In light of the different posts on good and bad Democrats I thought I’d post on the principle of party invariance and why I think it should be considered for PB2.0.  Read more 

I’m jumping on this announcement by candidate Obama, because I hope to subvert the impulses of some of my fellow Fellows and some of our readers to make of this moment a chance to accuse Barack Obama of being a liar, breaking a promise, not really being about reform, undermining efforts to reform our increasingly broken system of elections, and other ways not to like Obama that I’m not clever enough to even think of.

You don’t need to go there; the VRWC is way ahead of you. As Roy notes, there is high comedy to be had in the deep disappointment of the McCain campaign, the Republican Party, and their right-winger supporters, most of whom have bellowed long and hard against any sort of limitations on the financing of political campaigns. Of course that was when they were the ones rolling in money.

Yes, I know, McCain has been an advocate, of sorts, and a sponsor, of sorts, of campaign finance reform, but when Obama states, as he does in the video message in which he announced his decision, that the entire system, including the so-called reforms of it, by which we finance our elections is “broken,” he’s right.

Here is as much of what Obama says on the video that I could get off the story as it appears in the NYTimes and Reuters:  Read more 

Here’s the latest example of WWTSBQ 2.0:

Obama is going to be the nominee. Those who cannot endure that thought need to turn their attention to down ballot races or issues they care about.

Sorry, but last time I checked this race wasn’t decided yet. Until then, it’s pretty simple.  Read more 

Tommorrow’s news today.

Tune in tonight for the latest episode of WWTSBQ! Hear Hillary’s campaign obituary (again)

Watch pinheaded pundits pontificate pointlessly!

See Donna Brazile-nut toss Democrats under the bus.

Listen to Tweety misogynize shamelessly with the He-Man Woman Haters Club Chorus.

Find out how a landslide defeat in a swing state is a huge victory for Barack Obama!

Special bonus: a preview of tomorrow’s “new and improved” wankfest!

(No-host bar, gratuity not included)

Hullabaloo is losing it’s collective mind. Today we see tristero going gaga over D-Day’s “The Obama Party” post from yesterday:

Win or lose, for good or otherwise, it really appears that Obama is in a position to renovate the Democratic party. As dday mentions, this does not necessarily mean that that reform will make the party more conducive to liberal and progressive ideas. As I see it, however, by displacing the sclerotic leaders who managed, incredibly, to make both the 2004 election and the 2000 race so close that a candidate as clearly awful as Bush could steal the presidency (once if not twice), there are potential opportunities for liberals.

[…]  Read more 

Some Obama supporters have truly entered a state that is referred to in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) as “Bat-shit Crazy.”

At the normally sane Hullabaloo we get this from D-Day:  Read more 

Apparently, having to show govt-issued picture ID to vote in Indiana isn’t the only obstacle or potential roadblock: Gaming Indiana: The quirky state voting law that could affect Tuesday’s primary —  Read more 

Greg Sargent doesn’t get it:

Bloomberg News takes a look at what Hillary needs to do to earn a popular vote win, and finds that she basically needs to do the political equivalent of pitching a no-hitter, hitting for the cycle, and pulling an unassisted triple play — all in one game:

What these geniuses forget is that Florida and Michigan were stripped of their delegates, but not their votes.  Read more 

Voting matters blog  Read more 

For a depressing treatise on how to lose a general election with a 48-state strategy designed by the opposing party, go read Wayne Barrett.

More and better democrats leading the democratic party, please.

The Texas Democratic Party is warning that its March 4 caucuses could be delayed or disrupted after aides to White House hopeful Hillary Clinton raised the specter of an “imminent” lawsuit over its complicated delegate selection process, officials said Thursday night.

… Democratic sources said representatives from each campaign had made it clear they are keeping all their options open but that the Clinton campaign in particular had warned of an impending lawsuit.

Perhaps we can call in the 2000 Supreme Court and Catherine Harris to sort this one out…

So I got this email from a friend:

DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas asked us to forward this message to everyone
we know in Michigan. If you’d like to comment on this plan, visit:
Dear Michigan Friend,

We’re not going to beat around the Bush. If you want to help make mischief for
the Republican Party - and bolster the Democrats’ chances for taking the White
House this November - read on!

Are you a Democrat or independent registered to vote in Michigan? If you are,
vote for Mitt Romney in the Republican primary on Tuesday, January 15th!

Do you know any Democrats or independents in Michigan? If yo u do, encourage them
to vote for Mitt Romney in the Republican primary on Tuesday, January 15th!

…

To which I sent this reply:  Read more 

From the Manchester Armory in New Hampshire last Saturday night, Tim Russert talked on MSNBC with David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd about the candidates. According to Todd:

“The biggest problem Edwards has is us, the press.”  Read more 

The best possible framing for the Iowa caucuses is in a rearview mirror while bound for anywhere else. No slight intended to the majority of fine citizens, but overall this last electoral charade was beyond ridiculous.  Read more 

Get a load of this:

The head of the federal agency investigating Karl Rove’s White House political operation is facing allegations that he improperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call.

Scott Bloch runs the Office of Special Counsel, an agency charged with protecting government whistleblowers and enforcing a ban on federal employees engaging in partisan political activity. Mr. Bloch’s agency is looking into whether Mr. Rove and other White House officials used government agencies to help re-elect Republicans in 2006.

At the same time, Mr. Bloch has himself been under investigation since 2005. At the direction of the White House, the federal Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general is looking into claims that Mr. Bloch improperly retaliated against employees and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination.

