Judge Tosses Nader Lawsuit From 2004

By GottaLaff

Four years later...

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Ralph Nader that accused Democrats of conspiring to keep him off the ballot in the 2004 presidential election. [...]

Nader had named as defendants the Democratic National Committee, Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign and the Democratic lawmaker himself. Among other claims, the lawsuit alleged that the Democratic Party tried to bankrupt Nader's campaign by suing to keep him off the ballot in 18 states.

Nader received 463,653 votes in 2004 election, or 0.38 percent of total votes cast.

Maybe he'll run again. I hope Obama can beat him.

'Karl Rove's IT guru' Mike Connell dies in plane crash

By GottaLaff

Suspicious death or purely accidental?

A top level Republican IT consultant who was set to testify in a case alleging GOP election tampering in Ohio died in a plane crash late Friday night.

Michael Connell -- founder of Ohio-based New Media Communications, which created campaign Web sites for George W. Bush and John McCain -- died instantly after his single-prop, private aircraft smashed into a vacant home in suburban Lake Township, Ohio. [...]

Connell's exploits as a top GOP IT 'guru' have been well documented by RAW STORY's investigative team.

The interest in Mike Connell stems from his association with a firm called GovTech, which he had spun off from his own New Media Communications under his wife Heather Connell’s name. GovTech was hired by Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell to set up an official election website at election.sos.state.oh.us to presented the 2004 presidential returns as they came in.

Connell is a long-time GOP operative, whose New Media Communications provided web services for the Bush-Cheney ’04 campaign, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Republican National Committee and many Republican candidates. This in itself might have raised questions about his involvement in creating Ohio’s official state election website. [...]

“Since early this decade, top Internet ‘gurus’ in Ohio have been coordinating web services with their GOP counterparts in Chattanooga, wiring up a major hub that in 2004, first served as a conduit for Ohio's live election night results,” researchers at ePluribus Media wrote.

Here comes the eyebrow-raiser:

"...I have reason to believe that the alternate accounts were used to communicate with US Attorneys involved in political prosecutions, like that of Don Siegelman," [Laffy Note: Some background here] said RAW STORY's Investigative News Editor, Larisa Alexandrovna, on her personal blog Saturday morning. "This is what I have been working on to prove for over a year. In fact, it was through following the Siegelman-Rove trail that I found evidence leading to Connell. That is how I became aware of him. Mike was getting ready to talk. He was frightened.

"He has flown his private plane for years without incident. I know he was going to DC last night, but I don't know why. He apparently ran out of gas, something I find hard to believe. I am not saying that this was a hit nor am I resigned to this being simply an accident either. I am no expert on aviation and cannot provide an opinion on the matter. What I am saying, however, is that given the context, this event needs to be examined carefully."

"Mr. Connell has confided that he was being threatened, something that his attorneys also told the judge in the Ohio election fraud case," concluded Alexandrovna.

Rove's stench continues to permeate everything and everyone around him.

VIDEO: Yes We Did

By GottaLaff

My latest effort, with gratitude to President-elect Obama for inspiring all of us. Hope you like it:

McCain To Urgently Suspend Campaign Due To Dire Financial Situation.... Tomorrow After 230 Speech

Wow, some emergency eh?

Via Americablog-

If this was so important, why didn't McCain suspend his campaign NOW and head back to the Capitol ASAP? Instead, he's waiting til tomorrow -- and, not just tomorrow, but tomorrow after he speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative. So, for McCain, the crisis is important enough to bag the debate on Friday, but not important enough to head back to the Senate immediately.

As Hunter puts it, they may not recognize him when he finally gets there-

Some fun facts about John McCain: Of all Senators, John McCain has been the most absent. There have been 643 votes taken in the current Senate session: McCain has missed 412 of them.

McCain has not voted in the Senate since April 8th. Since March, he has missed 109 of the last 110 votes.

He missed votes on the GI Bill, energy policy, and in 2007 he missed "all 15 critical environmental votes in the Senate" -- giving him a 2007 rating of 0% from the League of Conservation Voters. Zero percent? I don't think that's fair. I think they should have given him an "incomplete", and told him that he had to stay for summer session if he wants to graduate from the Senate.

Need a giggle? Go here.

Campaign, Debate Suspension Open Thread

Video of MSNBC coverage of announcement.


I'm going to go looking around at the smart peoples take on this. Right now it seems they think this is some sort of power grab, that it is not genuine.

Chris Bowers-

It appears that McCain's move is clearly designed to one up Obama's earlier move. What a rat------. Obama makes a move behind the scenes, McCain makes him wait on an answer, and then announces this at the same time. This is a totalrat----

Via Kos-

The Obama campaign's reaction to John McCain's call to delay Friday's debate:

"The debate is on," a senior Obama campaign official told ABC News.

Now let's see if John McCain can walk and chew gum at the same time.

2004 video: McCain, Bush, fear, and the Iraq War that bonds them

By GottaLaff

What a love fest. Did you see the sparks between them? No, no, not the clips of Iraq violence, the sparks of white hot ardor between the two bosom buddies. Add to that the pungent aroma of fear, and you have a union that nobody can tear asunder.

They are forever bonded. John Sidney McCain and George W. Bush are coupled like a caboose to a box car. It's all on tape.