Back to the 90s! : WSJ calls for SPECIAL PROSECUTOR on OBAMA/ACORN!!!

[Julius Civitatus]

You read that right.

The freakin' Wall Street Journal editorial page (right-wing wacko central) took a page from their strategy against the Clintons and suggested the need for a SPECIAL PROSECUTOR to investigate Obama and Acorn:

Obama and Acorn

Is there a case for a special prosecutor?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504...

Signed by uber right-wing columnist James Taranto.

So now you know: their strategy was to defame and vilify Acorn to such a level that it would become a household name for "corruption". Once that's accomplished, then tie it to Obama, 'cause Obama was a community organizer. Once they have created that association between the "evil" Acorn and Obama, then they start throwing fake scandals non-stop in hopes something will stick.


Where the heck is Rahm Emmanuel? He should be hitting back, hard, against these people and their wretched maneuvers. They have let the extreme right-wing wackos hijack the debate for the entire summer. We should have learned by now that when you don't hit back hard on their libelous charges, you basically let them win: Clinton scandals, Kerry swiftboat defamations, etc...

Better get your ducks in a row, because the right-wing Republicans are bringing back their dangerous game. It seems like every week they are increasing their rhetoric and accelerating their crazy strategy. This is very infuriating.

[niceypoo]

1. They will endlessly throw out baseless accusations

...for the next eight years.

It's what they do.

[Captain Hilts]

4. And publish the editorials in leather-bound volumes! nt

[YOY]

5. nad furthermore all they got.

n.t.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Oh. My. Dog. It IS the '90s all over again!!! nt

[rurallib]

3. I don't see how the Onion can stay in business when reality is so odd anymore.

[Blue_Tires]

13. there was a great profile in the WaPo earlier this year

on the Onion writing staff, and how writing comedy during the Bush years was like trying to eat your way out of a prison made of chocolate...

[ProSense]

6. It will never be the 90s again. The RW is just desperate. n/t

[Julius Civitatus]

7. Why the negative recs? Someone doesn't think the DU community should be aware?

I lived through the nastiness that the Republicans threw at the Clintons in the 1990s, and it was non-stop.
I saw the Kerry campaign ignore vicious and relentless attacks on his character to the point where it was impossible to fight back.

I see the same patterns developing, and fast... Fox News, WSJ, they are all stepping in line.

I think people should be aware of what they are calling for on the WSJ.
We need to be aware, and we need to be ready to fight back all this nasty attacks, which unfortunately started this summer and are only increasing every single week.

As I said, I don't get the negative recs on this post.

[patrice]

9. No, they're just too conventional to recognize that this is good news. Or -

masked persons acting on obscure intents.

[jonnyblitz]

12. people like to unrecommend bad news maybe? who knows..nt

[patrice]

8. GREAT!!! That means we get to INVESTIGATE TOO!!!!! Let's see now, where shall WE start?

There's a bunch of stuff that many people want to ask questions about; they've been waiting eversince Sep 2001. They're probably ready to Investigate other Questions too, rather than give the People what THEY WANT

Single Payer Preventatively focused Health Care, or Medicare for ALL with Reforms & More Comprehensive spectrum of Health Services Covered

[patrice]

10. P.S. I wondered about Acorn's operation during Kerry's campaign, so did

some others with first hand experience. I was with Dr. Dean's people, so I don't know directly.

[hootinholler]

11. I can agree to that

If one is also appointed to prosecute war crimes.

-Hoot

[WeDidIt]

14. They're setting the stage for a repeat of '94 - '98

They're planning on retaking the Congress next year.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

15. Too bad (for them) the Independent Counsel Law expired

and the Republicans didn't feel it necessary to renew the law (or pass a new law) after Buscho won.....er.....stole the 2000 election. *Curiously*, there were also no calls from them to investigate Buscho over any aspect of the Iraq invasion/occupation, warrantless wiretapping........you get my drift. Since Buscho has elevated the bar for impeachment so high, the same standards for impeachment should now apply to Obama, standards which will be IMPOSSIBLE for ANYBODY to prove, so the WSJ, Faux News, Glenn Beck, et. al can just keep pissing into the wind for all I care.

Also, what does Obama have to do with ACORN anyway other than the fact that he used to be a community organizer too (with actual responsibilities BTW)? Was he (now) one of the front desk operators offering *advice* to O'Keefe and Giles on how to start up a brothel of underage illegal immigrants? I guess this is another Bill Ayers-inspired "guilt-by-association" *scandal*?

