Perhaps the best and most timely ad the McCain-Palin campaign has put out:
Just be careful where you go with that McCain bumper sticker, lest you get attacked by a deranged Barack Obama supporter. (Update:This particular incident turns out to have been a cruel hoax. I share Jim Geraghty’s sentiments. Meanwhile, the death threats keep rolling in.)
(Compliments of ALG Feature Syndicate)
If there’s one thing undecided voters need to weigh in the waning days of this presidential campaign, it indeed is Barack Obama’s desire to give taxpayer-funded goodies to union bosses, the welfare state, and ACORN.
Meanwhile, Obama’s campaign continues to raise questions about the integrity of his online fundraising process. The bare minimum security opens the door to all kinds of potential fraud and federal campaign violations. An experiment by PowerLine readers highlights the extent of the problem. (Update: < em>HotAir has tons of mounting evidence.)
Yes, you have correctly sensed a theme developing….
Yesterday the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards reported its 900th conviction of union leaders for criminal activity. From the press release:
During the month, OLMS obtained three convictions, seven indictments and court orders of restitution totaling more than $80,000. The office’s totals for fiscal year 2008 (which ended on Sept. 30, 2008) are 102 convictions and 130 indictments, with restitution of more than $3.2 million. The bulk of the cases involved the embezzlement of union funds.
“The triple-digit numbers of indictments and convictions obtained by OLMS in the 2008 fiscal year demonstrates that criminal activity in unions is still a major problem. This problem points to the critical role performed by OLMS in prosecuting those who steal from their members,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Standards Don Todd. “We are proud to have secured court orders of restitution of more than $91.5 million since 2001.”
Embezzlement yes, and cases of forgery and theft, too. The OLMS is one of the most effective federal agencies, helping to bring Big Labor’s bad seeds to justice and restoring millions of dollars to rank-and-file workers wronged by corrupt union leaders.
A Barack Obama presidency would mean a rollback of this agency’s good work. Here’s a flashback to a Wall Street Journal report from five months ago (subscription needed to read entire article):
Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign.
Barack Obama is the Jimmy Hoffa presidential candidate, much like Bill Ritter is Colorado’s Jimmy Hoffa governor.
Update: Gene Kinsey provides photos and first-hand reporting of Sarah Palin’s Monday rally in Grand Junction.
Short on time for in-depth blogging this morning, I’d point you to Slapstick Politics’ coverage of unfolding national campaign events here in our fair state:
Don’t buy the lies from the Left or the media hype. The race isn’t over in Colorado. Mid-October polling in this state traditionally tilts slightly to the Democratic side. It did for Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Last time I checked, neither of them won the Centennial State or the national election.
Update: Blue Collar Muse answers more liberal efforts to shift blame from ACORN, and provides a boatload more evidence. And Palestra documents more sinister voting activity connected with the Obama campaign in Ohio.
It’s hard to keep up with all the evidence pouring forth.
A liberal denizen of my comments section likes to repeat the claim that ACORN’s repeated acts of voter registration fraud are harmless, that I shouldn’t waste my time writing about it, and that he is so bored by the topic that he just has to keep commenting on it. Yes, the same ACORN under FBI investigation that prominently endorsed the deceptive issue campaign Protect Colorado’s Culture of Corruption Future.
But then you look at New Mexico, and you see where voter fraud - so hard-to-prove - resulted directly from ACORN voter registration fraud…in the very closely decided Democratic primary:
The GOP’s review was conducted in House District 13 and only included 92 ballots. That means roughly a third of the ballots examined found by the GOP were fraudulent. The New Mexico GOP released 10 of their suspect ballots. They ballots did not contain required identification information such as Social Security numbers, drivers license numbers or birthdates.
“This is a bombshell. We now have undeniable proof that a significant number of fraudulent voters were cast in Democrat primary races for the New Mexico state legislature as a result of ACORN’s voter registration fraud,” said State Representative Justine Fox Young (R.-Albuquerque). “No longer can ACORN argue that their phony voter registration forms don’t translate into fraudulent votes. They do and today we can prove it.”
Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Biden is reportedly on his way to Colorado for campaign stops on Tuesday and Wednesday (H/T Slapstick Politics).
In honor of his arrival, which gaffe do you think Slow Joe Biden is most likely to make? Please vote in the poll below:
Vote early, but since we’re not a Democratic site, you can’t vote often. Sorry.
The radical shift in polling numbers after the explosive news about the sex/bribe scandal of Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney - who replaced the infamous Republican Rep. Mark Foley - ensures that Florida Congressional seat shifts back to GOP hands.
But where are the national media’s incessant demands to find the facts about what Democratic leaders knew and when? I guess the question answers itself. The liberal media establishment doesn’t want to drive its favored party into the ground and harm the chances of its chosen candidate (read: Barack Obama).
Mark Foley at least had enough shame to do the decent thing and resign over his illicit messages to Congressional pages (and as I said then of Republican leaders, “if they knew and withheld the information, they are guilty of abetting this crime and should be treated accordingly”). Tim Mahoney is standing pat, and we don’t know enough about what Democratic leaders knew. Rank-and-file Democrat activists should demand more of their elected officials and their party leaders.
Just thought it would be useful to bring readers’ attention to a gaping double standard that once again rears its ugly head.
