And you think republicans are all honest?
Posted By: gourdpainter on 2008-10-31
In Reply to: No, but I am aware of possibly 1000s - TTMT
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Can I be honest here? sm
I keep hearing here and there that O will be assassinated, won't live out his term, etc. That grieves me. I am a registered Republican, live in the south, in a small, rural town FULL of white, racist people. I don't know who they voted for, but I honestly don't think that "white" America is ready for a black president. There are too many racist people (I know tons of them) who refer to O as the N word (yes, you heard me right) and this is in small, rural America. I truly believe he probably won't last.
It wasn't that long ago that Rosa Parks sat on that bus and it wasn't that long ago when those precious girls from that black Montgomery church were blown up (during church) and remember Jenna 6 and all of the white people who stood up for the boys.
It's hateful and sickening, yes, but America is still prejudiced as sad as it is to say that. Too many white hate groups. I am in my mid 30s and when I was in college there were very large sects of "skinheads." They are everywhere. They are very prideful. They hate blacks. I am half Hispanic and my family doesn't look white. I've been the subject of racism in the past. People are awful.
Whether you believe in God or not as a liberal, pray for O's safety because I think he is going to need it.
I have to be honest, DW....
when we were debating it I honestly did not realize that some states already provided coverage for all kids no matter what the income level, which seemed to be the sticking point for most of the debaters. The fact that MA and PA could do it, even on the unexpanded program, leads me to believe other states could do it too, if their priorities were in place. Washington is such a goofy place, really...if the Democrats had prefaced it differently and had not used the implicit words to extend it "higher up the income ladder" and just stated they wanted to dole more out to the states so it would be easier for them to insure all the state's kids...I don't think there would have been such an issue. They purposely sent a bill they knew Bush would veto, which is a ridiculous exercise...I think it was purely political election time posturing and misleading to both Democrat and Republican voters. It did what it was intended to do, and that is make a headline that Bush did not want to insure kids, when that is not at all a true statement. That being said...PA and MA DO show that it is possible under current funding, and I am entirely FOR putting it at the discretion of the states how to use the money for their CHIP programs without the interference of the feds other than funding. Now if the states want to impose some kind of taxes to support it, like a penny sales tax or something, to supplement the program in order to do so, I am all in favor of that, if they tailor it to the needs of their state...and who knows better than the state government what that would take? They know their populations, they know their income levels...and they can come up with a better plan. I am 100% on board for that!! It would be interesting to know how MA and PA funded those programs at the current level...because they did. PA's has been around for quite awhile. :-)
Just being honest...
Certainly this poster is entitled to his/her point of view, even if he/she is completely intolerant of anyone else's point of view. The poster speaks of an open mind, yet has a very closed mind himself/herself.
For all the talk that liberals make about freedoms, apparently that only extends to those who agree with them. Sounds more like a fascist state than America.
Condescencion, intolerance...are these the hallmarks of liberalism?
come on, be honest
you laughed at the mental image that statement conjured up also.
Look....if you are going to be honest about this...
just read up on it from start to finish. It was not a big deal, the same guy who is screaming for her head now was saying the governor's office is fully cooperating and subpoenas will not be necessary...and she was, and that was the truth. Now that the Obama lawyers descended it is a whole new ballgame, has been politicized when it should not have been. It should be stopped, it has become a 3-ring circus. THere are pictures now of the two Dems yelling the loudest with Obama yucking it up at a support rally. The investigation is tainted now. The investigator they hired is personal friends with the guy who was fired. Come on now....hatchet job. They need to put in the hands of someone truly independent, don't you think that is fair? Or no?
to be honest...
I'm just going to be honest with you - there is not a whole lot of incentive for those that are on the welfare rolls to get off. Unless you are educated anymore then those low paying minimum wage jobs do not pay what has to be paid for someone to live - even at 2 and 3 jobs.
