Obama Counsel to Mukasey: Sic Your Special Prosecutor on the Republicans
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.
expecting Michael Mukasey or Pelosi, or Bush to do anything different then they have these past years is a little naive…
This isn’t about Mukasey, per se, though it puts him in a tough position.
This is about flipping the attempts to criminalize ACORN on its head, to criminalize accusations launched at ACORN.
Mukasey will probably say no to Bauer’s request. But he may be forced to clarify that FBI is not investigating, nor does it have reason to investigate, ACORN.
I agree that this lets them flip the talking points about ACORN–look, we got rid of one AG who was politicizing DOJ in support of BS voter fraud claims, and this is the same playbook, being run by the Bushies again.
Maybe “factitious” rather than “facetious”?
switched it to bogus. is that better?
Yes. It’s ‘way better than factitious. I don’t think I’ve ever written factitious m’self before. It just means sham or bogus.
No — factitious was a new word for me.
I have a feeling his DOJ is going to be a big, happy surprise to Democrats who have doubted Obama.
let’s hope he has the same zeal for the people he is demonstrating for his campaign
wow, the obama campaign is RIGHT on top of EVERYTHING
I would not like to play chess with this man or whoever it is running that campaign, talk about preperation and action, this man is ON the ball!
Thanks ew.
digg
Who is MARTIN EISENSTADT? I noticed that Martin Eisenstadt, the blogger/pundit/war profiteer, is in the news again as the McCain insider who broke the story connecting “Joe the plumber” to Charles Keating. I recently shot an unauthorized mini documentary on Martin Eisenstadt called “The Last Republican” that I am showing as a webseries on my youtube channel, “youkaysam”. http://www.youtube.com/user/youkaysam
At times charming and knowledgeable, Martin is, in fact, a dangerous McCain surrogate who hides behind layers and half truths that I like to believe I succeeded in identifying and exposing.
I just hope that an Obama DOJ will pursue justice as pro-actively and aggressively after the election! But surely this is a hopeful sign (harbinger?)
Bob in HI
I think the response on ACORN is good, but I hate it when the Reps get to change the subject–and the media is so bright-shiny-object-obsessed as to let it stick.
How does this change the subject? The Republican propaganda was out there, right from the mouths of their candidates. Their media effort was not an attempt to sway voters, it was an attempt to give cover to voter suppression. The Obama campaign correctly, and hopefully devastatingly, has gone after the malefactors themselves on legal grounds instead of being gulled into engaging them in the media arena of bright and shiny things.
I agree that a response–particularly a response that hits back and hits back hard–was needed.
My point was that “voter fraud” is a Republican selected sideshow “issue” that has nothing to do with the real questions facing the country, and the Republicans want to change the subject rather than keep the focus on the ruin they have created.
My point, again, was that this is not “changing the subject” in order to get more votes (the Acorn references pass over people’s heads unless their initiated wingnuts) or even distract from issues on which McCain is losing votes. It’s trotting out a narrative to provide media cover for a voter suppression conspiracy.
That said, I’m getting the optimistic feeling now, after the quick succession of the Ohio decision and now this letter, that the Obama campaign will actually engage this issue openly in advance of the election: they will openly accuse the Republicans of voter suppression; maybe predominantly white college kids will be the examples of victims they provide..
I don’t really think they’re obsessed. I just think they’re following orders.
This is an excellent sign. I hope the Obama administration applies this same thinking to a whole host of investigations that they will inherit.
Agreed. We can hope, push and push some more.
When McCain uttered that “fabric of democracy” line in the debate I had a feeling he was uneasy with the tactic he executing. I like it that Bauer’s letter calls him out on it.
McCain in June:
I didn’t really mean he had an uneasy conscience — I think he flubbed the line, or overplayed it, because he’s nervous and erratic and impotent — same way he seethed and fumed but couldn’t manage to extricate himself from supporting the bailout.
Yeah, there used to be alot of talk that Obama was too passive, too much the professor, not capable of getting in there in the political fight.
I think we’re going to start hearing alot of complaints now that Obama is too aggressive, too uncompromising, too tough.
What Monica Goodling et. al. should REALLY be afraid of though, is that a new breed of people may be staffing the DOJ in a few months.
