TPM Muckraker: Rove's Obsession With Voter Fraud

[Hissyspit]

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002982.php

Rove on Voter Fraud
By Paul Kiel - April 10, 2007, 6:32 PM
We already know that Karl Rove passed along complaints to Alberto Gonzales about certain U.S. attorneys' performance on voter fraud prosecutions. And in the case of New Mexico's David Iglesias, that complaint likely contributed to his firing.

But it's clear this is something of an obsession to Rove.

One year ago, April 7, 2006, he gave a speech to the Republican National Lawyers Association, in which he covered a number of topics of interest to his audience (i.e. tort reform), but one topic seemed to hold the audience's attention in particular: voter fraud. To quote an audience member: "The Democrats seem to want to make this year an election about integrity, and we know that their party rests on the base of election fraud."

- snip -

Now, two of the fired U.S. attorneys -- John McKay of Seattle and David Iglesias of New Mexico -- provoked anger among the Republican leadership in their respective states by not prosecuting instances of voter fraud. Both have said they didn't prosecute after prolonged investigations because, in McKay's words, there "was no evidence."

Tellingly, both Washington and New Mexico get a special mention in Rove's remarks. Excerpts from the speech (some of which were featured in a McClatchy piece last month), and the question and answer session that followed, are below.

MORE

[hobbit709]

1. He's projecting

Everything the GOP accuses is what they are actually doing themselves.

[Vincardog]

3. EGG Zactly. What ever they accuse you of is what they are guilty of.

[Ken Burch]

2. It's a meme...Two OLD TIME GOP memes, actually

1)"The election is ONLY fair and legitimate when WE win".

2)"No Democrat victory counts."

The latter meme is especially ancient. You still find elderly GOPPER's insisting that JFK stole Texas and Illinois. When Carter won, they insisted that they were cheated out of New York's electoral votes. When Clinton won, they basically said "it isn't a REAL win because he didn't get a majority and Perot was in the race".

It's about delegimization. They know that if they can call into question a Democratic presidential victory, they can essentially shut down that Democratic presidency(as in Carter's case)or force the Democratic president to effectively govern as a Republican(as in Clinton's case).

They couldn't delegitimize JFK. So, by some luck coincidence for them somebody "just happened" to shoot him.

[Warpy]

4. The problem with being an unprincipled, crooked

son of a bitch like Rove is that you think everybody else in the world is just like you. I mean, you couldn't possibly be abnormal, could you?

No monster ever thinks he's a monster.

He knows he's cheated a total moron into office twice, once through naked fraud in a state the moron's brother was governor of plus an illegal appeal to a stacked Supreme Court; another through hacked voting machines in every state.

He just thinks everybody out there cheats as much as he does.

Don't forget that these are inferior men who wouldn't have gotten anywhere on their own merits. They had to cheat. They just think we do, too.

[WiseButAngrySara]

5. I hate that hypocritical liar! ....n/t

[rocktivity]

6. A weapon of mass diversion

from voter COUNT fraud.

:eyes:
rocknation

[Missy Vixen]

7. I had my voting privileges challenged in 2004

after proving in person that I had the ability to legally vote in Washington State one year before. There was another purge just before the last election. I wonder if John McKay was pressured as far back as 2004. The Republican King County prosecutor, Norm Maleng, refused to charge the woman who challenged my, and 1900+ others' voter registrations, with perjury. It says right on the form that she must have "personal" knowledge that the voter was fraudulent. The penalty for questioning a legal voter registration is perjury, by the way. Did I mention that she is an official with the King County Republican Party?

I have been trying to get a reporter from the Seattle Times interested in digging more into the story. So far, I'm coming up with a whole bunch of nothin'.

Julie

[MagickMuffin]

8. Do you have a weekly paper and have you approached them?

Sometimes they are the journalist who would love to uncover a BIG story.

I too was challenged in '06 at my precinct (primary election) which had been relocated for several years while our recreation building was being renovated. It was reopened and I was told I was not on the rolls. I made her continue to look knowing full well that I was at the RIGHT precinct.
Guess what I was RIGHT...

Good Luck, with your endeavors.

[Missy Vixen]

9. MagickMuffin, thank you for the tip

The voting challenges were covered at length by the Seattle Times because there were so many people challenged at once. I'm sure it didn't hurt that one of those challenged was a member of Soundgarden, the rock band, and showed up at the hearing.

I'll keep trying. I still think my experience had more behind it than meets the eye.

Julie

[loudsue]

10. The Washington State Atty. was one that was let go. You need to write Waxman

This is more proof for the investigation going on in congress as to what was happening with the republicans ILLEGALLY interfering with people's votes, and why they were pressuring attorneys to prosecute "voter fraud". There are laws that have been intentionally broken by the republican party, and it needs to be shared with the people that are doing the investigating.

:kick: