over WMD/Plame, now this. When will real justice be done and these real criminals be prosecuted?

This time, we have a real leader to stand up to the Reich Wing bullies. Gobama!

This is why they MUST win. If Obama got into office he could expose their crimes.

a few assholes in the 'news'.

You want to play hardball, you repuglicans out there yelling Obama/ACORN are linked to voter fraud? We counter: YOU ARE STEALING THE VOTE!!!

Even "voter suppression" is too much for a lot of people to understand.

I'm hearing this from the Repugs at my workplace, their name association now is "ACORN/Obama/voter-fraud". They will be repeating this disgusting mantra until November elections and beyond, until doomsday.

In the first place, they have these selective memory holes, which tend to automatically switch off and dump anything related to Republican swindles, specifically when you bring up the 2000 and 2004 elections, exit polling, ect., all of which had implications of voter suppression and election fraud. Ask them about these shenanigans, and it doesn't even register in their minds. Were they some great champions of perfect election integrity back then?

ACORN in Arizona registered 66,000 new voters before the 2004 election; 44,000 of these new voters for one reason or another were denied the right to vote in the 2004 election. ACORN was confronted and accused of turning in fraudulent voter registrations. The 44,000 registrations were not processed until after election. No problems were found.

In 2006, ACORN volunteers and staff helped more than 540,000 low-income, young and minority citizens to apply to become registered voters. ACORN has helped more than 1.6 million people register to vote since 2003. So-called “voter fraud” is a myth used to suppress the minority vote. A report, “The Politics of Voter Fraud,” released in March by Project Vote found that fraudulent voting is extremely rare.

When you are registering a 1.3 million new voters in 2008 (their "most successful voter registration drive in history"), as ACORN has done, it is statisically insignificant if there are cases of voter fraud in approx. 0.001% of this population group(and this is a simple over-estimate, based on federal government records of 24 people who were convicted or pleaded guilty of illegal voting between 2002 and 2005, and ACORN had nothing to do with the actions of a few).

We won't know the (wholly insignificant) extent of illegal voting (i.e., voter fraud) in 2008 until after November but it shouldn't be anymore than a half-dozen a year, based on previous statistics. Repeat, this is less than one-thousandth of one percent!

The ACORN charges are groundless, and based on some frivolous accusations on some minor glitches in vote registration drives.

I wonder how big a story this would be, if ACORN was registering a million new Republican voters?

"Invalid voter registration cards do NOT constitute voter fraud."
ACORN statement from their official site

why is it no one else in the whole fucking country can stand up?

n/t

can lift a finger? They have to rely on the Senator from Illinois to stop the Republican party from fucking up elections in their states? I'm not getting this.

n/t

from the citizens? We are signing petitions all the time for many causes - why not this one. I am feeling just sick at heart tonight. What has become of our nation and how can the repubs even begin to fall for this kind of actions and still call themselves Americans?

I've wondered where they are these days.

I'm still trying to forgive the American people for 2004. And yet after another four years of this nightmare, there's still so many people who don't give a shit. Makes it easier to understand why the rest of the world hates us right now...

Al Gore .... hold a kick-ass News Conference to put a stop to all these shwarmy phoney accusations about
ACORN ... trying to make ACORN the national sacrificial lamb & whipping boy on an issue (voting integrity)
that they have NO LEG WHATSOEVER to stand on, what with these e-voting machines being owned by ReThuglican
operatives, with their secret source codes.

They need to be waving copies of Conyers reports on how the GOP stole OH in 04, for starters; plus
put a stop to the voter caging efforts underway this year by GOP.

I find far too few occasions to to be happily surprised by our candidates, so this is great to read.

get ready for blowback right wing idiots!

ON EDIT:

Cheney, et al. are toast. There WILL be criminal prosecutions. WAR crimes. TREASON.