I find this story out of California quite disturbing. The Los Angeles Times reports that a Republican contractor has been targeted with serious allegations of engaging in voter registration fraud - a stupid, repugnant, and unethical activity (H/T Volokh Conspiracy):
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.
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 firm, which a Republican Party spokesman said is paid $7 to $12 for each registration it secures, has denied any wrongdoing and says it has never been charged with a crime.
The 70,000 voters YPM has registered for the Republican Party this year will help combat the public perception that it is struggling amid Democratic gains nationally, give a boost to fundraising efforts and bolster member support for party leaders, political strategists from both parties say.
This story smells bad for some incompetent Republican leaders, but does not rise to the level of the ACORN scandals for four reasons: Read the rest of this entry »
Joe Biden, er, how many letters in that word?
If it makes you feel better, Joe Biden clearly has a “much higher IQ than you”:
It’s Friday, a good time for laughs. So if you have 10 minutes, you also ought to watch the good-spirited and rollicking humor of Senator John McCain’s speech at the Al Smith dinner. Even Barack Obama was in stitches as many of the subtle (and sometimes self-deprecating) jabs were delivered. (H/T Patrick Ruffini, The Next Right)
Former Independence Institute intern and now Washington insider (ha!) Dan Head smiles widely as he watches John McCain deliver a zinger at last night’s debate. After two mediocre McCain performances, last night was the aging Arizona senator’s best debate of the season against Democrat Barack Obama. The only question that matters now is whether it will make enough difference to impact the election. For that, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Way to go, Dan, making it into the Washington Post.
It was good to see ACORN brought up in tonight’s debate. My frequent attention of late to the topic has brought on Lefty critique (22 comments!) that the group has never actually been convicted of electioneering fraud. But we’ll leave that dispute aside for the time being.
Investigative reporter Stanley Kurtz points us to the deeper problems:
On ACORN, I continue to be stunned by Obama’s denials of his extensive ties to this execrable group. The fact that ACORN came up at all is good. Most folks still don’t know what ACORN is, how bad it is, and how deeply it’s tied to the financial meltdown. John McCain needs to make sure the public learns about ACORN and Obama. Obama’s dissembling on his ties to ACORN shows that he recognizes his vulnerability on the issue.
ACORN is a powerful example of an Obama “association” that has immense policy implications. ACORN is a genuinely radical group. It believes in economic redistribution, the same question raised by the “Joe the Plumber” controversy. And ACORN’s campaign to undermine credit standards in this country was an extremely important contributing cause of our economic meltdown. So Obama’s ACORN ties are part and parcel of the core issues at play in this campaign. [link added]
This is astute commentary. But you have to read Stanley Kurtz’s full-length New York Post column (H/T The Daily Blogster) to see the background on ACORN’s agenda and its dangerous relevance to Barack Obama’s record and program. And yes, Obama’s campaign did give $800,000 to a front group for ACORN.
Serious allegations - and indictments for - voter registration fraud only scratch the surface of the problems with ACORN. Tonight’s debate isn’t the only time Barack Obama has sought to lie and run away from his association with the group.
And it’s not just something that happened in the past that should scare you. It’s the implication of ACORN actions that have contributed to the current crisis, and Obama’s connection to ACORN’s agenda combined with his own words that should scare you. Because the socialist program will undermine an already weak economy and our cherished freedoms.
Or maybe Barack Obama has just spent his career using and lying to ACORN and has no intention of forwarding its socialistic agenda. That wouldn’t really inspire confidence in the man’s character.
I won’t be covering tonight’s final Presidential debate (thankfully!) , but you can watch some other wiseacres from the People’s Press Collective provide their live, MST3K-style commentary. If all works as promised, you should be able to watch the video below as the debate is going on:
Update: Live embedded feed removed
ACORN’s systemic problems with voter registration fraud have led to the filing of a RICO action lawsuit in Ohio (H/T Maggie Thurber). RICO refers to cases of racketeering and organized criminal activity - the stuff of John Gotti and company. The stakes have been raised.
Also from Ohio, an independent Cleveland newspaper documents Barack Obama’s associations with ACORN and his campaign’s attempts to cover up the facts and rewrite history.
I may have to rethink my dislike for Ohio.
Wondering what’s going on with the current crisis in the financial markets? Friedman Foundation senior fellow Greg Forster channels the late great economist Milton Friedman via an article written by William F. Buckley during the stock market tumble of 1987. It’s worth a read. I’d like to believe Friedman’s assessments then apply to today’s situation. He’s been right about so many other things.
But Julia Dunraven at Slapstick Politics has a more pessimistic view, with a lot of the numbers to back it up.
Then again, maybe they’re both right.
ACORN, the increasingly notorious voter fraud group, is part of the Colorado C-3 Roundtable going around “educating” voters about various ballot initiatives.
Among the initiatives ACORN hates and opposes (and which the Roundtable won’t invite supporters to share their side of the debate) is Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards initiative. This amendment “will prohibit governments from bundling money from public employees’ paychecks and delivering the funds to special interests, like unions. These special interests use the money to lobby the same politicians who just delivered the cash to them.”
So why is ACORN part of the virulent opposition? We could start with its own ethical lapses, which include not only voter fraud but also an ongoing investigation for misusing our tax dollars for partisan purposes (PDF).
Read the rest of this entry »
Veterans of Colorado, visit The Mortgage Center.com to use your Veteran Benefits and for help in obtaining an affordable Colorado Veteran Loan.
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