Anyone listening to talk of the nation right now? Obama agent of Acorn involved in voter fraud!

[bushmeister0]

WSJ's John Fund on "stealing elections."

Who is this John Fund jackass and why is NRP just letting him say Obama supports Acorn and its supposed rampant
voter fraud.

He tells us Acorn is an organization that "laughs" at voting laws and signs up people who aren't legally allowed to vote. Obama, he says, was a lawyer for the group, ipso facto, he's involved in voter fraud.

This is the typical Repuke bullcrap that led to the prosecutors being fired for not going after democrats during the 2004 election.

google "voter fruad" and Acorn and all you get is links to the WSJ and Michelle Malkin. Yet the host of Talk of the Nation just takes this guy's word for everything.

Not one mention of Diebold machines or anything crazy like that, naturally.

I guess, the audio will be up soon.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94282256

Check out how the host shuts down a caller who accuses Fund of using unsubstantiated slurs again Obama.

Un-frackin' believeable.

[EFerrari]

1. NPR needs to be challenged on this bs. n/t

[bushmeister0]

2. No shit, it's outrageous.

[Vanje]

27. Talk of the Nation is a horrible horrible show

Neal Conan is a tool of the American Enterprise Institute.
I wish he would go back to commenting on sports and writing fluffy little books about baseball.

[EFerrari]

31. I only listened to Tavis's part of the show.

NPR seems to be degrading at the speed of most corporate media outlets.

[TNOE]

3. John Fund

why does his name remind me of the Franklin sex-boy whitehouse scandal?

[ellie]

4. Smirking Chimp

used to have a graphic for John Fund: Hi! I'm John Fund and I beat women.

[Radical Activist]

5. Obama worked for Project Vote which is closely tied to ACORN.

They register lots of black and hispanic people to vote so obviously Republicans have a problem with that.

[bushmeister0]

7. Oh it's a HUGE problem. Imagine all those unwashed masses

being allowed to vote!

This was the whole rationale for firing the federal prosecutors, right? They weren't paying enough attention to all this massive voter fraud?

Bradley J. Schlozman, the former United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri used his power go after Democrats just as the 2006 elections were coming up. Remember?

He convicted one guy from Acorn for forging one signature. HUGE crimes. This is the case, I think, Fund was citing as evidence that Acorn is such a big problem.

The NYT:

Mr. Schlozman went on from the civil rights division to appointment as an interim United States attorney in Kansas City, Mo., where he was criticized for having brought a voter fraud case shortly before the November 2006 election against a liberal group that registered voters.

At the Senate hearing in June, Mr. Schlozman defended the timing of the case and said it had little impact on the election."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/washington/24resign.html?fta=y

[wvbygod]

17. I'm not comfortable condoning ANY voter fraud

http://www.kmbc.com/politics/10214492/detail.html

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Four people have been indicted on charges of voter fraud in Kansas City, officials said Wednesday.

Investigators said questionable registration forms for new voters were collected by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a group that works to improve minority and low-income communities.

The four indicted -- Kwaim A. Stenson, Dale D. Franklin, Stephanie L. Davis and Brian Gardner -- were employed by ACORN as registration recruiters. They were each charged with two counts.

Federal indictments allege the four turned in false voter registration applications. Prosecutors said the indictments are part of a national investigation.

The Kansas City Election Board told KMBC they found suspicious forms, such as seven applications from one person and an application for a dead man.
-----

Not sure what you are trying to say here. Are you saying it's ok to turn a blind eye
to this kind of activity? Is is because one of ours may be involved or that voter fraud
in general is not a big deal?

[bushmeister0]

19. I'm not saying any such thing.

But a couple people in Kansas City paying fast and loose with the laws doesn't a stolen election make; rejiggering paperless voting machines in important districts in swing states can.

The DoJ seems more interested in going after liberal organizations trying to ensure minorities can exersize their franchise, purely for partisan political gain. That's actually really illegal.

[EFerrari]

22. Not to mention, Bush gutted the Voting Rights office of the DOJ.

Coincidence? You decide. :puke:

/oops

[bushmeister0]

24. He put the same guy who went after the Acorn folks in charge of the office!

Purely coincidental!

