Arkansas Blog

"Democrats won't miss a chance to attempt to tie Griffin to the Republican Party's black voter suppression efforts."

Since "the Republican Party's black voter suppression efforts" do not actually exist, I guess what this means is that both Democrats and the Arkansas Times have a rich fantasy life.

ARK. BLOGYeah, Mr. Ironically Named, tell that to the thousands who couldn't vote because of insufficient machines and other problems in Ohio in 2004. Tell that to the thousands improperly struck from the rolls (coincidentally a large number of them black) by the consultant hired by Katherine Harris for the 2000 election in Florida. There's plenty more and you can find it all over the Internet. It's a major issue in this year's Ohio election. Ask somebody to explain why the Republicans worked up a target list of thousands of voters around Jacksonville, Fla., in 2004, again mostly coincidentally minority voters. All very innocent, I'm sure.

A million more people voted in Ohio in 2004 than in 2000. More blacks voted in Ohio than ever before. No national election is flawless, but you've been smoking something that you can't buy in cigarette machines if you seriously think that voter turnout was tamped down in Ohio.

Your argument is even more ridiculous with respect to Florida. The law that mandated striking the list of felons was sponsored by two Democratic legislators and signed into law by Dem. gov. Chiles. The law was passed in response to the fraudulent, court-overturned 1997 Miami mayoral election. A review by the liberal Palm Beach Post found that there was no evidence that minorities were specifically targeted. While the list had serious flaws, again you're smoking weed if you think that it was racially biased.

Whites were nearly twice as likely to be wrongly excluded from voting as blacks (9.9 percent error rate for whites, 5.1 percent for blacks). I hope that the Arkansas Times is typically more capable of telling the difference between poor data administration and racist conspiracies than your incompetent summary of evidence above.

I am well aware that you can find all sorts of wacky conspiracy theories over the Internet. Real journalists have a higher standard than the kind of rumor-mongering you are exhibiting here. In other words, Max: you've got a rich fantasy life! Quit repeating DNC talking points and become a journalist.

ARK. BLOGHere's just a taste from the Nation. See Robert Kennedy's Rolling Stone piece and John Kerry's recent remarks on Ohio for some recent things that only scratch the surface. There's plenty more, but the point is that Republicans made a concerted effort to target black voters and it was hugely successful.. It's true they targeted certain whites, too. My nephew stood in line until 5 a.m. Wed. morning 2004 to vote at Kenyon College in Ohio because the secretary of state made sure that heavily Democratic precinct was short of voting machines. Unlike precincts with working folks who had to go to bed, the kids stayed up and voted. Too bad more were turned away.
-- In 1998 and 1999, Florida contracted with two data analysis firms to purge the voter rolls of felons and other ineligible voters. (Florida is one of only 14 states in the nation that does not restore voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences.) In both cases, the results were error-filled and targeted blacks in extremely disproportionate number. "I felt like I was slingshotted back into slavery," Reverend Willie David Whiting, a black pastor from Tallahassee, said after arriving at his polling place to find himself listed as a convicted felon and refused the right to vote despite never having spent a day in jail.

-- Emmett "Bucky" Mitchell IV, the assistant general counsel to the Florida Division of Elections who headed the purge effort, knew that the purge lists would include people who were not felons because of the intentionally loose standards used to draw up the purge lists. Mitchell justified the standards to The Nation on the following grounds, "Just as some people might have been removed from the list who shouldn't have been, some voted who shouldn't have." In other words, because an ineligible person may have voted somewhere else, it was acceptable to deny a legitimate voter the right to vote. Mitchell said this policy was approved by the former head of the Division of Elections, after consultation with Secretary of State Harris.

-- More than a year before the election, thousands of complaints were already coming in from citizens who had been unfairly purged. Many more wouldn't discover the state's errors until Election Day when they were not allowed to vote.

-- Florida state officials refused to appropriate $100,000 targeted for voter education that had been requested by county supervisors -- education that was critical for many of November's first-time black voters. The lack of informed voters, along with the lack of sufficient machines and poll workers, contributed to the chaos on Election Day.