But mostly i have underestimated the well planed timing by Obama and no doubt this will probably work out well considering all the variables and time frame in which it must take place. Sure glad Obama is on our side

Obama knew exactly what the Repuke game was. So he gave them a couple of weeks to work themselves up into full-throated fake outrage mode over ACORN and the phony "voter fraud scandal," and then smacked them with their own b.s. right after the Ohio Supreme Court ruling.

Now that's what I call rope-a-dope! This guy is a strategist like we've never seen before.

It's how he did the debates, it's how he beat Hillary, it's how he's clobbering McCain at every turn. He's the Anti-Rove, the Anti-Atwater. I swear the guy has perfect political pitch, and his approach is coherent in the same way laser light is coherent. His goal is to clean things up, so his methods are entirely consistent with his goals. The parts don't fight each other.

prosecutor will go after the emails the way Deep Throat said Follow the Money, which brought down Nixon's men. I am encouraged.

The more Obama shows he has learned from the past mistakes of DEMS, the better I feel.

Hoepfully Obama & his surrogates will be all over TV harping on this too...at the least, it will make the voter fraud issues coming from both sides "a wash."

Good Stuff!!!!

affecting REAL voters with their caging and purging, where as the ACORN mess is mostly phony voter registrations that theoretically couldn't result in actual votes.

...while Obama's charges are in a fairly Obscure newspaper and seem to be part of what is usually called the friday news dump- with no surrogates repeating the charges on TV...

I trust that Obama knows what he is doing, but getting media attention is another difference as well...

Obviously I want to see Obama take the GOP to task- but I want swing-voters to see it too...

This is what we are not hearing from news outlets. The charge of Acorn's "voter fraud" carries more weight with casual listeners because our counter claims have never been heard. And they will not be heard if we are waiting for the media establishment to expose this criminal effort.

and we can forget about fair and balanced until Obama gets in office. Obama and his campaign gave the republicans enough room then when they had enough evidence filed charges. The House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to DOJ & FBI Thursday. The whole Acorn issue is bogus and MSM knew it when they reported on it that is why CNN ran 54 stories and only 2 times in 54 even gave an account although inaccurate of Acorn's side. It is the same reason they don't speak of McPalin's associations even though you can Google them.

How can we have a democracy with a one sided media? Next they will try to control the internet. I'm fed up with the ones sided media. To me, it is one of the most pressing issues.

it just seems like no one really cares or gets it. Our media is a propaganda machine. They are why Obama is having to outspend McCain he has to fight not only the republicans but the MSM too. When I mention doing a petition and boycott, I never get any response.

Put the pressure on and keep it on.

I only hope the AG actually does something, but I won't hold my breath on this one either.

No reason they should have to put up with this shit, or pretend it isn't happening.

we have all been waiting for, USING some of that powder that's been kept dry.

GOBAMA!!!

It's about time we had a candidate not eager to roll over, but instead eager to be proactive on this.

Gore put himself behind the eight ball in 2000, conceding prematurely - the whole drama would have played out so differently had he not been so eager to give up to begin with. In 2008 the Kerry campaign and the DNC talked a good game beforehand but Kerry gave up quickly also, with a whimper and no fight, even with fairly good and obvious signs suggesting the results had been flipped.

You go Barack!

Gore didn't give up until his fellow Democrats essentially sold him out. He fought until December, until the Supreme Court ruled. People forget that, and buy into the "Gore Quit" myth.

As for Kerry, please read the following link before you ever again say he didn't fight back:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

And while I'm at it, I might mention to you that you ought to have a look at the whole Research forum, which contains a lot of information about a lot of things.

It felt good to write that.

And they are present on more cable systems.

And now that Maddow is aboard there is so much exposure for the MSNBC crowd.


The republicans JUST MIGHT GO down. I had no hope till I saw that Obama was going to fight this. I am now actually not voting for a third party guy or gal.

Our next President has redeemed himself from the disastrous Bailout vote, from the disastrous FISA vote and from the lack of real leadership. Now I feel that all the work of the election reform crowd is taking effect!!