People who actually care about the law. People who actually care about enforcing the law.
Worry on that.
Republicans don’t like Oak trees cuz they hate ACORNs even though their own stupidity, and Bush’s, F U this election for them. I can’t imagine that the FBI really wants to get caught in the middle of this crap.
Red = Innocent Victim
Blue = Criminal or Enemy Combatant (Would be criminal).
Now it’s easy to discern who’s a criminal.
“Lock ‘em up. better yet, Flog ‘em; No Hang ‘em they are guilty.”
“Guilty of what?”
“Hang ‘em. We’ll figure out guilt later.”
Remember now, we live in the land of the free and home of the brave.
This is very encouraging. I have been following the very credible evidence being found over the years and reported on the brad blog. There is much evidence of widespread supression and possible vote rigging by electronic voting machines.
Every American regardless of party should be interested in putting a stop to this kind of supression.
I have long wondered if the Obama campaign was even following this issue. It has become clear by recent events that they are following it and they are on top of it which is a very good thing.
America and the world cannot afford another stolen election that goes uncontested.
LA Times came out for Obama this morning.
LANDSLIDE
The old LA Times (owned by the Chandlers) would have come out with the endorsment months ago
The LA Times of Norman Chandler, and even much more so Otis Chandler, is dead and gone; and that is a real tragedy. The truth is that Otis himself sowed the seeds by being more personally interested in his classic auto collection and restoration than the paper. He realized the problem a little late, although he did realize it before he died. Otis’ LAT is just a memory now.
From the LA Times: Barack Obama for president
I hope they look into the stuff in Ohio that happened last time. I hope they examine Diebold machines, etc. I hope they do a colonoscopy on every election official in every swing state at least.
I would really like to see Obama and some other dems stick up for ACORN. Why do they constantly let the wingers off when they say “ACORN is a danger to the fabric of our free society”.
That is BS.
What the hell is wrong with this and why won’t they defend it?
Chicago Times endorsed Obama, too.
That would be Chicago Tribune – sheesh.
emptywheel, skdadl and brendanx:
Can’t resist suggesting the clinical use of the term factitious: “conditions in which a person acts as if he or she has an illness by deliberately producing, feigning, or exaggerating symptoms” (per wikipedia). Hard to settle on only one of these to describe GOP’s symptoms re Acorn.
Yes, it’s an interesting word that way, although I think that EW’s ear is tone-perfect in preferring the more straightforward term. Conrad Black would probably disagree, but I can’t think of anyone else who would.
Sheesh. I’ve just been watching a YouTube of a speech Palin made yesterday in Maine wherein she compared Joe Biden to Joe the Plumber. That woman is a demagogue, a terrifying demagogue. I hope McCain recognizes what he has unleashed upon the world and regrets it forever. I also hope someone figures out how to stop her.
swopa is upstairs at the Mothership!
John McCain’s Meltdown Has Been 40 Years in the Making
inside job
What bugs me about the ACORN thing is that if a vote registrar turns in obviously bogus registrations to ACORN, the are required by law to submit them to the appropriate voter registration office even if they know the signatures to be fraudulent. In other words, ACORN has ZERO control over quality or fraud unless they really put the hammer down on their volunteers before they register anyone. And they don’t get any Kudos (at least not from Republicans) when they warn the Sec’y of State or whomever that a particular batch is problematic.
Voter suppression, as with a poll tax or any other kind, smells as putrid.
Bob in HI
EW!
It’s my fervent hope that you’re dead right on the characteristics of the present Democratic Party. It has truly sucked to have been associated with soft and toothless liberals when what was needed was a band of prickly progressives.
Here’s how the ACORN efforts ’should’ be handled. I put ’should’ in quotes because the very Republican county registrar is using every legimate reason he can find to disqualify ACORN registrations, but he’s not trumping up bogus vote fraud stories either. The net effect of ACORN’s efforts in Houston are that we got about 18,000 new voters from disenfranchised populations. It’s the Republicans own fault that these folks will vote 90% Democratic.
Ms E Wheel – Okay, I read through all Waxman’s stuff. The only thing that makes sense to me is if the two reports are [1] to be voted on next week for immediate release by the HOC [2] to form the basis of between one and 5 votes by Conyers HJC on impeachment at some point before the 110th Congress lapeses.