[Radical Activist]

23. ACORN officials in Kansas City said they turned in the four people who were indicted.

"We're very happy that they were indicted," said Claudie Harris with ACORN.

You left out that part of the article. Its deceptive to suggest ACORN is engaging in intentional voter fraud. This was the action of a few employees who were held responsible by ACORN. In fact, what this article proves is that ACORN takes steps to PREVENT fraudulent registrations.

[EFerrari]

26. It's the same tactic that goes after "community organizers", right?

Demonize them and neutralize them. I'm so happy ACORN didn't cave to these criminals.

[ieoeja]

36. Delete

[EFerrari]

20. The thing is, there are a few of these cases every year

but there are hundreds of venues where ELECTION fraud is a problem.

So, no. Voter fraud is a relatively tiny deal when you put it up against all the venues were election fraud is a problem.

And, you ask, why is voter fraud part of a NATIONAL investigation? Because that's a cover for the Bush Justice Department setting up caging operations all over the country -- not because voter fraud is a national issue. It isn't.

[wvbygod]

33. Thanks. I often mix up voter vs election fraud

And I agree, voter fraud is tiny and unlikely to sway any results. It still itches when
I don't speak against it....mainly because some RW hack will point in its direction and
proclaim "see! the Dems don't care!" etc.

[EFerrari]

38. Most of us confused the two because operatives like John Fund

mean for us to confuse them.

It's not an accident and it's certainly not just you. It's a strategy.

[Enthusiast]

40. NPR must be challenged on this.

This Fund got away with a complete smear of Obama and NPR must be called on it.

I mean, the reality is, the last two presidential elections went to the loser. I don't think there is any doubt in our minds now that the elction results were altered. A few hundred votes here and there is bad but changing the results of an election is worse by far. These Republican operatives don't care about democracy. I suspect they are religious zealots. The entire thing is making me ill.

[WCGreen]

46. ACORN is also in trouble here in Cleveland, Ohio....

They have always been aggressive in their canvassing. Plus, they send people out almost, it seems, willy nilly, with no set territory so there are bound to be duplicates.

[EFerrari]

6. Smiley really is interested in this topic and I've been trying to get his producers

to book Mark. I sent NPR a short essay and a request for him to interview Mark on this show.

What slime John Fund is.


XXXXXX

John Fund is promoting the idea that voter fraud is a problem in the US and in doing so, he's blurring the difference between election fraud and voter fraud.

More: where ever you find a project that focuses on "voter fraud", you find a Republican vote caging operation that traps black, military and student votes.

There are perhaps a handful of instances of voter fraud cases where there are hundreds of cases of election fraud. And Fund is wrong: there is a mountain of evidence from Mr. Conyers, the GAO, the DNC, independent investigators. So his claim that no one will give him names is simply a lie. For him to focus on John Kerry is also a red herring.

We know exactly whose votes are vulnerable this year and John Kerry has nothing to do with it.

I've asked Smiley's producers to PLEASE get Mark Crispin Miller on his show. Mark is not in the pocket of any political party as Fund is and he has done a lot of good work on this issue.

John Fund wants to present this topic as having two sides a la Fox News. The problem is, voter fraud is to election fraud as a mouse is to a lion. There is no real parity there. And claiming that voter "education" is an answer is a tactic that is used to distract from the fact that our elections are not transparent.

I hope someone will at least ask Tavis to look at this because he seems interested in this topic and John Fund is Disinformation Central. FYI: before I am a member of any party, I am an advocate of clean, clear and inclusive elections.

[bushmeister0]

10. When is TOTN having Miller on?

Doesn't NPR believe in equal time?

If you didn't know any better you'd think "voter fraud" is the number one issue for this election.

He claims this years will be another Florida 2000, only this time there will be multiple states involved because he says there are so many more lawyers.

I guess, he's trying to get us ready for all their election tampering being challenged in court.

The talking point will be 'those damn liberal laywers' are wasting our tax payer money challenging McLamebrains & Co.'s funny numbers provided by all those "help America vote" electronic voting machines.

[EFerrari]

11. He's so full of crap.

And I want to know whay Tavis is talking to a GOP operative about fair elections?

WTF is THAT about?

[Sunnyshine]

8. Community organizers are the antithesis of GOP authoritarian plutocrats.

Take a look at their success this year and then you'll see what Fund is so afraid of; they're called minority voters.