The Nation also details numerous other problems that came to light after the election, including cases of voters who registered in plenty of time but were not allowed to vote. The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund documented numerous incidents where Latino voters were improperly denied the right to vote. The organization also cited polling places that could not provide bilingual ballots and had no bilingual poll workers, as required by law. Furthermore, there were many occasions where Florida electoral laws were misunderstood by poll workers to the detriment of voters.

I thought Marvin Childers was on the short list...he would be a TERRIFIC choice.

"Real journalists have a higher standard than the kind of rumor-mongering you are exhibiting here."

Speaking of rumor mongering do you have an inkling of evidence to support your wild claims?

LOVER O ..we're waiting for your evidence...
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Look, I am sick and tired of seeing good people getting attacked with meaningless garbage like what you outlined in this post.

So, let me get this straight, now Senate Democrats are going to spend their precious political capital opposing Tim Griffin for U.S. Attorney General???

While they were sitting comfortably in air conditioned rooms, Tim was serving as an Army JAG with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq.

This is the same Tim Griffin who also worked for Michael Chertoff as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney General and he has a successful crime fighting record right here in Arkansas - this is the guy they want to go up against!?!

With political judgment like that, no wonder they've been out of power for so long.

ARK. BLOGWorked for Chertoff is a plus? The mismanager of the Katrina effort and a sleazy, dishonest henchman during the D'Amato Whitewater hearings? Telll me more reasons to oppose the nomination. And about that Iraq duty. One day in Iraq is too long. But some Democratic combat veterans are asking howGriffin got a short-term assignment in the Green Zone, while most reservists are drawing full-year sitnts. Was it for resume purposes? No matter. The issue here is politics. He's a proven political instrument. It's not a good recommendation for a U.S. attorney. Do you think Tim Griffin would have gone after Scooter and Karl, his boss, like Patrick Fitzgerald did? Do you think he'll be as tough on Republicans in Arkansas as Democrats? His past gives good cause to ask that question and it's vital to the appearance, as well as fact, that justice be administered fairly.

Give 'em hell, AT, but it woun't do any good.
They are blinded by the right.

Max -- I can quote from the Weekly Standard just as easily as you can cut and paste from the nation. That is not the point. You completely failed to respond to the fact that white people were disqualified at nearly double the rate of black people from voting. That is evidence AGAINST a racist conspiracy. Anecdotal quotes from Willie David Whiting don't change a thing.

I'm surprised I have to say this. After all, haven't you lived in Pulaski County for a while? Did you think that Carolyn Staley was plotting to disenfranchise Republicans? They certainly had plenty of legitimate criticisms against her. By and large, Democrats stayed silent. From a fairness point of view, we have had some disastrous elections. But that sure doesn't mean she was heading up some kind of conspiracy. From my knowledge of her, she was just extraordinarily incompetent. I find it hilarious that even though incompetent election administration is pretty obvious here in Pulaski County, you think that Republicans in other places are master racial conspiracists. It's almost *just obvious* that incompetence, not malice, explains a lot of this stuff better. My advice to you is to act more like a journalist and less like a conspiracy theorist.

ARK. BLOGThe Staley record is far different from coordinated national party efforts to "clean up" voter rolls in ways that just happened to counteract massive vote registration campaigns among black people. But never mind that. The issue remains a political background for a Justice Department lawyer, particularly one as hard-charging and high up as Griffin has been. Meanwhile, check the NY Times today for more on the Ohio vote fraud front. This is far more than simple incompetency and Blackwell is about to pay a price at the polls, unless he can rig them again.

typo: won't

Max - You keep making these baseless assertions, as if repetition will make your lies true. So, let's put aside your Daily Kos conspiracy theories for a minute and focus on the facts.

Tim Griffin has extensive legal experience -- in both the classroom and in the courtroom. Frankly, he has real world experience as a prosecutor and in the U.S. Attorney's office - he has years of experience putting criminals behind bars and cleaning up our streets. I know this flood of facts might be more than you can handle, Max, so you may want to take a break here, rest up, and then read on for more facts.

Last June 10 (a day that is usually lucky for me, but there are a few exceptions), for instance, the Democrats also attacked an innocent person with their smear machine. It didn't work then and it won't work now.

Tim Griffin is qualified for the position -- he's got the legal experience to get the job done.