I realize impeachment has reduced to something of a joke, but I don’t think Waxman’s sense of humor runs that way.
Each of these 2 subjects – the claim of privilege for Fitz’ interview of Cheney and the blanket claim of privilege over all the intradepartmental communications under Johnson & Dudley – are discrete, simple, consistent with Bates’ recent decision on the USA Purge subpoenas, and completely supported in the language of the CRS report obviously commissioned for this purpose.
Has The Chairman got his hand in his tool box looking for a spanner to throw into Bush’s pardon power?
I’m going to resist turning this thread into something it’s not for – after this:
[1] The Draft Report on the Cheney interview seems aimed directly at Mukasey, and I would think would result in Bush having to fire Mukasey immediately, to prevent the report from being tabled in his impeachment – that is, Bush would have no other choice but to return to the halcyon days of Nixon and his Saturday Night Massacre.
It’s also aimed the wiggle of a toe away from Cheney, which just forces Bush to the same response.
[2] The Draft report on Johnson & Dudley and their departments also starts with Mukasey, just as obviously in the sense of law, but less so in the sense of optics, and again is less than a wiggle of a toe away from Cheney.
That’s why I put it as from 1 to 5: Mukasey, Johnson, Dudley, Cheney, and …why bother impeaching if the guy leaves?
For belief in Justice. You impeach so that American citizens start to believe in the myth of “equal justice under the law” again. The SCOTUS decision is a beginning
Chris Matthews was all over the Robo Terrorist calls tonight. Rep Michelle Bachman from Minnesota made a real ass out of herself.
Surprised Matthews missed the Scotus decision today. His big number last night was the 200,000 votes that the Dems could lose in Ohio due to the no match no vote issue.
I agree; “Chris Matthews was all over the Robo Terrorist calls tonight. Rep Michelle Bachman from Minnesota made a real ass out of herself.”
She’s been all over the teevee the past couple of weeks, making a fool of herself each and every time. I hope she is replaced by the democrat, El Tinklenberg. If you’re interested, see:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/16/225314/77
Maddow took up on Bachmann’s Joe McCarthy-esque proposal to investigate Congress to determine which ones are pro-American and which ones are anti-American. video Send the video to your friends in her district.
The full Hardball session, in two parts, Bachmann first and then discussion with Katrina vanden Heuvel and Pat Buchanan, is up on YouTube, and man, that is scary.
Matthews did really well, I think, in patiently giving Bachmann all the rope she needed to get on to serious McCarthyite territory, and vanden Heuvel’s response is great.
I couldn’t get over that creepy perpetual smile on Bachmann’s face. No matter what she was saying, she was doing the beauty-contestant winning smile plus doe eyes. She is clearly impervious to anything I would consider rational and humane.
She always gives that “creepy” smile as trash pours out of her mouth. Seems like a clear sign of a mental health disorder
Related story – at least apparently voter registration fraud:
Voters contend they were duped into registering as Republicans
.
Several people are saying they were told that signing a form changing their registration to GOP was ‘just a formality’ and that it wouldn’t actually change their registration. I think this was reported earlier this year, in the blogs, but it disappeared. until now, when people are getting voting materials and discovering their party was changed. (Some are now marked as permanent absentee, which they also didn’t sign up for.)
and it all starts to go BAD for repuglitards
the one Democratic Senator who was in trouble just got a gift from chairman ensign
first the repuglitards pulled out of Louisanna, then they changed their minds and went back to Louisanna
aptly demonstrating the clusterfuckedness of the whole repuglitard election campaign
joe the plumber turns out to be NADA Plumber, NADA Joe, NADA honest tax payer, and NADA person who would be affected by Obama’s Tax plan
nada fer four on joe the nada-plumber, and that was the October surprise
and now the campaign to demonize ACORN is blowing up in the repuglitards’ faces more than two weeks before the election
disaster almost accomplished
SIXTYSEVEN DEMOCRATIC SENATORS
Bye Bye, joezoe
Very saavy response by Obama/Bauer. Which of these FBI officials and AGs won’t understand this to mean that, unless they back off, there will be a serious investigation of the extent to which their actions, following up on Republican ACORN charges, are a political strategy; an investigation focused directly on them once the Obama Presidency begins. Hardball.
