Is Rush Limbaugh going to get prosecuted again?

[backscatter712]

This time, for election fraud:

Will Rush Limbaugh Be Indicted for Voter Fraud?

As the board of election in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where Cleveland is located, launches an investigation into illegal crossover voting in the state's 2008 presidential primary, a big open question remains unanswered: Will county officials go after the ringleaders of apparently illegal electioneering where thousands of Republican voters swore -- under penalty of law -- allegiance to the Democratic Party in order to vote for Hillary Clinton?

In case you missed it, Rush Limbaugh, the nation's top-rated talk radio host, was urging Republicans in Texas and Ohio to skip their party's primary on March 4 and instead cast a vote for Hillary Clinton in order to prolong the fight between her and Barack Obama. And that Tuesday, as media in both states reported, thousands of Republicans did just what Limbaugh and others had suggested -- they changed parties to vote for Clinton.

"I want Hillary to stay in this, Laura," Limbaugh told Laura Ingraham on Feb. 29, near the start of his Hillary crusade. "This is too good a soap opera. We need Barack Obama bloodied up politically, and it's obvious that the Republicans are not going to do it and don't have the stomach for it, as you probably know."

...

While this all makes for great talk radio and sounds like fun, there is one catch: What Limbaugh encouraged Republican voters to do in Ohio was a fifth-degree felony in that state, punishable with a $2,500 fine and six to 12 months in jail. That is because in order to change party affiliation in Ohio, voters have to fill out a form swearing allegiance to that party's principles "under penalty of election falsification."

To Rush Limbaugh, and also to the freepers who participated in this stunt, who may be reading this board. You know who you are...

You committed felonies. Even in my home state of Colorado, which is far from ground zero of this scandal, Democratic party officials are going through registrations and referring fraudulent ones to the district attorney, and you very well may be prosecuted and be looking at prison time.

Sleep tight...

[LakeSamish706]

1. I hope that they take him out over this.. It was absolutely dirty politics in my view....

Not to mention breaking of the law. He is one radio personality that we can do without...

[olkaz]

2. This is BS

I dislike Rush Limbaugh's politics with every fiber of my being, but legal action over crossover voting in an open primary is BS.

This accomplishes nothing. Make the primary closed if it's a problem.

[backscatter712]

3. When freepers crossover-vote,

they signed an oath declaring they were in support of and pledging allegiance to the Democratic Party, knowing full-well they were going to act in violation of that oath.

They then voted in a way designed to disrupt the party's nomination process.

They committed fraud, and damned well should be prosecuted. And Rush Limbaugh should be prosecuted for publicly calling for members of the public to commit felonies.

[olkaz]

4. Don't you see where this is headed?

This is a terrible path to take.

Like I said, make it a closed primary or accept these skewed results. It's one or the other.

We do the same thing to them. I've voted in republican state primaries for Governor and things like that several times. It's been going on a loooong time.

Anyway, this is going to create a bunch of bad PR, and we're going to end up looking stupid.

[Indydem]

5. Will Kos be prosecuted???

Bad precedent to set...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/10/2713/87225/55/4...

[Cali_Democrat]

7. Welcome to DU, Freeper

[Indydem]

11. Hardly...

I've been a member of DU for 2 YEARS, far longer than you!!

I am by no means a disgusting reTHUGlican or a freeper.

I guess if I have anything to say that disagrees with you, that makes me a Freeper.

You disgust me.

Guess thats why I've just read and not commented, fear that someone like you would judge me...

[MaryCeleste]

22. Pointing out that others could be open to the same kind of charge does not make the poster a Freeper

[Cali_Democrat]

6. Hillary and her supporters will do everything they can it prevent that from happening

They love Rush Limbaugh

[SteveM]

8. Not if he hires the same S.Florida dope lawyers he whines about.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

9. well obama did the same with flyer in NE and PA ad

[anonymous171]

13. It wasn't his campaign. It was simply a misguided Obama supporter.

In other words, totally disconnected from Obama's campaign.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

16. what about Obama's PA ad...that has Obama himself telling PA Repubs to switch registrations and ..

vote Dem for a day?

[yasmina27]

17. I haven't seen ads like that

only ads encouraging people to register to vote. Something along the line of "If you don't register for the Democratic party, you can't vote for BO".

[anonymous171]

18. Here are his words:

"If you've registered as an independent or a republican you must re register as a democrat by march 23." That is all. He's telling them that if they want to vote for him, they must register as a democrat. I didn't hear "vote dem for a day."
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI_m3UPpRRY

[backscatter712]

20. There's a difference.

It seems the difference between Republicans crossing the fence for Obama and the Republicans voting for Hillary is that the ones voting for Obama are disenchanted and disgruntled with the GOP, and are voting for Obama because they actually like what they hear and want to go in a new direction. There's no crime in that, and in fact, I encourage this. The ones voting for Hillary are doing it to game the system, keep the Democratic party fighting themselves for a longer period of time, and put in a candidate that's easier for McCain to defeat in 2008. And yeah, signing an oath to support the Democratic Party, and then acting to sabotage it is a crime in my book.

[MaryCeleste]

21. That is way too fine a hair to split

Either you accept crossover votes or you don't. You don't get to choose only the ones you want.

Closed primaries is the best answer

[Dems Will Win]

10. How can you ask what someone's state of mind is? Whether they are loyal to the party?

This is a nothing.

[backscatter712]

12. We know Rush Limbaugh's state of mind pretty well...

We know this because he said his thoughts out loud on his radio show for all to hear.

And he told his listeners to commit a felony by signing an oath to the Democratic Party, then violating that oath.

[onenote]

14. No.

First of all, assuming that some voters engaged in election falsification, limpballs himself did not. And generally speaking, going on a radio show and encouraging people to switch parties is, in and of itself, not a crime. I'd be curious to see exactly what limpballs said before the election before I'd conclude he did anything illegal.

The second problem is that its not clear how many voters actually broke the law. As I read the Ohio election law, you don't have to fill out a form swearing allegiance to a party to switch affiliation; rather you have to fill out that form if you are challenged when you say you want to vote in a particular party's primary. If the voter is not challenged at the time and is not asked to fill out a form attesting to their relationship with the party, there is no crime. From what I've read, the number of voters challenged was small.

[Thepricebreaker]

15. Actually its not illegal at all - its just dirty tactics...

[MonkeyFunk]

19. This is dumb

Limbaugh didn't commit a crime here. Arguably, the people who listened to him did.

[woolldog]

23. couldn't Rush be guilty of conspiracy to commit perjury?