ARK. BLOGWe look forward to a full discussion of the Rovian political operation in which Griffin was a vital cog. It ain't beanbag. And that's fine. That's the way the system works. The question is whether it's a good idea to slide a political operator into a justice job. It's a fair question in the political process by which these appointments are made and confirmed.The spate of coordinated defense for Griffin pretty well confirms that he's Bush's man for the job and that the announcement will be coming sooner rather than later. Thanks for that.

Humans haven't changed much in the last 1000 years. Per capita there was just as many killers and perverts 200 years ago, the newspapers of 100 years ago show nuts were aplenty back then too.

But one thing has changed and it's ruined everything. 30 to 50 to 200 years ago debates were won or lost based upon one opponents superior command of truth and facts. At one time making it up as you went along was a tactic of only the lower class of people.

Now our Republican friends, all the way up to the President of the United States think nothing of inventing a lie, to back up the lies they've already told until they're stacked to the moon. As someone said today, they'll scream the lie 44 times knowing that by 44 some weak minded person will start to believe the lie.

The age of video tape has proved many members of the Bush administration including Bush and especially Cheney have changed their stories again and again. This is not called flip flopping, it's plain old lying.

If the parent lies, their children grow up thinking it's OK. If the President lies, his supporters join in and lie their asses off. It's OK, the President does it and he's outsmarting Osama and Sadam and those weak Democrats. I bet it's fun. But it's ruined America. Nothing means nothing now. The value of truth is nothing. There is no incentive to find the truth, just make something up, smirk and walk away knowing that Jesus loves you.

Howard Dean said it best on TV tonight. He said the entire Bush administration has become ridiculous. I think ridiculous is too kind a word, but I'll take it. Those around the world who do not want to kill us, are laughing at us.

The President with no respect says the world still respects the USA......you bet. Wait until we get some more of that respect when we bomb Iran. The rest of the world is going to love and respect us to death. Literally.

You [Max] completely failed to respond to the fact that white people were disqualified at nearly double the rate of black people from voting.

YOU, LoverO failed to document your claims in any way, form or style whatsoever. Lush Gumball journalism doesn't work here. Try it on Am Family, or call Bill O'Really and spin away. They will give you an award.

Meanwhile we have the Congressional Record, courtesy of Rep John O'connor for the racial sequestering in Ohio and all of us owe grattitude to the Green Party and Libertarian Party in Ohio for uncovering the fraud and filing the lawsuits.

From the deadletter page, here's the original email that mentions caging and has the above spreadsheet attached. It went up all the way to RNCHQ (look at the email addresses involved rnchq.org is the Republican National Committee Headquarters -- rpof.org is Republican Party of Florida headquarters.).

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Griffin - Research/Communications [
mailto:tgriffin@rnchq.org]
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 6:34 PM
To: kporter@rpof.org;
Lindy Landreaux - Political [
mailto:LLandreaux@rnchq.org];
Miriam Moore - Research/Communications
[mailto:MMoore@rnchq.org];
Victoria Newton - Research/Communications
[mailto:VNewton@rnchq.org];
Shawn Reinschmiedt - Research/Communications
[SReinschmiedt@rnchq.org];
rkammerdiner@rnchq.org;
sshiver@rpof.org; bdoster@georgewbush.org
Subject: Re: caging

Thx
Tim Griffin
Research Director and
Deputy Communications Director
Republican National Committee
310 First Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
w:(202) 863-8815
f: (202) 863-8744
tgriffin@rnchq.org

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kelly Porter [kporter@rpof.org]
> To: Lindy Landreaux - Political [LLandreaux@rnchq.org];
Miriam Moore - Research/Communications [MMoore@rnchq.org];
Victoria Newton - Research/Communications [VNewton@rnchq.org];
Tim Griffin - Research/Communications [tgriffin@rnchq.org];
Shawn Reinschmiedt - Research/Communications
[SReinschmiedt@rnchq.org];
rkammerdiner@rnchq.org [rkammerdiner@rnchq.org];
Stephen Shiver [sshiver@rpof.org];
bdoster@georgewbush.org [bdoster@georgewbush.org]
> Sent: Thu Aug 26 18:12:49 2004
Subject: caging
>
> Total as of today is 1834.
>
> Kelly
>
> ATTACHMENT: Caging-1.xls

http://riffle.blogspot.com/2004_10_24_riffle_archive.html

...So, let me get this straight, now Senate Democrats are going to spend their precious political capital opposing Tim Griffin for U.S. Attorney General???