And most people cannot afford to go to college - even if they have the aptitude for it. Not everybody in this world is cut out for school. It is not just because they are dumb. I have a son who is above average smart, but just cannot handle school - does that make him dumb? No, it means he is going to have to work his butt off though to even barely get by.
And yes, I do think that the richer people of this world should pay more taxes. I don't necessarily know about a higher percentage, but I know that the darn loop holes that exist that keep them from paying as much as I do should be done away with...
I don't want anybody to give me anything, I am doing it all by myself however I have to, and I am luckier than most that I can make a good living, but I can see that some people need help to survive now.
It is not like it used to be - prices have gone up, up, and up, but wages are staying the same and ya'll all know that. You talk about how you did this, or you did that to get by, and you know what, I did too 20 years ago, but 20 years ago I was not paying $5.00 a gallon for milk and $2.69 for a loaf of bread and making $7.50 or $8.00 an hour. I was not paying $3-4 a gallon for gasoline to get to my $7.50 or $8.00 an hour job. I was not paying $600 a month for a 1 bedroom apartment that legally I was not supposed to have my children living in together...
I feel sorry for the young people today that are starting out on their own and I feel sorry for the people that ya'll are all calling stupid and lazy and worthless just because they are not up to your standards. I am so glad that I am not that judgmental of people that I cannot see that people right now need help... and it is getting worse right in front of our eyes.
I sincerely hope that not a one of you who are so down on people that need help in putting their lives together find yourselves in the position of needing help in the future.
He was not honest.
Obama is a socialist. His record and ideals are proof enough of that. All of you lemmings are convinced he handled himself well and are crying out about how unfair he was treated in that interview.....yet if this were Palin....you would be crying how dumb she is and didn't handle things well. Talk about double standards. You people sicken me. I'm so tired of this crap. I will be glad when this election is over and McCain kicks Obama's @ss. I'm so sick and tired of hearing about Change......that is ALL you people friggin hear!.
Well.....you better be prepared because God help us if Obama wins.....that is all we will have left in our banks accounts......some change. Get a clue!
Actually no....not get better ones...just be HONEST...
about the ones he HAS. That would be a terrific start. The truth is always a good place to start.
Sam, to be honest, I don't think about it much at all either -
I do not think about abortion because in my life it was/is not an option. That being said, I think it is something that people should have the right to choose if they want to.
Why do you think government should get to meddle in one part of a woman's life and not be able to meddle in every part of a person's life? That is the underlying question here...
I just wish they ALL could be honest
without worrying about offending SOMEONE. It's ridiculous.
To be quite honest
even though I am against gay marriage due to my faith, I understand the fact that not everyone goes by the rules of God. Although it is unfortunate given the eternal consequences.
However, I feel that opening the door for gay marriage does in the end open the door for ANY marriage. The argument will still be "if traditional marriage and gay marriage are okay, why not polygamy?" I think that is the next step in the progression. Maybe I am wrong, we will just have to wait and see I guess.
Guys, I'm going to be honest...sm
I don't see what the major deal is about the wire tapping. Maybe there's something I'm missing, but as a child I've always been told that the government tapped phone lines warrantlessly (seeing as how they could probably get a warrant anyway).
So tell me in laymen's terms, what is the big problem with this for the average law abiding citizen?
Nope, just honest...get over it!
Thanks for being honest, Kaydie. :)
It is fine to support whoever you want to support, and it is fine to change your mind about who you support. It should be who YOU want and feel will do the best for the country, whoever that is. And to have the guts to say so. Good for you, Kaydie!
I just got back from Gettysburg, and read the words "so that government of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE, and for the PEOPLE shall not perish from this earth." It does not say government of the PARTY, by the PARTY, and for the PARTY, shall not perish from this earth. It is about us, as individuals, and I wish every individual this election cycle would vote their individual conscience, what they really feel is right for the country, not what the DNC or RNC tells them they should.
