MI Republicans Admit to Illegal Foreclosure Scheme, “Surrender” to Democrats

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Democrats and Republicans have settled the suit seeking to prevent Michigan Republicans from using foreclosure lists to challenge voters. The MDP statement on the settlement says:

An agreement announced today by Obama for America, the Republican National Committee, the Democratic National Committee, the Michigan Republican Party, the Michigan Democratic Party, the Macomb County Republican Party, the Macomb County Democratic Party, and plaintiffs Duane Maletski, Sharon Lopez, and Frances M. Zick protects the voting rights of foreclosure victims. The settlement acknowledges the existence of an illegal scheme by the Republicans to use mortgage foreclosure lists to deny foreclosure victims their right to vote. This settlement has the force of law behind it and ensures that Republicans cannot disenfranchise families facing foreclosure. [my emphasis]

In their reply to the joint motions to dismiss from the Republicans, the Democrats reminded that 6th Circuit precedent grants discovery before a suit like this can be dismissed on the jurisdictional grounds the Republicans had cited in their motions.

Under controlling Sixth Circuit precedent, when jurisdictional challenges raise questions of fact that are intertwined with merits questions, the proper course is denial of the motion to dismiss, conduct of discovery in the ordinary course, and consideration of the issues at the appropriate time on summary judgment. And because none of the Defendants has answered an interrogatory or produced a document in response to the Court-ordered discovery on jurisdictional issues, controlling precedent bars the Court from granting their motions. The rule is simple: When a defendant introduces evidence of its own related to the merits, it cannot block the plaintiff from conducting full discovery and still prevail.

I’m guessing–though this is an outtamyarse guess–that the Republicans weighed their options, thought discovery was sufficiently likely (and sufficiently damaging) that they chose, instead, to settle. And in return, the Democrats get to affirm that, indeed, Republicans were planning on using foreclosure lists to challenge voters.

Here’s Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer on the settlement:

Today’s settlement protects the voting rights of all Michigan citizens and guarantees that Republicans cannot use foreclosure lists to deny or challenge anyone’s right to vote. It is no surprise the Republicans back pedaled when their illegal scheme was revealed, and their surrender today ensures that Republicans cannot take advantage of the economic crisis to deny anyone’s voting rights. Read more →

A Second Ohio Prosecutor Threatens to Criminalize Voting

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A number of people have noted that Joe Deters–John McCain’s SW Ohio Co-Chair and Hamilton County Prosecutor–has subpoenaed the information for 40 percent of those who registered and voted at the same time during Ohio’s "golden week" that allowed people to do both at the same time.

Deters issued a subpoena on Friday for complete registration records for roughly 40 percent of the 671 voters who registered and cast a ballot between Sept. 30, when early voting began, and Oct. 6, the deadline for voter registration.

The subpoena, obtained by The Associated Press, is part of a grand jury investigation initiated by Deters in the county.

[snip]

It was unclear why the subpoena – which also calls upon the county’s election director and deputy director to testify before the grand jury – doesn’t ask for records of all voters from the weeklong window.

It’s worth noting, however, that this is not an isolated example of a Republican operative using his prosecutorial powers to collect information on people who voted during that week. 

It seems that the former partner of Mike DeWine (DeWine is co-Chair of the McCain team in OH) is asking for the voter registration cards of everyone in Greene County, OH, who voted during golden week:

Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer and representatives of County Prosecutor Stephen Haller have contacted the local Board of Elections asking for the voter registration cards of everyone who voted during the six-day window, which ended Monday.

What a coinkydink, huh?

Of course, I have no hard evidence that these two prosecutors are playing the same game, leaking news of a criminal investigation into voting. But it’s worth noting that, in both cases, the prosecutors themselves claim to have received the allegations of vote fraud–not elections officials. Here’s Greene County:

Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer, a Republican, requested registration cards and address change forms Thursday for all 302 people who took advantage of the window. He told elections officials he had been flooded with telephone calls from people concerned about possible fraud.

And here’s Hamilton County:

“We’ve had widespread complaints of fraud but we do not discuss investigations at all,” Deters said. He said the complaints came from “a variety of sources.”

