“Captain” Special Ed sees right through super-secret conspiracy behind the bankruptcy bill:

The Democrats reacted in anger when Senate Republicans blocked their latest economic stimulus bill. Harry Reid said that bankers and lenders were high-fiving each other in hallways after the GOP torpedoed the bill, but perhaps a better explanation of Reid’s disappointment comes from Bob Casey (D-PA). The beneficiaries of the bill turns out to be somewhat different than advertised:

Here’s the transcript:

Mr. CASEY: “We want to do a couple of things with this legislation, which we know is the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. Our Majority Leader, Senator Reid, and our leadership and the members of the Democratic Caucus set it out fairly specifically. A couple of basic things this legislation would have done: first of all, it would have continued what we started in the end of last year, foreclosure prevention counseling dollars, to give money to organizations around the country that are certifiably expert at this, organizations like La Raza. I know the presiding officer knows that group. We know also the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now, known by the acronym ‘ACORN.’ They’re headquartered in Philadelphia. These are organizations which understand what a lender has to deal with but more importantly deal with borrowers when they’re borrowing money, when they’re dealing with the difficulty and complexity of borrowing money. These organizations would have helped even more so than they’re helping now with $200 million more of counseling money. That’s not going to happen right now because of what the other side did; they blocked that money by blocking this legislation.”

ACORN? Would this be the same ACORN that conducted voter fraud in Washington, resulting in felony charges against its officers there in 2007? Isn’t this the same organization that generated complaints and questions about their practices in several other jurisdictions during the 2006 election? How does shoving money into the pockets of ACORN provide an economic stimulus?

Ah, no, Ed. ACORN would be the same ACORN that you and your friends in the wingnutosphere spent all of 2006 hootin’ and hollerin’ about – along with the AFL-CIO, ACT, and, a personal favorite of mine, the NAACP – while coming up with exactly squat. We’ll say that again – none of these organizations have ever been convicted of voter fraud, except in the court of wingnut opinion. Look it up. However, here on planet Earth, there was a minor kerfuffle when it turned out that the Bush Administration was firing qualified US Attorneys who refused to bring bogus charges of ‘voter fraud’ against ACORN and other organizations which might try to register non-Republicans. The Attorney General of the United States resigned over it. Perhaps, as a big-time current events blogger, you heard rumors of such things. Or perhaps you had other concerns.

foil.jpg

Also, the 2006 elections? You got destroyed. You lost everything you could possibly lose, and it was totally embarrassing. This doesn’t actually have anything to do with what we were talking about, but it is really fucking funny. And it’s going to happen again this year, only worse, and for the forseeable future. Bigger conspiracy theories needed. SPROING!


The Politics of Voter Fraud

Leslie Schulman, “Ex-US Attorney says dismissal was political retaliation for not speeding indictments,” Jurist, February 28, 2007

Amy Goldstein, “White House Cites Lax Voter-Fraud Investigations in U.S. Attorneys’ Firings,” Washington Post, March 14, 2007

Melonyce McAfee, “The DoJ’s Favorite Crime. What’s the deal with voter fraud?” Slate, March 14, 2007

Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt, “The Myth Of Voter Fraud,” Washington Post, March 29, 2007

Daniel Bice, “State GOP official pushed vote fraud issue,” Milwaukee JournalSentinel, April 7, 2007

Ian Urbina, “Panel Said to Alter Finding on Voter Fraud,” New York Times, April 11, 2007

Joshua Green, “Karl Rove’s Voter Fraud Fetish. The Bush administration cracks down on a phantom menace,” The Atlantic, April 12, 2007

Paul Kiel, “Court Reverses Wisconsin Voter Fraud Case,” TPMmuckraker, April 25, 2007

Paul Kiel, “Controversial USA Delivered ‘Voter Fraud’ Indictments Right on Time,” TPMmuckraker, May 1, 2007

Greg Gordon, “2006 Missouri’s election was ground zero for GOP,” McClatchy Newspapers, May 2, 2007

Paul Kiel, “DoJ Finds ‘Unwritten Exception’ for Pre-Election Voter Fraud Indictments,” TPMmuckraker, May 6, 2007

Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein, “Voter-Fraud Complaints by GOP Drove Dismissals,” Washington Post, May 14, 2007

Paul Kiel, “U.S. Attorneys Office: Calls Were Possible ‘Voter-Suppression Tactic’,” TPMmuckraker, May 14, 2007

Tom Hamburger, “Iglesias recounts a lunch with politics on the menu. The fired U.S. attorney says he was targeted for not pressing charges that could have helped the GOP,” Los Angeles Times, May 19, 2007

Greg Gordon, “Efforts to stop ‘voter fraud’ may have curbed legitimate voting,” McClatchy Newspapers, May 20, 2007

Tom Hamburger, “Minnesota case fits the pattern in flap over firing of U.S. attorneys. A prosecutor apparently targeted for firing had supported Native American voters’ rights,” Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2007

Richard L. Hasen, “Implausible Deniability. The Internet foils fudging by three ‘voter fraud’ warriors,” Slate, June 13, 2007