WHOOPEE!!

FUCK YOU,Hannity, YOU PIG.

Ah, that felt good. What he did was actually far above what I was thinking. BRAVO!!! To be honest, I am not actually sure if this is in reference to the registered voter registration purging, or if it is regarding the ACORN allegations. Either way, it is time that we made a stink over it. It is pretty sickening to hear any mention of the ACORN investigation today because I never see reporters following up. If I had not been following the story, I would certainly think that the democrats were stealing the election. I sure hope that the media starts doing their job soon.

proven too late. Yes, get this out to the media or ask why they have not covered it.

they begin the election fraud.

NO more banana republic with chimps running the show!

WHOOPPEE!!

They did steal several close ones through their subterfuge.

Which places and offices come to mind??

That, of course, is totally consistent with the campaign and the Democratic leadership's total failure to address the greatest potential threat to Obama winning the election.

Jaheeezus!! What is it going to take?!!

thank you thank you thank you

D.U.

k/r

I can only assume that there is so much going on right now, sometimes really amazing posts just fall throught the cracks.



I'm glad to see this one get the attention it deserves.

and this is the best use of resources and energy right now. What a smart and cool man.

The FBI have been investigating this, and Obama is probably informed of the current investigation (more than we would know). So now comes the investigation into the Republican's phony ACORN charges.

That sums it up. Unless we want to be defending ACORN for the remainder of this race, we should let them do their investigation and concentrate on getting out the vote, and preventing illegal voter purges!

Why should we expect the FBI to truthfully execute their duties?

And none of this matters to McSame. He'll throw around charges and have the FBI knock down your door in trying to win the presidency. And once in office...

bug the hell out of me. I'm sure there are people who are doing phony registrations without ACORN's "help", so what's with this assumption that ACORN deliberately signs up "phony voters"? The invalid registrations make up such a small percentage, and the Repugs and MSM are trying to make it out to be an epidemic. Make no mistake, conservatives do not want low-income people to vote, not just because marginalized people are more likely to vote Democrat, but on general principle. I've seen enough business-page editorials that gripe about how those non-taxpaying free-loading losers vote the wrong way.

my PC, just don't know.

Enough of the same old shit. I'm with Barack on that one.

He is already taking charge. Excellent news!

how big is this?

You know, one with actual evidence and witnesses and sworn testimony and stuff. . .

Or were they just doing it as soon as possible after the US Supreme Court's response to the Ohio business?

It merely sets the tone for what is to come in the following days. Watch.

So they can't spend the day harping solely on acorn 'charges'

Now on MSNBC!!

this is great stuff. Finally a democrat going to stand up and cry foul against the lying sack of shits on the other side. Time to stop this illegal and un democratic GOP. wanna be a terrorist? join the gop.

of him palling around with Yoda and Obi-wan and the droids...

The Force is strong in "that one"...

K and R

Let the Rethugs play to type, break out their bag of dirty tricks, but instead of playing to type, rolling over and doing little to stop it a la John Kerry, break out the big guns, go in front of the media and CALL THE FUCKERS OUT!!!

the McCain Campaign is claiming that Dems are committing voter fraud - without saying what the fraud is, therefore their claims are fraudelent? And that it is similar to the claims made against the U.S. And that the DOJ should look at what the Republicans are doing and include it in the investigation uderway related to 2006? Anyone?

in other words, present administration in cahoots with GOP to steal election...
pretty damning accusations...GOBAMA

who have stolen our democracy. GObama!

This guy knows what he's doing. And how to do it.

Damn, impressive. He's a leader. This is what a leader looks like.

Two elections too late I'm afraid, but better late than never. Thank you Senator soon to be President Obama.

I admire Barack Obama more and more every day. This is fabulous news!

so glad to hear this. McCain - it ain't gonna happen this time. I guess YOU should have tried harder eight years ago!