[snip]

The fraud allegations that led to the Hamilton County grand jury investigation did not come from local election officials, said county elections board Deputy Director John Williams.

Read more →

The Powell Endorsement

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As reported, Colin Powell just endorsed Obama, calling him a "transformational figure." He listed several reasons for his choice:

  • Obama’s response to the economic meltdown
  • Obama’s ability to reach all classes, races, and parties
  • Obama’s rhetorical ability and his substance
  • McCain’s erratic response to the economic crisis
  • Palin’s lack of preparedness for the Presidency
  • McCain’s smears
  • The wingnuttia of the Republican Party
  • The danger of two more conservatives on SCOTUS (he’s probably thinking about all the anti-torture decisions)
  • The attacks on Muslims (he mentions a Muslim woman burying her son in Arlington)–this was one of the most powerful parts of the endorsement

Just as interesting was what Powell had to say in a short availability after his appearance on MTP. His last question addressed the McCain campaign smears again. He called out Michelle Bachmann on her McCarthyist rant. Also, Powell made a really great defense of Obama’s tax policy, pointing out that all tax policy involves redistribution of wealth, it’s just a question of where it gets redistributed; he also pointed out that most people get their taxes back by using the services government provides. 

Say what you will about the value of Colin Powell’s endorsement. But whether you want it or not, please accept the importance in Powell calling out the McCain smears and attacks on Obama and America’s Muslims.

Colin Powell to Denounce the Lynch Mobs

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We were discussing yesterday whether having the guy who lied to the UN to justify our illegal war in Iraq endorse Obama is a good thing or not. I wrote this.

One more thought on Powell.

I’m outtamyarse guessing that whether or not he endorses on Sunday, he will say something about the violence being stoked by McPalin.

It’s another moment–even more important one, IMO–like the UM affirmative action cases before SCOTUS, when he came out strongly for affirmative action. And this kind of racially-tinged violence would offend his sense of both decency–and what is necessary for a healthy country (you could even argue it hurts the troops when this kind of racism is stoked).

I even wonder (really outtmyarse) whether Powell was the one who got McCain to correct the woman who called Obama an Arab terrorist. Powell is one of the few people who could get McCain to do what he wants right now, bc McCain still wants to forestall an Obama endorsement. And McCain’s failure to call off the she-dog might well be enough to tip Powell. 

Apparently, my outta-arse is working better on politics these days than it is on football–at least for the first part of my guess (h/t karpaty lviv).

 Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is widely expected Sunday to denounce the personal attacks against Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

[snip]

The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday that Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Powell’s former chief of staff, said his ex-boss was "upset" by the "vitriol, bile and prejudice" aimed at Obama on the campaign trail.

"We’ve talked about this and I know it really bothers him and I’d expect him to talk about it," he said.

Say what you will about Powell, but unlike (say) Clarence Thomas, Powell has always done the right thing on race in this country. And the right thing, right now, is to shut down the ugly, violent racism driving the McCain campaign. 

If Powell is successful at shaming McCain into calling off his dogs, it will be a very important thing–not only for getting Obama elected, but also for governing this country going forward. 

Obama’s Firewall: Commie, Unpatriotic, “Fake” Virginia

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So let me get this straight: All those civil servants and employees of the military-industrial complex living in northern VA are Communists.

They are unpatriotic and anti-American.

And they are not "real" Virginians.

I get that the McPalin campaign is all-but conceding that they cannot win the votes of those who know government best, including many many members of the military and national security community. I might ask why they’re conceding that, why they seem to admit they can’t gain any resonance with these voters, but whatever–I guess they’ve seen the polling.

What I really want to know, though, is how this is not, effectively, a concession for the entire race. McCain has admitted he needs to win all the Bush states that are currently still toss ups: FL, NC, MO, IN, CO, NV.

And VA.

(IA and NM, in which Obama holds big poll margins right now, would bring Obama to 263; VA has 13 electoral college votes.)

Yet his campaign seems to be pursuing a strategy designed to offend the largest chunk of Virginia’s population.

