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For as much as Republicans run around screaming about the threat voter fraud poses to our elections, our rights, and our freedom, they sure seem to be caught doing it quite a bit. I'm not referring the pandemic of voter-ID laws spreading through the states like a virus, at least directly. That kind of legislation are solutions in search of an infinitesimally small problem -- which, judging by reports, seems to be only caused by Republican politicians.
There's no better symbol of this than Charlie White, Indiana's Secretary of State. White was, until recently, the man in charge of elections in the state, and the reason why he isn't anymore is because he actually committed voter fraud. From February:
A Hamilton County jury found White guilty of six of seven felony charges, including false registration, voting in another precinct, submitting a false ballot, theft and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one fraud charge.
Now, dude only got one year of home detention for this. And he wasn't alone -- most recently, a Republican candidate for a county supervisor seat in Arizona was accused of voter fraud. Yet, we're supposed to understand that what a sentencing judge treated, essentially, as a misdemeanor is worth upending the lives of millions -- most of whom are black and brown -- across this country to fix it? Well, that's if you view the "voter fraud problem" literally.
But as White's case shows, Republicans can't even legitimize their legislative crusade against voting rights by their own behavior.
So, today, Melissa will pull back the curtain of nonsense, and continue shining light on the voter suppression going on under the name of "protecting our rights." We'll also talk about the two guys Republicans are mainly doing this for, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, and the tumultuous week they've had since announcing Ryan as the running mate one week ago this morning. Ryan, the man who would end Medicare as we know it, will be speaking live this morning at a retirement community in Florida during our first hour, and we'll carry at least some of that live.
We'll also welcome in three young students -- Emma Axelrod, Elena Tsemberis, and Sammi Siegel -- whose Change.org petition helped get a woman moderator chosen for a presidential debate for the first time in 20 years. That, and much more, with our guests:
- Nicole Austin-Hillery, director and counsel of the Brennan Center's Washington, DC office.
- David Chalian, Washington bureau chief for Yahoo! News.
- Katon Dawson, former chair of the South Carolina GOP.
- Karen Finney, columnist for The Hill, former DNC communications director, and MSNBC contributor.
- Matt Miller, Washington Post columnist and MSNBC contributor.
- Rev. Tony Minor, director of advocacy for Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry and member of the African American Ministers Leadership Council.
- Ella Ward, Chesapeake. VA councilwoman currently running for Congress.
As always, folks -- be sure to interact with us during the show here in the comments of this post, on Facebook, and on Twitter, using the hashtag #nerdland. We look forward to having you join us at 10am ET on msnbc!
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Watched the interview with Ella Ward. I'm in her district and the wife and I will be supporting her. My children will be joining as well. BTW not so much the interview that brought her to attention, I was already aware of her candidacy.
He needs to be charged with a felony and be disenfranchised.
Mellisa why don't you ask your Republican guest why Voter ID is being pursued now by the Republicans just months before the elections instead of doing this years ago or while Bush was in office. This is pure BS. The Justice Dept has to step in and make sure that this election affords every registered voter the right to vote. Also the supposedly 900 dead voters who voted in SC as stated by your guest is a lie.
Please do not allow the gentleman representing the Republican effort at voter suppression to "skate" with his dead voter malarkey.
10:33 AM CST.
Please call out the Former SC GOP Chair on his lie. They investigated those 900 plus names and found there was no voter fraud. They were simply dead people who had not been purged from the polls. None of them voted.
Melissa,
Love the show...but...how about credit for Bernard Shaw hosting the Presidential debates in 1988 and the VP debate in 2000? Also, Gwen Ifill the VP debates in 2004 and 2008.
What is the annoying talk and clatter on the set while your show is going on?
Melissa, love your show, but....discussion of women and blacks hosting the presidential debates did not credit Bernie Shaw in 1988 and 2000, nor Gwen Ifill the VP debates in 2004 and 2008.
Today you didn't include in the list of states with voter I.D. requirments. Mitch Daniels, who was on "Dubyia'staff," Started the requirement for State issued I.D. in time for the 2010 election, in which the GOP took over. For the 2012 election, they cut voting hours, closed 2 poles in "certain" neighborhoods because of "lack of funds" Gerrymandered Andre Carson's, our Black congressman, district. He's in my district now. So their will be at least one white grandma voting for him. Daniels has vouchers for private schools, most of which are Catholic, and introduced on line K thru 12 school, free!! Big Brother is alive and well (evil) in Indiana.
The U.S. isn't becoming a police state. We already are one.
Professor Harris-Perry:
Though I’m generally not a fan of MSNBC, I appreciate the scholarly and passionate perspective you bring to your program. [I also appreciate this in Rachel Maddow when
her commentary matches her PhD from Oxford, but that’s a separate topic…]
There is no more fundamental right and responsibility—with the possible exception of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—than the right to vote. I am only beginning to appreciate the historic struggle surrounding this right which many of us take
for granted, but many have been denied over our history. No sane, non-felon, adult American Citizen should be denied this right, and the responsibility that comes with it.