[a kennedy]

9. I'm ironing, I know no body irons anymore, I do.....anyway, I've got on NPR

and I just about burned a hole in my husbands shirt!!!! Couldn't believe that Neil didn't call him on that....... :mad: :mad: :mad: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[EFerrari]

12. When the iron cools, leave a comment!

Ask them to have Tavis interview a NEUTRAL expert instead of a GOP operative. :grr:

[bushmeister0]

13. Note how Conan the barbarian shuts up the caller

who's having an apoplectic fit over what Fund is spewing.

He gets 30 seconds and then Fund is 'allowed to respond' which is just an outrageous mistatement of the facts, none of which Conan challenges.

[kwolf68]

14. Problem solved

Paper trail. Whoever is legally able to vote and wants to vote votes...they go into a both, check the person they want and put the card in a box. Later, someone counts it.

HOW FUCKING HARD IS THIS?

[EFerrari]

16. Fund puts it all on "voter" ignorance which is mean to distract from

the election system itself. Why is Tavis talking to him?

[L. Coyote]

15. Useful and informative Deja DUs

FITRAKIS: Ohio, the DOJ scandal and "Thor" - the god of voter suppression
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1159656

Jason Leopold: Mark “Thor” Hearne, Bush Operative Pushes Voter-ID Law
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3290432

[wvbygod]

18. Any idea on what the unsubstantiated slurs again Obama pertain to?

What was the caller trying to say?

[bushmeister0]

21. He claimed that because Obama had been a lawer for Acorn

in Illinois, he therefore was condoning the voter fraud they supossedly practice.

The caller was saying Fund was slurring Obama's name.

[wvbygod]

34. Well that's just nonsense

Fund should have been made to answer to that. NPR is mostly good but this sucks.

Fund needs to focus his issue on election fraud instead.

[Enthusiast]

42. NPR is mostly good.

This is where the danger comes in. They USED to be mostly good and people give them more credit than they deserve. Now their content and direction is being controlled. This Obama smear was deliberate. They damaged Obama and set the stage for challenging election results in the courts, courts corrupted by partisan appointments.

[wvbygod]

25. This guy from ACORN is not helping matters either.

This Todd Elkins dude saying "it's possible the applicant was just friendly" does not help.

http://www.kmbc.com/politics/10147706/detail.html

Kansas City election director Ray James said the U.S. attorney and Jackson County prosecutor's office have been asked to investigate registrations collected by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN.

James said more than 15,000 registrations have problems such as duplicates, questionable or unreadable information, or names, addresses and Social Security numbers that don't match existing records.

For example, the Kansas City Elections Office has seven different voter applications from the same person dated between Aug. 29 and Aug. 31, KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reported.

ACORN member Todd Elkins, who was at the election office on Tuesday checking the voting rolls, said it's possible the applicant was just friendly.

"And maybe he kept coming up to our voting canvassers and kept signing up," Elkins said.
"Seven times?" Mahoney asked.
"I'm saying it's a possibility," Elkins said.

In another case, the Election Board sent a letter out asking for a man to fill in some missing information on his voter form. Davis said the man's wife called back and said the man had been dead for 27 years.

Earlier this month in St. Louis, election officials said at least 1,500 potentially fraudulent voter registration cards were turned in by the St. Louis ACORN branch.
(more at link)
-----

It's this kind of stuff that grates on honest people's sensibilities.

[bushmeister0]

28. Agreed.

This sort of thing does, too:

Re: the 2004 election in Ohio.

"At the Ohio press conference yesterday, the former McCain adviser said Michael Connell, of the Republican Internet development firm New Media Communications, had designed a system that made possible the real-time 'tuning' of election tabulators once Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell had outsourced the hosting of vote counting on the same server which hosted GOP campaign IT systems. He said he didn't believe Connell was behind the alleged fraud, but that he should be considered a key witness.

Spoonamore also confirmed he's working with Connell on overseas election issues and that Connell is now working as John McCain's IT developer.