McCain Campaign Whines that NYT Paid Heed to Their Letter

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There’s something funny about the McCain campaign’s complaints about the NYT’s front page piece on Cindy today. They released a letter that John Dowd sent to the NYT on October 1. He writes:

I write to appeal to your sense of fairness, balance and decency in deciding whether to publish another story about her. I do this well knowing your paper’s obvious bias for Barack Obama and your obvious hostility to John McCain. I ask you to put your biases and agendas aside.

[snip]

I am advised that you assigned two of your top investigative reporters who have spent an extensive amount of time in Arizona and around the country investigating Cindy’s life including her charity, her addiction and her marriage to Senator McCain. None of these subjects are news.

I am also advised that your reporters are speaking to Tom Gosinski and her cousin Jamie Clark, neither of whom are reliable or credible sources. Mr. Gosinski has been publicly exposed as a liar and a blackmailer on the subject of Cindy McCain. Jamie Clark has very serious drug and stability issues and has failed in a number of attempts to blackmail Cindy. She is simply not credible.

[two long paragraphs on Gosinski] 

Any further attempts to harrass or injure her based on the information from Gosinski and Clark will be met with an appropriate response. While she may be in the public eye, she is not public property nor the property of the press to abuse and defame.

[snip]

I ask you to let Cindy McCain carry on in her usual understated, selfless and dignified way. The fabrications and lies of blackmailers are not fit to print in any newspaper but particularly not the New York Times.

In short, this letter is primarily a thinly disguised (and, IM[NAL]O, legally suspect) warning against repeating the stories of Gosinski and Clark. Note, for example, that Dowd’s letter was written more than two weeks after the WaPo published a story heavily reliant on Gosinski as a source, which Dowd has apparently not responded to with threats of "an appropriate response." Nevertheless, Dowd wrote Bill Keller and tried to scare Keller away from reporting on Gosinski.

So, 18 days after Dowd wrote his letter, the NYT wrote their piece. Look closely at it. See what’s not in it?

Any reference to Gosinski or Clark. Read more →

Big Time Newspaper Endorsements

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Because this seems to be the weekend when all the big newspapers decided that they had better endorse Barack Obama. I will update this going forward–please alert me to endorsements in the thread [my emphasis throughout].

Chicago Tribune (has never endorsed a Democrat):

Many Americans say they’re uneasy about Obama. He’s pretty new to them.

We can provide some assurance. We have known Obama since he entered politics a dozen years ago. We have watched him, worked with him, argued with him as he rose from an effective state senator to an inspiring U.S. senator to the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.

We have tremendous confidence in his intellectual rigor, his moral compass and his ability to make sound, thoughtful, careful decisions. He is ready.

The change that Obama talks about so much is not simply a change in this policy or that one. It is not fundamentally about lobbyists or Washington insiders. Obama envisions a change in the way we deal with one another in politics and government. His opponents may say this is empty, abstract rhetoric. In fact, it is hard to imagine how we are going to deal with the grave domestic and foreign crises we face without an end to the savagery and a return to civility in politics.

[snip]

Obama is deeply grounded in the best aspirations of this country, and we need to return to those aspirations. He has had the character and the will to achieve great things despite the obstacles that he faced as an unprivileged black man in the U.S.

He has risen with his honor, grace and civility intact. He has the intelligence to understand the grave economic and national security risks that face us, to listen to good advice and make careful decisions.

When Obama said at the 2004 Democratic Convention that we weren’t a nation of red states and blue states, he spoke of union the way Abraham Lincoln did.

It may have seemed audacious for Obama to start his campaign in Springfield, invoking Lincoln. We think, given the opportunity to hold this nation’s most powerful office, he will prove it wasn’t so audacious after all. Read more →

Obama Counsel to Mukasey: Sic Your Special Prosecutor on the Republicans

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The Obama campaign general counsel, Bob Bauer, has demanded that Michael Mukasey expand the scope of Special Prosecutor Nora Dannehy’s investigation to include Republican claims of voter fraud in this election.

As a reminder, Dannehy was appointed to investigate the US Attorney firings. Arguing that Republicans’ bogus claims of "vote fraud" are the same kind of misconduct as firing a bunch of US Attorneys in 2006 was, Bauer says Dannehy should include current Republican activities in her investigation.