A quote attributed to Stalin, correctly or incorrectly, is the
following:
“It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”
Joseph Stalin
#HLmfeAGkppAmMdVe.99
Regardless of whether he said it, it does point to the heart of the voter fraud issue. Stated opinions range from “There is NO voter fraud, NONE!” to “This is an illegal
attempt by Republicans to disenfranchise minorities.” Historical controversy surrounds whether JFK beat Nixon in 1960 by virtue of several thousand dead people voting in a
Chicago run by the Daly-mob machine. The 2000 election being decided by the Supreme Court after “our lawyers vs. their lawyers” could not erase GWB’s 514 vote margin in Florida by virtue of interpretation of “hanging chads” and other vagaries of the ballot system remains a rallying cry for the Left. A not unwarranted fear of future elections is that they will be decided not by the will of the American People, but by illegal immigrants voting by the thousands across the country. A Faustian grand bargain would go something like this:
“OK, You let us build THE FREAKIN’ FENCE all the way from Brownsville, TX to Ocean Beach south of San Diego, and we will let you win Illinois by virtue of Rom Emanuel’s un-purged voting rolls which will include a WHOLE BUNCH of dead people, moved out of the state people, felons and ‘undocumented Americans’ in Chicago-land…”
But that doesn’t sound right, does it? Not in the land of “liberty and justice for
all.” Whether by different ethnic rates of reproduction (and abortions), and by immigration patterns (legal or otherwise), demographic shifts are inexorably changing voting patterns over generations and not-that-many decades.
It was the states who created the Federal Government in the first place, moving from the Articles of Confederation to the 1789 Constitution. With all its imperfections
and flaws, it did provide mechanisms for self-correction as the nation matured. What sounds to the majority like “the right thing to do for all Americans” may indeed sound like oppression to minorities and others who feel their voices are not being heard. There is a process for registering to vote, and yes this varies by state, as an artifact of our founding with states being the most direct local expression of the will of their peoples.
John Fund spoke on C-span Book TV late last month, and was discussing his latest book, “Who's Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk [Paperback]” along with his co-author Hans Von Spakovsky [New York: Encounter Books, 2012]. [ See Published on 31 Jul 2012 by BookTV ] He argued that there have historically been THOUSANDS of ways in which election officials, individuals and groups have variously bribed, cheated, or stolen their way to a desired election outcome.
Here’s hoping Democrats, Republicans, and all Citizens pay heed, and keep the process honest. Only in that way can the will of the people, as well as the “right thing to do”, be fully expressed in our election process.
I just watched your show today featuring the former chair of the South Carolina GOP. He LIED, LIED, LIED about dead people actually voting in SC. You were correct about
dead people who have been purged from our roles, as in the normal course of
business, but THEY NEVER VOTED!!! I am a politically engaged South Carolinian and I follow these things very closely. I strongly urge you to have as your rebuttal witness tomorrow the head of the SC Election Commission who has factually refuted all these baseless, barefaced lies offered by SC Republicans.
Please, please do not let this perversion of
the truth prevail.
Apparently the website didn't post. Google "John Fund YouTube 31 July 2012 C-Span" or something to that effect, if you want to see the YouTube video published by BookTV.
I agree, it stinks, blah, blah. BUT something scares me and no one has brought it up. IF the republicans win a significant amount of seats by a margin of victory that is less than a reasonable number of voters that were disenfranchised, what would be the likely scenarios? Challenges for sure, court cases and demonstrations galore. How could we seat a legitimate government? In the meantime, by whom and how will we be governed? What will happen to our credit rating?
This could get very nasty. We are a polarized nation, we are over armed. If order breaks down we might have an "American Spring", and throw them all out. I am a skeptic, not an alarmist. Bush/Gore was nothing. This is scary.
Melissa, the news media chew everything to death nowadays. Isn't this just a little bit tasty? I tried to keep this short, the imagination runs riot.
John Fund is on C-span2 RIGHT NOW Book TV, and is discussing his latest book, “Who's Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk [Paperback]” along with his co-author Hans Von Spakovsky [New York: Encounter Books, 2012]. [ See Published on 31 Jul 2012 by BookTV ].
The authors are discussing in detail EACH OBJECTION raised by Linda Killian, Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Public Policy Studies. She has listed A through Z each litigation point brought up by the DNC, the ACLU, and liberal pundits, and the authors SHOOT DOWN EACH AND EVERY ONE. She is WAAAAAAY out-classed by the authors.
They argue that there have historically been THOUSANDS of ways in which election officials, individuals and groups have variously bribed, cheated, or stolen their way to a desired election outcome.
Is the TRUTH a partisan issue? Sure sounds like it to me...
SWITCH ON C-SPAN 2 RIGHT NOW AND WATCH THESE GUYS CLEAN THE FLOOR WITH THIS "SCHOLAR'S" OBJECTIONS!!!!
Would love to see the Toni Morrison portion on freedom posted!! It's awesome!! Great show this morning!!!