THAT is what I like about Sarah Palin. She has bucked her party, she has faced down good ol' boy politics in her own party and cleaned them out...and most of all...she says that elected officials should serve with a servant's heart. GOOD FOR HER!! What a breath of FRESH AIR and how much further could you get from Washington politics as usual than that?? GO MCCAIN-PALIN!!
Now that would be an honest Democrat...lol
nm
No, I will be honest, I waffled between he and two others at first...
as I researched it and the debates started, it came down to he and one other, and by the end of the primaries I was hoping he would be the candidate. Reader's Digest, it was not him alone at the start.
And I have no buyer's remorse. I still feel he is the guy for the job.
Honest answer
I'm sorry I can't answer your question with any first hand knowledge but IF the not so friendly countries support Obama and I don't know that they do......that's what the McCain campaign says...maybe it's because they are sick and tired of George W. Bush and his saber rattling. Can't wait to get some of those Indian mangoes he traded nuclear technology for.
Well, to be honest poster really has no
Always wants facts but when you give them, all you get is a bunch of junk back!
Argument would be if they had something substantial to say in the first place.
Oops - yes I am one in the same - just want to be honest
I used grim reaper above cos that's what I thought of when I read the article I posted. Guess I should have put Grim Reaper/Just me as my name so there wouldn't have been any confusion.
At least be honest about your source
"...those who have contacts on Capitol Hill..."
Your post is taken virtually verbatim from a blog comment at freerepublic.com, from an email from Roy Beck, not from "those who have contacts on Capitol Hill."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2173288/posts
Do you even know what E-Verify is and what it entails?
And I resent your implication that if I disagree with you, I'm not loyal to my country and don't "care anything about this country or [our] jobs."
So, you weren't exactly being honest.
If your husband is sitting at home buying and selling stocks for your own portfolio, he does not "work" in stocks/trading. I am not assuming anything, I am just going by what you say, which apparently is not true.
It seems that you are the one who is assuming much more about what I am thinking than I have actually said. I thin it's time you visit the "real world."
to be honest, I liked a lot of his answers -
I do not want all the illegals here - they should be sent home, but if it is going to be as expensive as they say, then the plan Obama put forth of fining them for being here illegally and making them then go back to the process of trying to be come legal is a good one. They are not going to send them home whoever is President, so why not fine them? His plan is as good as any I have seen. When he is talking about helping, my thoughts are that he is talking about the legal immigrants.
The one time Bush was probably actually HONEST!!
Bob Woodward asked him how history would judge the war in Iraq, Bush replied: "History. We don't know. We'll all be dead."
That pretty much sums up the depth of this man.
If you would be as honest in your postings to opposition..
as you are in postings to those who agree with you, and post in a civil manner the same way you post to Lurker...i.e., you state above (I know we TRY to take care of our poor)...but you certainly did not say that to me. You made it sound like we do nothing to take care of our poor. I personally think it should the be responsibility of individual Americans through private donations to take care of our poor, not the responsibility of the government through taxation. The reason that does not work is that while many pay lip service to the poor, they are not willing unless forced to do just that. And that happens on both sides of the aisle. It is not a political party thing. It is a human nature thing. In a perfect world, if you could trust exactly what people say is what they would do, then the Democrats in this country alone could take care of the poor through personal donations. I do not mean they should do it alone...I am trying to make a point here. It should not be necessary to tax people in order to take care of the less fortunate. We should also not put in place, in my opinion, a welfare system that keeps people impoverished and beholden to the government for everything. I believe every program ought to have a job and responsibility attached to it...in other words, no freebies. If there is no incentive to better yourself, why should you? That is in full obvious view to anyone in this country who cares to actually go visit the poor neighborhoods and actually talk to those involved. If you want some real enlightenment, you should work in the welfare offices for awhile. You would get a much better picture of the real story out there.
I do not say this to be hateful, but I think it would behoove you to, along with reading your books and doing your research, that you try to talk to someone other than me, because obviously you think I am a demon from the nether world, but perhaps someone without a political agenda who has worked for years in welfare (as I have) and get a real picture of how it works. To use your words, it is a great disservice to people to keep them in poverty through programs instead of trying to help them to a better life off a check. The problem is Teddy...there are thousands if not millions who prefer the life on the check. And that is no one's fault but yours and mine and everyone else's who has not sought to really help them...to provide the checks and balances you described.