This should be the clearest example I can think as to why the WH and Democrats should NEVER buy into Faux News- and Glenn Beck-hyped "investigations" or "controversies": Once Faux News, et. al get their "pound of flesh" it only makes them want to come back and get the whole thing and NO amount of throwing the objects of their attention "under the bus" and/or disassociating themselves from them is EVER going to shut Faux News, et. al up until they get what they want, which is essentially to use a string of "manufactroversies" and phony and overhyped *scandals* to overturn the results of any election that a Democrat manages to legitimately win.

[ProSense]

19. This is just more

RW desperation

[JVS]

16. Ahh, the good old fuckwads at WSJ

[starroute]

17. Something called GrassTopsUSA is also pushing this

I googled around a bit after an email from them plopped into my inbox, and they seem to be very much in the right-wing direct-mail fundraising tradition -- using inflammatory messages to extract donations and at the same time promoting their pet issues in a very under-the-radar manner.

http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/tag/grasstopsusa /

February 25th, 2009

Conservative Jabber Machine Continues to Spew Amazing Untrue News. Stand up to it.

Two weeks ago, an anonymous piece in the American Spectator alleged that the office of U.S. Representative Henry Waxman met with the Federal Communications Commission to plan various ways to end free speech on the Internet. This anonymous piece provides no documentation of the claim, which runs counter to Waxman’s civil libertarian record. . . .

And yet, despite the lack of any evidence of such a meeting, despite the direct and thorough denial of any such meeting by the FCC and Waxman’s office, despite the lack of evidence for any such plan by either the FCC or Rep. Waxman, despite all this the conservative noise machine continues to assert this “news” as if it were true. Today, a full week after the complete and total denial that Waxman or the FCC had any such meeting or has any such plan, Eagle Publishing has used its Human Events magazine to continue to spread the American Spectator claim as if it were true.

At the base of this effort is the “grassroots industry” corporation that calls itself GrassTopsUSA. Headed by Chris Carmouche, the Director of Internet Development for the Christian Coalition and Executive Director of the now-defunct LaptopLobbyist.Com, a company that did the exact same thing GrassTopsUSA is doing now: specializing in the distribution of apparent calls to action that eventually lead to a fundraising pitch.

ZoomInfo has a lot of examples of Carmouche's scams (and the people he's pissed off) at http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Carmouche_Chris_3465217.... . And there's more associated craziness at http://www.normalbobsmith.com/specialpeopleclub/10/lapt... .

I don't have time to pursue this now -- but it's certainly worth looking into.

[Kingofalldems]

18. Been waiting for this--that was their goal from the gitgo

[WCGreen]

20. the difference between then and now is that the Dem's control

the House and Senate...

[WeDidIt]

22. Republicans started calling for a Whitewater Special Prosecutor in 1993

before they took control of Congress.

[WCGreen]

24. Yea but they didn't get it until after the republicans took charge...

[NoSheep]

23. Technically. I wish it felt so.

[LiberalAndProud]

21. Johann's wants an investigation of ACORN.

http://www.journalstar.com/news/local/govt-and-politics...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Mike Johanns on Tuesday urged the Justice Department to investigate ACORN, a community organization under fire for several voter-registration fraud cases.

Johanns wrote Attorney General Eric Holder requesting the investigation. He cited reports that ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, may "have been engaged in illegal activity" by aiding and abetting tax evasion, prostitution, human trafficking, fraud and conspiracy.

The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN following a measure introduced by Johanns. Johanns said the organization has received more than $50 million in taxpayer funds since 1994.

I want Johanns to retire from public life. Which of us is more likely to get what we want?

[ProSense]

25. Eric Boehlert explains why the WSJ's James Tarranto is an idiot

here

[Aristus]

26. Stay cool, everybody. We have a Democratic Congress.

They may be a bunch of spineless do-nothings, but they won't impeach the head of the party.

[ProSense]

27. .

[Proud Liberal Dem]

28. We do NOW

If the GOP takes back the House and Senate next year (doubtful but still always a terrifying possibility), you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be another few years of "scandals" and "manufactroversies" until they find something juicy enough for them to sink their teeth into that they can draft Articles of Impeachment for.