McCain Employing GOP Operative Accused Of Voter Registration Fraud

By GottaLaff

"I'm rubber, you're glue Anything you say bounces off me and sticks to you!" So there:

John McCain's campaign has directed $175,000 to the firm of a Republican operative accused of massive voter registration fraud in several states.

According to campaign finance records, a joint committee of the McCain-Palin campaign, the RNC and the the California Republican Party, made a $175,000 payment to the group Lincoln Strategy in June for purposes of "registering voters." The managing partner of that firm is Nathan Sproul, a renowned GOP operative who has been investigated on multiple occasions for suppressing Democratic voter turnout, throwing away registration forms and even spearheading efforts to get Ralph Nader on ballots to hinder the Democratic ticket.

In a letter to the Justice Department last October, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said that that Sproul's alleged activities "clearly suppress votes and violate the law."

That Sproul would come under the employment umbrella of the McCain campaign -- the Republican National Committee has also separately paid Lincoln Strategy at least $37,000 for voter registration efforts this cycle -- is not terribly surprising. Sproul, who has donated nearly $30,000 to McCain's campaign, has been in the good graces of GOP officials for the past decade despite charges of ethical and potentially legal wrongdoing.

But his involvement with the Republican Party's voter registration efforts has the potential to create a political and public relations headache at a time when McCain can ill-afford one. For weeks the Arizona Republican and his allies have been seeking to tie Barack Obama to the community organization ACORN, which they have accused of potentially committing massive voter registration fraud. Sproul's contract with the GOP ticket -- in addition to news of Republican officials attempting to suppress Democratic turnout in California -- raises, for some, questions about McCain's own efforts.

"It should certainly take away from McCain's argument," said Bob Grossfeld, a progressive political consultant based in Arizona who has followed Sproul's career.

People in glass houses... Pot. Kettle. Black. I'm sure there are a few more sayings that would apply here.

H/t: thekingfiphtin

VIDEO-- CNN: "This is not voter fraud! This is more like a fraud perpetrated on ACORN."

By GottaLaff



Suh-nap, Repubs. The Truth Squad sets the record straight.

Drew Griffin said that "it is very unlikely that the bogus registrations would actually lead to voter fraud.”

H/t: Think Progress

Voters duped into registering as Republicans

By GottaLaff

You know how we keep talking about psychological projection? And how we should be alert to the fact that nearly every time the Republicans accuse the Democrats of something, the accusation should really be directed at themselves?

How ironic that the Republicans are crying foul over ACORN, which has done nothing wrong, while this is going on:

Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.

Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed. [...]

It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party -- a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states -- has been accused of using the tactic across the country.

Why, wouldn't that be “tearing at the very fabric of democracy”? Yes. Yes, I believe it would be.

Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and Ventura counties say they are investigating complaints about the company. [...]

The Times randomly interviewed 46 of the hundreds of voters whose election records show they were recently re-registered as Republicans by YPM, and 37 of them -- more than 80% -- said that they were misled into making the change or that it was done without their knowledge.

Lydia Laws, a Palm Springs retiree, said she was angry to find recently that her registration had been switched from Democrat to Republican.

Laws said the YPM staffer who instructed her to identify herself on a petition as a Republican assured her that it was a formality, and that her registration would not be changed. Later, a card showed up in the mail saying she had joined the GOP.

In Florida's Alachua County:

About 200 voters -- mostly college students -- were unwittingly registered as Republicans there in 2004 by YPM staffers using the same tactic [...]

That's pretty unAmerican if you ask me. But don't ask me. Ask Gramm-pa McCain and the Republican party.

AP's lying ACORN headline

By GottaLaff

This isn't biased, right? No, of course it isn't. Via MSNBC's First Read (which includes Chuck Todd as a contributor):

AP: “Officials: FBI investigates ACORN for voter fraud.” (But it’s voter-registration fraud, not voter fraud, right AP?)

An FBI investigation means the RNC and McCain camp can now use the phrase "FBI investigation" in TV ads. ACORN yesterday released this statement: “ACORN has not been contacted by any federal law enforcement agencies. As it was ACORN that on its own accord brought these issues to the attention of relevant law enforcement officials, we are 110% confident that any legitimate review of ACORN by any law enforcement entity - be it local, state or federal -- will determine that the organization has conducted itself properly.”

But now it's out there. As usual, the GOP puts out a lie, the corporate media perpetuates it, feeds into it, eats it up like it's Godiva chocolate, and the unsuspecting public are the ones who swallow it.

AP shouldn't call itself a news organization. The story should be pulled.

H/t: Oliver Willis

Who really loves ACORN? Why John McCain

New acronym- WFCE. They're just shooting wildly and hitting themselves.

The beleaguered Democratic-leaning community group Acorn sends over this photograph: John McCain, in March of 2006, sitting beside Florida Rep. Kendrick Meek at an event Acorn co-sponsored in Florida.

The immigration event, which other photos show was packed with red-shirted Acorn member, was co-sponsored by the local Catholic Archdiocese, the SEIU, and other groups.

McCain, still spiting much of his party on immigration at the time, was the headliner.

Bertha Lewis, Acorn's chief organizer, said in a statement that came with the photo, “It has deeply saddened us to see Senator McCain abandon his historic support for ACORN and our efforts to support the goals of low-income Americans."