Thanks for being honest, I completely agree
It was totally political and this issue is a HUGE example of what happens in politics. Republicans wanted children to suffer and Democrats wanted to give goverment assistance to rich people. I was so shocked when I actually looked at the proposal and thought: what are these people talking about? I'm glad we were able to work together and cut through the bull! :) That's what it should be about.
As I pointed out before...that fellow is not entirely honest either...
and Bush did not lie. While the bill does not explicitly state it will cover families to $83,000, it opens a loophole that will allow New York to again ask for the $82,600 raise and under the new bill would probably get it, because the stipulation preventing it was being removed. So basically what Bush said is true...he should have worded it differently.
Here are some things that were not brought forward that are also bad things about the bill:
Bush had good reason to veto SCHIP
By Grace-Marie Turner
Article Launched: 10/14/2007 01:33:38 AM PDT
Is President Bush a liar who hates children? That's what many of his critics now are asking in the opinion pages of major newspapers across the country. Why else, they say, would he refuse to sign a bill providing health insurance to poor kids?
Specifically, the president has vetoed a bill expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program designed to provide health coverage to lower-income children. One nationally syndicated columnist went so far as to call Bush's rationale in vetoing the bill a "pack of flat-out lies."
This kind of rhetoric is wrong and misleads readers about the facts of this important issue.
There is no debate over whether to reauthorize the SCHIP program so it can continue to provide insurance to needy children. That's a given. The debate is about whether children in middle-income families should be added.
The president is absolutely right in insisting that SCHIP focus on its core mission of needy children. When SCHIP was created in 1997, the target population was children whose parents earned too much for them to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance. The president wants the program to focus on children whose families earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. In today's dollars, that's $41,300 a year.
About two-thirds of the nation's uninsured children already are eligible for either Medicaid or SCHIP, but aren't enrolled. Raising the income threshold won't solve this core problem. Congress should require states to focus on the 689,000 children whom the Urban Institute says are uninsured and would be eligible for SCHIP if eligibility were limited to the $41,300 income level.
The other big problem is that, across the country, states are using SCHIP dollars to insure adults.
Fourteen states cover adults through SCHIP, and at least six of them are spending more of their SCHIP dollars on adults than on children. For example, 78 percent of SCHIP enrollees in Minnesota are adults, 79 percent in New Mexico, and 72 percent in Michigan.
With these statistics in mind, the Bush administration issued a ruling in August requiring states to demonstrate that they had enrolled 95 percent of eligible needy children before expanding the program.
Yet the bill that Congress passed, and which the president vetoed, nullifies that ruling and effectively refuses to agree that needy kids should get first preference. Instead, the congressional measure would give $60 billion to the states over five years to enroll millions more "children" - although many of them will, in fact, be adults. Others will be from higher-income families.
New York, for instance, could submit a plan that would add children in families earning up to $83,000 a year to SCHIP. New Jersey could continue to cover kids whose parents make up to $72,000. All the other states would be allowed to cover kids in families with incomes up to $61,000.
Most children in these higher income families are already covered by private insurance. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 77 percent of children in families earning more than twice the poverty line have private health insurance now.
No one doubts that SCHIP is a vitally important program for needy children, and that our nation needs to do a better job of helping working families afford health insurance. But giving the states incentives to add middle-income kids to their SCHIP rolls will prompt families to replace private insurance with taxpayer-provided coverage.
This is completely backward. The goal of SCHIP should be to provide private coverage to uninsured children. If Congress would send the president a bill that does that, he says he would sign it in a minute.
Honest? I can't read this post.
Too windy, not enough time. I got as far as hippocracy, not true. Just waiting for our day in court that's all. Quite frankly, their crimes, if given the chance to be brought to light, and hopefully proven, will be far worse than anything Clinton did.