Chris Matthews and Katrina vanden Heuvel rock.
Would anyone mind if I ask this again? It seems to fit into the thread.
If McCain wins, do we say that the polls were just wrong, or do we take that as evidence of foul play? And what do we do then?
Totally OT – More perverse things to ponder from Deadeye’s bunker – From WaPo’s Barton Gellman:
Is there time to fix this?
TRASH TALK! TRASH TALK! TRASH TALK!
Happy Friday!
Trash Talk is coming shortly; got sidetracked with stuff that is actually important.
Oh man. Don’t subject me to trash talk this week!! I’m lost!!
Just tell randiego that I called the Cleveland win last week, okay?
I watched Burke beat West Roxbury this afternoon… in the first OT, sudden victory 6-0, in Boston’s schoolboy stadium. Burke had 15 players dressed for the game. I’m not going to Middletown CT tomorrow but I’d like to take in a game. Maybe Williams @ Tufts. Who’s on the tube tomorrow afternoon?
OT-Interesting article on McCain:
Make-Believe Maverick
A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty
By TIM DICKINSON Posted Oct 16, 2008
http://www.rollingstone.com/ne…..ohn_mccain
Interview by Austin’s Scott Horton with Tim Dickinson:
http://antiwar.com/radio/2008/…..ckinson-2/
New Post Alert
Another 16 Words: Boumediene Bites Bush Again
I think you should reconsider your choice of going to “bogus”. If nothing else the Republican party is symptomatic of the dire political consequences of a runaway epidemic of Munchausen’s Syndrome characterized by compulsive facetiousness. How else does one explain a Rep. Bachmann, her permanent smile and her rhetorical fantasies, the Black Moose Princess vowing to clear DC of “abuses of power” and going to the well again with the attack Acorn cover for vast Republican conspiracy to purge the voting rolls of eligible Democrats. The obsession with permanent power does not die easily but if nothing else works why not regale the electorate with tales of dancing on the moon. Parlor charm looses its delight in the cauldron of national survival.
Maybe Obama can announce a scientific goal, like Kennedy’s race to the Moon, to cure Munchausen’s in our life time.
Wow
Good point that this is not the 2004 Dem campaign. Given that Obama is the heavy favorite, this letter is pretty much a threat to Mukasey himself that he might be considered culpable for obstruction of justice by the next administration’s prosecutors if he fails to investigate an apparent extension of an existing case.
Wow
We all expected the campaign to turn even nastier with personal attacks as it neared its end. But the use of prosecution by the administration of ACORN, then the threat of counter-prosecution…
That’s what led Caesar to end up crossing the Rubicon…
It can’t hurt to let these people know that another administration is coming and that it won’t tolerate this kind of voter intimidation. That prosecution of those who are causing this will be at the top of an Obama agenda. It might go a long way toward slowing these cretins knowing that their blank check for law breaking is coming to an end.
Well, that was the most enjoyable seven page letter I’ve read in a long time.
Maybe ever.
Neil at 64: I started school at Randall G Morris and then to Girls Latin.
Apparently, Attorney Bauer did not cc Rep. Michelle Bachmann.
Here’s Footnote 5:
In the last week, several members of Congress who are officially affiliated with the McCain-Palin campaign have written to the Attorney General and U.S. Attorneys pressuring them to investigate ACORN. Among the McCain-Palin surrogates and campaign officials who have written such a letter are:
Senator George Voinovich (R-OH),
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX),
Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN),
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Rep.
Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Such efforts in the days leading up to the election are precisely the sort of politically-motivated efforts to influence the Department’s investigative and prosecutorial efforts that were roundly condemned by the DOJ Report and which remain under investigation by the Department.
Booyah.
We just donated to El Tinklenberg
https://services.myngp.com/ngponlineservices/contribution.aspx?X=pEWjYFU42cf0ZVvT8kkgyg5bv//5KbmvYjM1pvRKsAg=
who is running against first termer Bachmann.
Democrats in Congress are holding the cards. They can directly deal with these issue, as opposed to complaining after the election, by returning to the Capitol and demanding that Justice Department officials testify about the alleged ACORN investigation under oath, in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
http://www.framingtheissues.com