The Dannehy investigation concerns, most fundamentally, abuse of the law enforcement process to advance, in the name of combating "voting fraud", a partisan political agenda. The appointment of a Special Prosecutor was required because the Department’s leadership was the focus of the investigation and unable to credibly undertake an independent, professional and credible inquiry.

Now, on the emerging evidence of recent conduct undertaken by Bush Administration officials, Republican party officials, and representatives of the McCain-Palin campaign, it appears that further misconduct of the same nature, directly relevant to the work of the Special Prosecutor, requires that the scope of the Special Prosecutor’s assignment be expanded.

Accordingly, I request that Special Prosecutor Dannehy’s inquiry incldue a review of any involvement by Justice Department and White House officials in supporting the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee ("RNC")’s systematic development and dissemination of unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud. It is highly likely that the very sort of politically motivated conduct identified in the Department’s investigation to date, necessitating the appointment of a Special Prosecutor, is repeating itself, and for the same reason: unwarranted and politically motivated intervention in the upcoming election. 

Shorter Obama campaign: Republicans are already under criminal investigation for this stuff. Don’t let them get away with the same kind of criminal conduct again.

We’re not dealing with 2000 or 2004’s Democratic Party anymore. 

How about DC’s Suburbs?

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Sarah Palin has now clarified her insinuation that some parts of America are pro-America parts and some are … not.

We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe" — here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers — "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom. [my emphasis]

I’m curious. Aside from asking Palin where she draws the line–how big does a "small town" get before it gets unpatriotic, I’d like to know. Are DC’s suburbs pro-America?

It seems worth a follow-up, after all, because all those civil servants living in Virginia’s DC suburbs–the ones running our military and our intelligence services and our bureaucracies–they might want to know whether or not the Republicans’ VP candidate believes they’re pro-American or not before they vote. John’s brother Joe McCain has already called them Communists, of course, but perhaps someone could clarify whether the McCain campaign believes that those voters in a must-win swing state are unpatriotic Communists.

A big percentage of Virginia’s voters at least work "in" Washington D.C. I guess Sarah Palin doesn’t want their anti-American vote?

Sugar Momma? Did You Buy John a Lead on Intrade?

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Congressional Quarterly confirms something Nate Silver pointed out some time ago. Someone has been trying to game the online market Intrade to make it look like John McCain was winning.

An internal investigation by the popular online market Intrade has revealed that a single investor’s purchases prompted “unusual” price swings that significantly boosted the prediction that Sen. John McCain will become president.

Over the past several weeks, the investor has pushed hundreds of thousands of dollars into one of Intrade’s predictive markets for the presidential election, the company said, resulting in repeated monetary losses through a strategy that belies any financial motive.

“The trading that caused the unusual price movements and discrepancies was principally due to a single ‘institutional’ member on Intrade,” said the company’s chief executive, John Delaney, in a statement released Thursday. “We have been in contact with the firm on a number of occasions. I have spoken to those involved personally.”

After an extensive investigation into the suspicious trading patterns, Intrade found no wrongdoing or violation of its exchange rules, the company said. [my emphasis]

CQ goes on at some length to explain what a stupid "investor" this person was and how much money she (or he) wasted telegraphing to other investors when she (or he) would be dumping large sums into the market and paying extra because she (or he) invested exclusively in this market. Whoever was doing the market manipulation, CQ concluded, had to be trying to influence appearances, not make a buck.

So who would dump money on a transparent (well, at least to Nate Silver) attempt to make John McCain look more successful than he was?

Honestly, there’s absolutely no reason to think it really was McCain’s Sugar Momma buying off the market. This person is, for the moment at least, just an anonymous someone willing to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars into make the failing McCain campaign look better. Though Intrade completely discredits itself as a market by refusing to state whether McCain’s fan was associated with his campaign.

Citing privacy policies, Delaney would not elaborate on who the investor was or whether or not that investor was affiliated in any way with a political campaign. [my emphasis]

But just so you know, Intrade still wants you to believe that they’re "generally more accurate" than polls.

Intrade. Where all the fashionable trophy wives go to buy their men a lead.