We don't need a hero. Waiting for the savior on the white horse? Doesn't exist. WE are the heroes.
So much for honest no bashing answers....LOL
nm
A very honest and realistic statement. sm
Oh my! My father-in-law, god rest his soul, was a wonderful but misguided man until I came along. LOL!. He routinely used the N word in conversation, but it was that only thing he had ever known. BAM! Do not use that word in front of your grandchildren! NEVER! He heard me, respected me, and I respected him. He was not a bigot and was just repeating what he had heard all his life.
How did we get from O gave an honest answer
to this incoherent whatever it is?
Honest? HA!. Obama cant even appont someone
nm
That’s all you got??? I was completely honest – you’re the one who did the assuming
My words were “DH works in stocks/trading”. Which he does. Not everyone who works in stocks/trading goes into an office in Wall Street or a stockbrokers office. There are many people behind the scenes that research companies, and other jobs dealing with the markets, trading, buying, selling, foreign currencies, etc. Many of them write articles for the companies who have clientele with big $$$ to be trading and selling. Many of them attend meetings, sit in on conference calls, etc. Also, many people when dealing with portfolios whether they are your own or various clients know what is going on in the world of the markets/finance. I never said he buys or sells “just for ourselves” and I never once said he went into an office or even eluded to the fact that he went into an office, so there you go again “assuming”. I didn’t divulge any information about his clients or anything, and I never said what he did except that he works in stocks/trading, which he does. By the way… there are many people out there who buy/sell stocks and currencies for themselves and makes or loses $$$ a day. Tell them they “don’t work” in trading. Your too busy wanting to defend yourself and make excuses and you’re doing a poor job at it. Next time maybe you should read a post slowly before assuming anything.
One thing I do know is there is a lot more going on behind the scenes and if the markets go up or down it is not just because of who is the president. But you only like to point that out when the market goes up. You praise the enlightened one when the markets go up and claim he has now walked on water and the stock market has gone up just because of him and he along, and yet you remain as silent as the wind when the markets go down. Can’t have it both ways.
You do not speak for anyone here. There was nothing wrong with her posts. They were honest.nm
12
The volunteers are crucial for honest counts sm.
By throwing them out, there were no witnesses. I read they were also harrassed and intimidated by the lawyers in the Hillary camp. Hillary had a 7% swing in the vote only in precincts using Diebold electronic voting machines, and not anywhere using hand counts. Diebold is very hackable. Perhaps, Obama should not have conceded so quickly. There are people keeping very detailed data on this as they put the information up I will post it here. One is Bev Harris. Vote fraud has been confirmed from last night in Sutton, NH.
you've got to be kidding -democrats honest.
What have you been smoking. I can't remember the last time Barack O'flipflop said an honest comment. One thing you got right was we need change and that is what we will get with McCain and Sarah Palin. The women who fought "the boys" and won. The woman who balanced her budget, cut back unnecessary spending, among other good things for her state. Is she perfect? No, nobody's perfect. Including Barack O'brother. Sure Barack will fix the economy, however that's not the kind of fix I want. I would prefer not to have higher taxes, more government waste, government control, government sticking their noses in where they don't belong. Socialist programs, socialist health care. Where in the world do you think he's going to get all the money to keep running the "fluffy bunny programs". Us. Sorry, I am not ready to keep funding programs that do not benefit America. Maybe you can afford to but I'm having a hard time just keeping afloat here. Democrats more honest than republicans??? Pulllleeease. Get a grip on reality. The reason we hear about McCain's POW story is because it shows he has integrity. He will stand up and fight for American's. He could have been released but he stayed knowing what would happen to him. That's what I call integrity, honor, and heroism. Nobody knows Barack O'No's intentions. What I don't trust is he's been running his campaign on the point that he's going to bring the troops home. Now he's saying they will stay there another five years, AND he's in favor of the draft. So, yes if your in favor of change vote for Mr. O. He seems to be changing his mind all the time.