Yes!

This is the same Tim Griffin who also worked for Michael Chertoff as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney General

Damn...did he work for Brownie too?

And, I can't believe some one is actually arguing that white people faced greater 'disqualification' at the voting booths than blacks. I wonder if this is the same person who argued that women were officially now equal with men?

Griffin would make a great US Attorney! He has the law experience necessary and would do the job with honor. I think it is reprehensible for you guys to even question his military service. You bring up smears against him personally and that is of the lowest class.

To address the caging issue.

http://www.malwarwick.com/learning-resources/articles/10-most-important-things-about-dm.html

Caging and cashiering
Once a mailing has "dropped" and (presumably) people start sending gifts in response, there's a ton of additional work to do. This consists largely of "caging" (processing the information that can be gleaned from the returns) and "cashiering" (processing the gifts themselves). It's rare for a direct mail fundraising agency to handle these tasks in-house (because charities regulators frown when the consultants who've helped prepare a mailing also control the funds it generates). Almost always, a nonprofit organization that farms out this work will seek a specialized computer service bureau - frequently the same place where its donor list is maintained.

ARK. BLOGNews accounts do not indicate the caging in question was part of fund-raising follow-through. Did Bush-Cheney really think money was to be made by mailings to a homeless shelter? Though Republicans denied that the lists were compiled to create challenges of black voters, Mindy Tucker Fletcher told the BBC the list could be used to deny ballots to suspect voters. The reporting noted that the list included "undeliverable" mail that went black service people who couldn't get the mail because they were overseas. Tim Griffin is a smart fellow and I'll take your word he's a fine lawyer. But he's a battle-hardened political operative from the highest levels of the Rove inner circle. Somebody with less of a political taint is a better choice for a Justice Department job. And if Bud Cummins is being pushed out prematurely for a political operative, it's too bad, because he's done a good job Bud says that's not so, but Bud is a team player and many, including some Republicans, think pressure is being applied. Yes, I know. A Republican would never question a Democrat's military service and whether he got special treatment of any sort. Right, Mr. Kerry?

And here, from the WAshington Post June 24, a quote from Greg Palast, who did the BBC reporting: 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 first time I had to endure Griffen's presence my gag reflex kicked in and I spent most of the evening in the bathroom. Subsequent meetings were no better.
If he gets the nod, you can be assured he will turn the blind eye for his cronies.

Okay, Max, you just proved once again that you have no idea what you are talking about.

First, Tim was not sitting in some air conditioned office in the Green Zone writing memos. Tim Griffin served in Tikrit and Mosul -- maybe you've heard about them? When was the last time you were in Tikrit, Max?

Like every other piece of information on this issue -- you are not bound by facts, just your own paranoid assumptions about a world where you play the hapless victim.

Get real. Look at the facts.

ARK. BLOGWe stipulate that no place in Iraq, including the Green Zone, is a good place to be. Our apologies for saying he had Green Zone duty when he had Mosul duty. He was there from May to August and did routine JAG work. Not playing the victim here. Indeed, I don't intend to be. Tim knows how to play the political attack game and it's being played here through surrogates. I see his blog posse has struck up the band, too. He has practice at Internet thuggery, having set up a number of phony Kerry blogs during the 2004 campaign. That's fine. It's hardball. Difference is between us and some Dems, we fight back. The point, again, is whether a political attack dog is the best appointee for a job dispensing justice. It becomes ever more apparent thathe's the Bush choice and they'll stop at nothing to see it happen. We will continue to illuminate the issues.

When is the last time you went to Iraq, Max? Don't you think it is rather crass to criticize when you have never even been there? Griffin was not in the Green Zone and even if he was that is still very tasteless for you to even make assumptions about his military record. Look at this news report from Tikrit and tell me if this is the Green Zone.

August 6th: Tikrit, Iraq - A suicide bomber killed at least six people and wounded 30 others in an attack Sunday evening on people gathered to mourn an earlier death in Tikrit, Iraq, about 170 kilometres north of Baghdad.