Connell has a long history with the Republican Party's IT infrastructure. In 2001, for example, he set up MajorityWhip.gov for then House Majority Whip Tom DeLay. He also helped built georgewbush.com, as well as the Ohio GOP site Spoonamore referenced.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Cybersecurity_expert_raises_allegations_of_2004_0717.html

[EFerrari]

29. It's meant to grate on you. Before you believe it, find out

if James is a Republican.

Because they LIE like rugs all the time and the media just prints it.

Who did that 1,500 count? It's a question worth asking.

[wvbygod]

35. I sometime forget that any group can be infiltrated

I just have been ingrained to assume most people are honest. But yes, one agent can
mess up a whole org.

[EFerrari]

37. I hear that. And, over time, I've seen ACORN subjected to

attacks that were misleading and deceptive and just printed in the press.

These are not political operatives. They help poor people.

But, they are a big fat target for the GOP.

My new thing is to run down the media sources, to check behind them because 8 of 10 times, what is printed is distorted or just plain not true. I don't give anyone a break who tries to cheat. But ACORN is clean. The GOP would love for them to be discredited but, that won't happen because the organization is clean.

[Enthusiast]

41. Exactly, Republicans are

trying to preempt the argument that there are millions of illegal Obama leaning voters on the rolls so they can steal another election. I am suspicious of anything and everything. The illegal voters discovered are likely Republican operatives or paid operatives used to raise certain questions and suspicions.

[roseBudd]

52. New voters do reregister with different people because they don't get any notice they are registered

until right before an election.

Acorn needs to not pay people to register & just go with volunteers.

[blm]

30. I would bet my house they are setting up Dems for the election fraud rap, too.

Somewhere in the country there will be unsuspecting Dem officials set up to appear as if they rigged machines for Obama, and THEN the corpmedia will run with it like it's a category 6 hurricane.

[tiptoe]

45. yep. nt

[Vanje]

32. Who is John Fund? Wife-beater, Fucker and asshole!

John Fund is a fucker.
John Fund is a pro-life family valyooz guy who got it on with both girl friend ,Melinda Pillsbury-Foster and her daughter Morgan. He got the daughter pregnant, and tried to force her to have an abortion.
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20020116Editors.html
http://www.geraldplessner.com/chapter/docs.cgi?doc=20041108024117

John Fund beats up girls.
Morgan Pillsbury has accused conservative pundit John Fund of sitting on her and choking her.
http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-05-14/news/john-fund-hope-of-freedom/

John Fund is an asshole
Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund, covering the CPAC conference, commandered bloggers' computers twice without asking for permission.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/20/31940/6925

[bushmeister0]

39. What a douche!

[Vanje]

50. Wife-beater, Fucker and asshole...and Douche!

Too true!

[Enthusiast]

43. I sent an angry reply to NPR's

Talk of The Nation. I am one pissed off Obama supporter. Hell, I am one pissed off American citizen.

[PolyD]

44. NPR

I was listening to that yesterday while going to pick up students on my school bus. It was the 'guilt by association' tactic. They cry 'Liberal Media Bias' all the time, but the Liberal Media (if that's what it actually is) goes easy on their shenanigans.

[starroute]

47. John Fund is one of the Wall Street Journal's leading propagandists

Fund was the major media figure pushing Gary Aldrich's dishonest and tawdry anti-Clinton book, Unlimited Access, back in the 1990's. He was also one of the journalists that Jack Abramoff arranged to have visit the Marianas -- presumably because it was known he could be bought.

But Fund has a particular interest in the fake issue of "voter fraud." He's the author of a book called "Stealing Elections" that is the origin of many of these phony charges -- and as a result, he tends to get treated as an expert on them.

The short version is that nothing he says can be taken as true. He's the main reason the WSJ's editorial page has such a bad rep.

[Javaman]

48. a lame attempt to change focus from the caribou queen. nt

[EFerrari]

49. I got an unresponsive response about having my comment aired.

And, wrote back asking what was up with having party operatives talk about clean elections.

[ColbertWatcher]

51. This is the GOP's favorite tactic: lying.

The GOP are telegraphing what they plan to do during the election by blaming liberals of doing it.

They did it with Palin, by attacking Obama's experience.

What they're doing here is TELLING US THEY WILL STEAL THE ELECTION! by saying that we are doing it first.

Also, they're trying to confuse people who don't know the difference between voter fraud (what they claim is happening) and election fraud (which is what they'll do).