Chele is not hateful or heartless, but honest.
nm
This works great when the "rich" are honest.
how many rich "truly" earned their money. I mean truly worked hard and not had it handed down from generation to generation only to become "above" the working class. In this day, we might as well say there is no middle class. We are all headed in a downward spiral if something is not done to regulate the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer which includes the middle class now coming close to being poor; only a paycheck away from a foreclosure. Sad affairs...
Then Obama should be honest and call it welfare.
nm
CRIPES!! The pubs can't even nominate an honest VP!!!!!
Talk about taking it to the top.............
I read the article and in my honest opinion
the one about the food should be passed. We have no idea what we are eating anymore. Food comes from different countries that don't have our strict guidelines on food safety and apparently, are not enforced enough.
I cringe every time I go to the store and see peppers and tomatoes from Chile, Mexico, Peru, or from wherever. Heck, my produce store rarely labels where the foods come from so I don't buy then. How do we know what pesticides they use? I try to buy American fresh veggies and fruits but sometimes it's not possible.
I remember a time when you couldn't get strawberries or other fruits and vegetables in winter because the growing season was over. Problem is, times have changed. Food comes from all over the globe and "in season" veggies and fruits are a thing of the past. Although it IS convenient, it still bothers me.
"...he is a self-educated, caring, honest, and intelligent man"
.
Because so far I'm still allowed to express my honest opinion. He hasn't taken that away from us
yet.
Those are his words, and what is scary is that I think he believes it. It's bad enough we've got enemies who believe they're in a religious war. With each passing day, I'm starting to think HE believes he's in one, too. If that's the case, we're in more trouble than anyone could have thought.
My post was about HIM, not about you. But it isn't the first time a Bush groupie has PERSONALLY attacked a poster for expressing their opinion about BUSH. Now, how do you think that makes YOU look? Maybe it's YOU who should grow up or at least WAKE up and see what he's doing, not just to us but to the entire WORLD.
As long as we all still have freedom of expression, I'll continue to express my views, whether you like them or not.
And I hope you keep posting. Nobody can prove my point for me like a Bush groupie, and I do appreciate the help!!
So, after reading very closely, fair and honest means
jumping into the middle calling a perfect stranger beyond nasty without regard to the context of the thread? Oh wait, that can't be right, since you seem to be aware that I am an Obama supporter who does not appreciate being painted with the broad brush stroke of "cult worshiper" after my original post describing the Baltimore stopover in terms of tears of joy and Obama's response of "I love you back." Yeah, right. I'm the mean and nasty one here and the Obot/cult worship post needed defending after the thread (what?) "moved in the wrong direction?" Did you not notice that the original post was completely void of mean and nasty UNTIL the Obot response appeared? Guess not.
So then you jump in, take a side and tell me how nasty I am and then can't understand when I attempt to address you AND the content of the thread you decided to interrupt. Are you with me so far?
Let me tell you what is really sad. It's really sad that someone cannot get up on this forum and express a little bit of joy without being called names and having their feet held to the fire. We are for hope, but we aren't door mats and certainly aren't stupid enough to try to reach out to vipers all coiled up in the grass waiting to strike.
Like I said before, insults in and insults out. Do not sit here and try to prescribe your brand of "nice" for my blood pressure. In spite of your "if," you still do not hesitate to presume I am responsible for all the mean and nasty on the board...I simply posted about Baltimore. That's it, so don't try to lecture me any further on your highly evolved sense of decorum and "becoming."
I don't think that getting both sides of a story out in the open is a waste of time and space, especially when all I did was simply try to express a little happy here. Just look at the price I have to pay for that.
Fair and honest assessment? I think I get it now.
The pubs inability to nominate an honest VP SPEAKS VOLUMES!
And to top it off, she was stupider than Bush! Hahahahahahahaha!
What the Republicans Don't Want You to See.