ARK. BLOG As I said in answer to similar -- I haven't been and don't want to go and I apologize for the erroneous Green Zone reference. It's not safe there either, as you may know, however. I'm certainly not criticizing Griffin for serving three months in Iraq. I merely repeat what others had said to me, that short stints are relatively unusual. Most reservists from Arkansas have had longer deployments. The issue here isn't his service in Iraq (though it is beginning to have the sound, as I suggested, like part of his campaign materials for the job.) It's his political attack background. I'll take Griffin for U.S. attorney here if you'll take Carville for New Orleans or Begala for Austin, Texas, (presuming they could afford the cut in pay).
"Crass to criticize." It is to laugh hearing that from a Republican, the chickenhawk party, which declared war on the service of wounded veterans like Kerry and Cleland in behalf of people who actively avoided service in combat zones.

The facts need to be told on this blog.

Max, you claim that his service in hostile areas was some kind of political deal. That's interesting, because Griffin was ordered to active duty along with 25 other folks from his unit at Fort Campbell.

Their orders were to stay in Kentucky.

Tim Griffin volunteered to serve in Iraq, where he served in very hostile areas and risked his life to make the world a better place.

ARK. BLOGAnd you'll shortly make his three months the stuff of song and legend. But retelling it over and over doesn't obscure his party's record on vote suppression or negate the propriety of Democrats in the Senate asking about it should he be put forward for a job as chief administrator of justice in the Eastern District of Arkansas. Or are you suggesting as Rumsfeld does, that to question a Republican's political motives, particularly if he's been in Iraq three months, is a step toward appeasement and fascism?

Yippers Max, this is the biggest howler to everr hit the Hypocrisy Ratings:

A Rwingnut complaining that one of their guy's military record was attacked. Does anyone have his actual records..before they can be destroyed or altered? How do you find them?

The Caging strategy as a simple fund-raiser!! All the targeted precincts were predominantly black, a segment that gives Repubs a 15% approval rating. See the link I posted and look at the entire thing.

You guys are good for laughs, but this year the joke is up so don't choke on the kool-aid when you try to explain what happened.
_
_

Max, you have offered no facts - you have offered no evidence. Only your baseless opinions on conspiracy theories you probably read on Daily Kos.

The Democrats, on the other hand, have a far dirtier record in 2004.

In Ohio, for instance, the liberal group ACT was involved with "hundreds of suspicious registration forms and absentee ballot requests." That's accoring to Joe Mahr of the Toledo Blade, in his article "Voter Fraud Case Traced to Volunteer."

Or, the fraudulent cases of liberal voter registration workers paid with crack cocaine. That's according to the Associated Press, in their article "Man Arrested After Voter Forms Turned In For Mary Poppins, Michael Jordan, Ohio Officials Say."

Or what about those phone calls to Republican voters telling them the incorrect directions to polling places and that they were required to bring multiple forms of identification to the polling place. That's according to Dana Wilson of the Columbus Dispatch, in her article "Allegations of Misleading Calls."

I could go on and on and on about the factually established evidence of Democrat voter fraud in 2004, in many cases, there have been actual convictions and people have been placed behind bars.

And, Max, you know what those citations are? Its called evidence, using something called facts.

I know that you don't seem bound by such concepts, but wanted to make sure you could recognize the truth when you see it.

ARK. BLOGI urge you to visit www.pfaw.org for their report The Long Shadow of Jim Crow, which is one of many good summaries of Republican efforts to suppress the black vote. Certainly Democrats have been guilty of fraudulent activities. But the cases you cite don't begin to match in scope and embedded party policy those by the GOP to hold down black voter turn out. The U.S. Civil Rights Commission issued a scathing report on Florida activities, to name only one. You're a partisan. I understand that. But you've fallen into the last refuge of all political scoundrels in defense -- well, they did it too. Pitiful. If Democrats were proposing to nominate someone for U.S. attorney who'd been active in the Ohio cases you cite, it would be relevant. It's not here.

I have read those "reports" -- even Democrats have said that they are full of assumptions, half-truths, and exaggerations.

The bottom line is this -- not a single ballot was challenged using any of the direct mail data collection lists.

The only fact that has been established with evidence beyond dispute has been that Democrats are guilty of voter fraud. Even you admit to that.