Recently, investigators learned that Mr. Bloch erased all the files on his office personal computer late last year. They are now trying to determine whether the deletions were improper or part of a cover-up, lawyers close to the case said.

So, to recap: Karl Rove is accused of retaliating against employees and then illegally deleting the evidence. The man in charge of investigating him is accused of retaliating against employees and then deleting evidence.

Fuck. This. Shit.

Wait, though, it gets better!  Read more 

What a surprise. It’s the felon’s list that Jebbie used to steal election 2000 for his brother all over again, isn’t it? But at least Republcicans have something to be really, really thankful for:

The Department of Homeland Security failed to prepare for a massive influx of applications for U.S. citizenship and other immigration benefits this summer, prompting complaints from Hispanic leaders and voter-mobilization groups that several hundred thousand people likely will not be granted citizenship in time to cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election.

Bush administration officials said yesterday that they had anticipated applicants would rush to file their paperwork to beat a widely publicized fee increase that took effect July 30, but did not expect the scale of the response. The backlog comes just months after U.S. officials failed to prepare for tougher border security requirements that triggered months-long delays for millions of Americans seeking passports.

Before the fee hike, citizenship cases typically took about seven months to complete. Now, immigration officials can take five months or more just to acknowledge receipt of applications from parts of the country and will take 16 to 18 months on average to process applications filed after June 1, according to officials from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of DHS. Such a timeline would push many prospective citizens well past voter-registration deadlines for the 2008 primaries and the general elections.

What a shame. I bet Bush is really upset.

Of course, these new citizens are mostly brown. And they will be mostly Democrats, since Republican strategy—as demonstrated anew by this story—is based on racism.

Frankly, I’d call them “second class.”

So what rights should they have? I’ll tell you:  Read more 

Hello, and thank you to all the members of the members of the Mighty Corrente Building for allowing me to stop by.  Read more 

LA Times reports that a big time contributor to Democratic politicians is also a fugitive from justice and a swindler.  Read more 

USA Today, 2001:

“In a cultural sense, Bush vs. Gore has to be understood as an election-results case,” Emory University law professor David Garrow says. “Any election result seems hugely momentous on those Wednesday mornings after the Tuesday election. But with the passage of time, how many of those seem hugely momentous?”

(via)

Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat. - Jesse Ventura

Republicans vying for the presidency must be real wrestling fans…

In 2000, it was the disaster in Florida and a Supreme Court theft of the White House in Bush v. Gore.

In 2004, it was questionable balloting via Diebold voting machines in Ohio.

Now, in 2007, preemption is the rule: steal the 2008 presidential election by another Republican electoral stunt. There is a proposed initiative in California to divide presidential delegates’ votes in the Electoral College.  Read more 

As we wait for the subpoenas to be served on Smartech (and their backup servers at Coptix) Chattanooga TN, we wile away our time exploring the universe of the illegal use of behind-the-scenes, not covered by the Presidential Records Act, hidden from the National Archivist email network variously called “RNCHQ.com” and “gwb43.com.”

While we’d like to know what all was said, there is another source which allows us to look at who was saying what to whom. A most creative party has taken the statistical universe of the emails sent by accident in 2004—smack in the summer of the high Bush-Kerry campaign as it happens—to the address “[INSERT-ANYTHING-HERE]@georgewbush.org” and posted way back then by “whitehouse.org.” While they may be a satire/parody site (hey, at least they ain’t porn any more) but these mails were real. They called that section “The DEAD LETTER OFFICE: GeorgeWBush.org: Bush/Cheney in 2004!”

Our mystery compiler calls his dissection of this data The Missing Link. We do not, that I could see, have a name for this heroic compiler/correlator, an omission presumably inspired by the fact that he or she did this work on the website of George Mason University where the party is either employee or student. We suggest our readers copy all the files, data and lovely, lovely pictures to sites elsewhere, as GMU is likely to find the material embarassing and make it go away. I’ve got ’em stashed but you get copies too—accidents happen.

Now once you have them stashed away—or if you want to live dangerously and  Read more 

A more obvious and lengthy process of getting the story straight I have never seen.

“Voter Fraud” my sweet Aunt Fanny. After Florida 2000, too. Chutzpah!  Read more 

Finally, “somebody” said it. Kudos to Greg Gordon and David Goldstein:

In recent weeks, McClatchy Newspapers has recounted this broad effort to use the power of the Justice Department to affect the outcome of the 2006 election. McClatchy found that, as U.S. attorney, Schlozman brought voter-fraud indictments days before the election against four people who were registering voters for a liberal group in Kansas City. The hotly contested election resulted in Missouri Republican Sen. Jim Talent’s defeat, handing control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats.

That’s the story. Not that we expect the cocktail wienie-munching courtiers at Pravda on the Potomac and Izvestia on the Hudson to cover it, of course.  Read more 

So while everyone is learning about how Republicans manufactured a “crisis” in vote fraud (and were blatantly racist about it, I will add), can we please pay attention to a state-appointed panel of scientists on the real problems with how we vote? Anyone? Bueller?

One computer scientist who has closely reviewed the team’s findings warned via email, “The FSU report revealed a serious security vulnerability in the iVotronic: it is vulnerable to viruses that could be introduced by a single outsider and that could spread throughout a county. This means that a single outsider in a county that uses the iVotronic Firmware version 8 could potentially steal all the votes in that county, without being detected.”  Read more