Stephen Crockett posted this twice (at least) on the Conservative Board, in response to an old quote of his being used out of context and distorted by the usual suspects there. Each time he posted it, it was deleted from the board. It's certainly easy to understand why they don't want anyone to see this.
Please read quickly. They think they should control our board, as well as their own, so it probably won't last very long here, either. 
African-American Voters Scrubbed by Secret GOP Hit List
Published by Greg Palast June 16th, 2006 in Articles
Massacre of the Buffalo Soldiers
by Greg Palast
As reported for Democracy Now!
Palast, who first reported this story for BBC Television Newsnight (UK) and
Democracy Now! (USA), is author of the New York Times bestseller, Armed
Madhouse.
The Republican National Committee has a special offer for African-American soldiers: Go to Baghdad, lose your vote.
A confidential campaign directed by GOP party chiefs in October 2004 sought to challenge the ballots of tens of thousands of voters in the last presidential election, virtually all of them cast by residents of Black-majority
precincts. Files from the secret vote-blocking campaign were obtained by BBC Television Newsnight, London. They were attached to emails accidentally sent by
Republican operatives to a non-party website.
One group of voters wrongly identified by the Republicans as registering to vote from false addresses: servicemen and women sent overseas.
*******
For Greg Palast’’s discussion with broadcaster Amy Goodman on the Black soldier purge of 2004, go to
http://gregpalast.com/armedmadhouse/palastDN6-14-06.mp3
*******
Here’’s how the scheme worked: The RNC mailed these voters letters in envelopes marked, Do not forward, to be returned to the sender. These letters were mailed to servicemen and women, some stationed overseas, to their US home addresses. The letters then returned to the Bush-Cheney campaign as undeliverable.
The lists of soldiers of undeliverable letters were transmitted from state headquarters, in this case Florida, to the RNC in Washington. The party could then challenge the voters’’ registration and thereby prevent their absentee ballots being counted.
One target list was comprised exclusively of voters registered at the Jacksonville, Florida, Naval Air Station. Jacksonville is third largest naval installation in the US, best known as home of the Blue Angels fighting squandron.
[See this scrub sheet at http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=160156893&context=set-72157594155273706&size=o
Our team contacted the homes of several on the caging list, such as Randall Prausa, a serviceman, whose wife said he had been ordered overseas.
A soldier returning home in time to vote in November 2004 could also be challenged on the basis of the returned envelope. Soldiers challenged would be
required to vote by provisional ballot.
Over one million provisional ballots cast in the 2004 race were never counted; over half a million absentee ballots were also rejected. The extraordinary rise in the number of rejected ballots was the result of the widespread
multi-state voter challenge campaign by the Republican Party. The operation, of which the purge of Black soldiers was a small part, was the first mass challenge to voting America had seen in two decades.
The BBC obtained several dozen confidential emails sent by the Republican’’s national Research Director and Deputy Communications chief, Tim Griffin to GOP
Florida campaign chairman Brett Doster and other party leaders. Attached were spreadsheets marked, Caging.xls. Each of these contained several hundred
to a few thousand voters and their addresses.
A check of the demographics of the addresses on the caging lists, as the GOP leaders called them indicated that most were in African-American majority zip codes.
Ion Sanco, the non-partisan elections supervisor of Leon County (Tallahassee) when shown the lists by this reporter said: The only thing I can think of - African American voters listed like this - these might be individuals that
will be challenged if they attempted to vote on Election Day.
These GOP caging lists were obtained by the same BBC team that first exposed the wrongful purge of African-American felon voters in 2000 by then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Eliminating the voting rights of those voters —— 94,000 were targeted —— likely caused Al Gore’’s defeat in that race.
The Republican National Committee in Washington refused our several requests to respond to the BBC discovery. However, in Tallahassee, the Florida Bush
campaign’’s spokespeople offered several explanations for the list.
Joseph Agostini, speaking for the GOP, suggested the lists were of potential donors to the Bush campaign. Oddly, the supposed donor list included residents of the Sulzbacher Center a shelter for homeless families.