ARK. BLOGYou haven't read the PFAW report or you wouldn't so baldly misrepresent it and you haven't accurately characterized the voter purge in 2000 either. Nor have you addressed the intimidating effects of mailings to black voters warning them about improper registratio and the like. You are the one making sweeping assertions not backed by facts. If no ballots were challenged on account of the direct mail data collection, it is perhaps because somebody was hot on their trail for the procedure. Do you really think the Republican Party was targteting overwhelmingly black and poor neighborhoods for fund-raising? Please.

What no citations? No specific evidence?

I thought not.

ARK. BLOGThe report has 105 footnotes. Read it yourself.

First of all, the report only has 53 footnotes, not 105. Are you incapable of getting even simple facts, correct?

Here is a sampling for some of the sources used in those footnotes.

Jimmy Carter, People for the American Way (also the authors of the report), Brennan Center, confirmed nutjob Greg Palast, Jesse Jackson, etc.

Hardly, an unbiased group of individuals and organizations known for getting their stories straight.

Guess that's why the report has been dismissed as the piece of garbage that it is.

ARK. BLOGDon't know what you're looking at. The copy is on my desk with 105 footnotes, from the Detroit Free Press on the Republican rep. quoted as hoping to suppress black vote; to vote challenges by Republicans reported in Kentucky newspapers; to Texas efforts to stop black college students from voting; to systematic intimidation in Philadelphia to, well, you get the idea. The NAACP joined in the progress. I love it that only Republicans are unbiased and any reports, however well-sourced and documented of Republican intimidation are biased. Perhaps you are looking at the Civil Rights Commission report. Greg Palast is reputable in my book, with extensive reporting for BBC. Jimmy Carter is a model of rectitude, a Baptist deacon, even if you don't like his politics. It's funny, in light of Ed Rollins' famous admission, that any Republican would try to deny the party's rich effort to derail a solid bloc of votes against it. It would be better to demonstrate by actions a desire to cultivate and encourage the black vote.

Well, you might want to check with PFAW then, since the copy on their website only has 53.

The sources for evidence of Democrat voter suppression efforts include the conviction of several individuals who were found guilty by a court of law.

Not to mention the Associated Press.

ARK. BLOGPerhaps I copied mine from a different link. But I'm looking at it and it's 105. But you're back to the "they did iit, too" defense. Which is no defense.

Oh, hell, man, now I see. You're talking about a totally different report. A new one. The New Face of Jim Crow. With updated reports of voter intimidation tactics. Thanks for the link. http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=22221

That is not the point. The point is that there is clear evidence of voter fraud in 2004, by Democrats.

There is no such evidence, only conspiracy theories, about GOP in 2004.

This is the crutch holding up your entire line of reasoning and it is not sound.

ARK. BLOGSuffice it to say I disagree and so do newspaper reports and independent studies. Yesterday the NY Times had another story about legal action underway in Ohio over misdeeds. And scale is indeed an issue. You have, for example, cited the famous fictitious names registered as voters. But there's no evidence votes were cast. That's not the same thing as denying the franchise. Or, as in the famous Rollins case, offering payments to black people not to vote.

I truly feel sorry for you. That you belief in such conspiracies.

Believe it or not, there are good people in this world, who just want to do the right thing and serve their country.

Razorbacksfan, these people are obviously not YOU OR Griffin.

Or the Republican leaders and many of their followers.

Anyone that would keep black soldiers fighting in Iraq from voting is scum in my book:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/14/1424239&mode=thread&tid=25

"What about black soldiers? Here's what they did. They sent, we found out - here's now what we've just found out. They sent first-class letters to the homes of African-American soldiers shipped overseas. They wrote on the envelopes "Do not forward. Return to addressee." Well, of course, they're shipped overseas, so the letter can't be forwarded, to Baghdad or Germany, or wherever. Letters are sent back to the Republican National Committee, filtered back out to the state committees, and then elections officials are told, 'These people don't live at that address. We have evidence that they're falsely registered.'