Another spokesperson for the Bush campaign, Mindy Tucker Fletcher, ultimately changed the official response, acknowledging that these were voters, we mailed to, where the letter came back - bad addresses.
The party has refused to say why it would mark soldiers as having bad addresses subject to challenge when they had been assigned abroad.
The apparent challenge campaign was not inexpensive. The GOP mailed the letters first class, at a total cost likely exceeding millions of dollars, so that the addresses would be returned to cage workers.
This is not a challenge list, insisted the Republican spokesmistress. However, she modified that assertion by adding, That’’s not what it’’s set up to be.
Setting up such a challenge list would be a crime under federal law. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlaws mass challenges of voters where race is a factor in choosing the targeted group.
While the party insisted the lists were not created for the purpose to challenge Black voters, the GOP ultimately offered no other explanation for the mailings. However, Tucker Fletcher asserted Republicans could still employ the list to deny ballots to those they considered suspect voters. When asked if Republicans would use the list to block voters, Tucker Fletcher replied, Where it’’s stated in the law, yeah.
It is not possible at this time to determine how many on the potential blacklist were ultimately challenged and lost their vote. Soldiers sending in their ballot from abroad would not know their vote was lost because of a
challenge.
__________________________________
For the full story of caging lists and voter purges of 2004, plus the documents, read Greg Palast’’s New York Times bestseller, ARMED MADHOUSE: Who’’s Afraid of Osama Wolf?, Armed Madhouse: Who’’s Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats Bush Sinks, the Scheme to Steal ‘‘08, No Child’’s Behind Left and other
Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War.
http://www.gregpalast.com/massacre-of-the-buffalo-soldiers
what about republicans?
As John Dean recently said I'm still a Goldwater conservative. Today, that places me left of center
What is says is that I and many others, Republicans,
Independents, Progressives, Green Party are sick of having these insane **wars that cannot be won** wars that have no **definition or reason** foisted upon us. You think that winning, whatever that is, is worth whatever it takes including more American and Iraqi lives. We did not leave Viet Nam because of the left and we sure as heck won't be leaving Iraq because of the left. The **American people** the majority (even on Fox news) are dissatisfied with Iraq, the lies and the incompetence. The same was true for Viet Nam. They would take the hill, then lose the hill, then take the hill, then lose the hill, never knowing what having the hill was all about but a whole slew of people would be dead at the end of it. Incompetence, arrogance and ignorance. That is what got us into both these wars. Some times you just have to suck it up and move on, cut your losses and get out. We, the liberals, did not start this nor is it our fault that it will end the way it will and it will end and it won't be pretty. We do not belong there. We cannot win anything. There are those who will hold on till the bitter end and even then will refuse to give up. Years after Viet Nam you guys are still fighting that war, er, conflict. When the state I grew up in, Indiana, is voting Democratic, you know the gig is up. Although Hoosiers vote for Democrats on a local basis, I cannot remember a time the state did not send all of its electoral votes to the Republican party and Indiana is usually the first state to be called for the Republican side, but not today. As much as you would like to malign the left and blame us if we do leave Iraq before you think it is time to, for the first time in a long time, you are in the minority. Middle class middle America, Indiana, is voting Democratic. That is huge. Many of them on exit polls cited the corruption in Congress as a second reason they were not voting Republican.
But the same can be said for many republicans.
To decide you will never vote democrat again based on the actions and words of a few radical examples on an internet message board for medical transcriptionists is hardly objective. I can think of extreme examples of republicans, too, but I do not judge all republicans based on those examples. There are plenty of republicans who support Bush just because he's republican. No difference.
Republicans
amen sister!
Sorry. IMO it is the republicans that are...sm
constantly comparing Palin to Obama and we wish you would stop, and so does he and has said so several times. I am willing to compare Obama to McCain and Palin to Biden, no problem. You call the dems extremists, look in the mirror.
what does that have to do with republicans? nm
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