Now, here's the trick. You send in your absentee ballot. That is a great act of faith, probably the greatest religious act of faith since Moses walked across the Red Sea, you know, hoping that he wouldn't get drowned. You just mail in that ballot, and soldiers - this is, remember the Republican Party made a big deal about Al Gore complaining about soldiers' illegal absentee voting. These people knew that these soldiers couldn't defend themselves, would not know that their ballot would not be counted, would be challenged. And there's no way, I mean you could - from Baghdad you can fight George's war, but you can't fight for your ballot - massive, massive, nationwide challenge. "

Ahhhh, and there it is. It all comes back to the libelous Greg Palast. Credible liberals don't believe a word Greg Palast says either. Liberals like David Corn and Jonathan Alter recognize his complete disregard for the facts. Word of advice. If you plan to attack someone, don't base it on Greg Palast.

His article is fantasy, actually libelous fantasy. Want to know more about Greg Palast?

"None other than longtime bomb-thrower Greg Palast is arguing that peak oil is actually an oil industry scam to push up oil prices. Well, I read the piece, 'No Peaking: The Hubbert Humbug,' and I find it hard to imagine anyone making a more incoherent and unconvincing contribution to the debate about peak oil." Andrew Leonard, Op-Ed, "The Left And Exxon Join Forces," Salon.com, 5/23/06

"The first problem with Palast's essay is his reading comprehension. Palast summarizes [King] Hubbert's view as this: 'Sometime during 2006, we will have used up every last drop of crude oil on the planet. We're not talking "decline" in oil from a production "peak," we're talking "culmination," completely gone, kaput, dead out of crude - and not enough natural gas left to roast a weenie.' Palast doesn't appear to understand what the word 'culmination' means." Andrew Leonard, Op-Ed, "The Left And Exxon Join Forces," Salon.com, 5/23/06

"Most ridiculously of all, Palast suggests that we dismiss Hubbert and peak oil because Hubbert was a petroleum geologist who worked for Shell. Oil companies, Palast tells us, want us to believe in peak oil, because it gives them an excuse to keep raising prices. . The argument doesn't stand the most basic sniff test. The oil industry does not want the world to think peak oil is right around the corner, and watch government and consumers rush to embrace alternative energy technologies." Andrew Leonard, Op-Ed, "The Left And Exxon Join Forces," Salon.com, 5/23/06

"Making a different we-wuz-robbed claim, journalist Greg Palast, in an article bluntly titled 'Kerry Won...' contends the Democrat would have definitely triumphed in Ohio had the final tally included the uncounted ballots - by which he means 92,672 ballots that did not register a vote when run through a counting machine - and the 155,000 provisional ballots." David Corn, Op-Ed, "A Stolen Election?" The Nation, 11/29/04

"Palast wrongly assumes that an overwhelming majority of these ballots contain votes for Kerry, who lost by 136,000 votes." David Corn, Op-Ed, "A Stolen Election?" The Nation, 11/29/04

"His book ['Armed Madhouse'] flits from cover-ups to conspiracies, shenanigans to calamities, attempting to cram a world's worth of malfeasance into 341 pages. The usual suspects are all present: Halliburton, Lockheed, the Heritage Foundation, Exxon Mobil, Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Wal-Mart, NAFTA, FEMA, the WTO, Pfizer, and many more 'baddies' to keep the kids awake at night. Assuming the worst of these corporate and political power brokers, Palast begins his analysis at skeptical and proceeds from there." Thai Jones, Book Review, "Journalist Dissects Usual Suspects In 'Madhouse'," The [Albany, NY] Times-Union, 6/18/06

"[In 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'] Palast . manages to irritate some of us who might expect to be more sympathetic to his criticisms of the political and business elite. Perhaps it would help if Palast didn't present himself quite so self-righteously as the Lone Researcher, almost single-handedly saving the world from sleaze. This book . is modestly subtitled 'an investigative reporter exposes the truth about globalisation, corporate cons, and high finance fraudsters'. This sets the tone for 'the truth' that is to come." Mike Hume, Book Review, "Trust No One," [London] New Statesman, 4/1/02

"[P]alast's stories don't always stand up - and rarely add up to the historic exposes he claims. . Palast scatters allegations, innuendo, dramatic stats and anonymous quotes, creating a general impression that he has hit on something. Look a little closer, however, and you are often uncertain exactly what. . For all this book's claims to have dug below the surface, in the end it remains superficial." Mike Hume, Book Review, "Trust No One," [London] New Statesman, 4/1/02