...& the GOP are using their old book of "Dirty Tricks"
I wish that everyone that listens to the McCain, Palin and the GOP would also go to www.factcheck.org or www.Politifact.com after they hear the misinformation being presented by John McCain and company. Major publications such as the Wall Street Journal and major media organizations continue to comment about the lies that the Republicans, specifically the McCain Campaign, are spreading about Obama and his proposals.
I also heard on CNN today that the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Michigan over the Michigan GOP’s plan to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters at the polls.
Mr. Bob Bauer, general counsel for the Obama campaign, and Mark Brewer, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, announced the lawsuit in a conference call with reporters this week. It was filed on behalf of the campaign, the party and three Michigan residents who have had their houses foreclosed upon in recent months. (In July alone 11,000 Michigan residents received foreclosure notices.)
Bauer called the GOP plan to use foreclosure lists “a new and especially disgusting version of caging.” “Caging” is a technique of challenging voters where the Republicans take lists of addresses, mail to them with a “Do Not Forward” marking and if for whatever reason those mailings are returned, the GOP uses this as a basis for claiming that the voter no longer lives at the address at which they are registered. (Therefore, they are then unable to vote.)
GOP's HISTORY OF "CAGING":
This is not the first time the Republicans have been caught at using their illegal “Caging” tool. In 1981, the DNC also filed another lawsuit against the RNC over this practice, which resulted in a 1982 consent decree. The RNC back then, swore to NOT engage in the practice of caging, “where the purpose of such activities is to deter qualified voters from voting.”
In 1986, however, the RNC was caught caging again. This time in the state of Louisiana. According to the lawsuit, the RNC attempted to get 31,000 voters removed from the rolls based solely upon the return of a mailed postcard. The 1982 case was then reopened, and the consent decree was amended in 1987 to require that the RNC get prior court approval before engaging in any activities to combat voter fraud.
(Please note: The stories have been circulating for years that “caging” was also a favorite activity of Karl Rove and it was used by him and the Texas GOP to get George Bush into the Texas governor’s mansion.)
It now looks like they are worried and desperate enough to go back to their less than legal activities once again.
Now, with regard to other shady GOP and McCain activities, the following are some items as taken from www.factcheck.org regarding the recent ad falsehoods from the GOP, McCain, Palin and their campaign.
These are FactCheck’s words, not mine:
Per FactCheck.org:
Sen. John McCain's campaign released the following 30-second spot Aug. 8. McCain Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said the ad would be running in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
AD SCRIPT:
Announcer: Life in the spotlight must be grand, but for the rest of us times are tough.
Obama voted to raise taxes on people making just $42,000.
He promises more taxes on small business, seniors, your life savings, your family.
Painful taxes, hard choices for your budget. Not ready to lead. That's the real Obama.
McCain: I'm John McCain and I approved this message.
ALSO, TAX DECEPTION EN ESPANOL:
McCain also released a 60-second, Spanish-language radio ad Aug. 8 with additional deceptions, claiming that Obama would raise taxes on listeners' income, savings and home sales, and falsely claiming that he had voted to increase taxes on "families" making $42,000 a year.
(English translation supplied by McCain campaign)
Announcer: With the economy as bad as it is, gas prices going up, home foreclosures, and jobs being lost, we need to be careful about who we pick as our next president.
No doubt, Barack Obama is a popular figure, a celebrity who says the right thing. But will he do the right thing?
So here's the question you need to ask yourself, in these tough economic times, are you ready for a president who voted for higher income taxes on working families making $42,000 a year?
Are you ready for Barack Obama, for his tax plans that will hurt senior citizens?
Are you ready for the higher taxes on income, savings and the sale of your home that Barack Obama promises?
It's not that you're not ready. Barack Obama is not ready yet. Because when it comes to the economy, experience matters, and he just doesn't have it.
He says he'll give you change, but that's what he'll leave you with.
McCain: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.
The English-language translation was supplied by the McCain campaign and it says Obama voted for higher taxes on "working families" making $42,000 a year. The Spanish for "working" does not actually appear in the ad, but either way the claim is false.
The budget proposal in question (not a tax bill) would have increased taxes for a single taxpayer at that income level, but not for a family. The smallest possible "family" would be a single parent with a single child, and such a single parent would have to make $58,650 to have been affected. As noted, a family of four would have to make $90,000. And in any case, Obama's plan would cut taxes for families at all those levels, not increase them.
The ad also falsely claims Obama proposes higher taxes on "the sale of your home." In fact, neither Obama nor McCain propose any change in the current exemption for home sales, which allow all profits to go untaxed up to $500,000 for a couple or $250,000 for a single person, provided that the home has been a primary residence at least two of the previous five years. Obama has proposed an unspecified increase in the tax rate for capital gains, but this would fall only on home-sale profits that exceed the current exclusion and would therefore affect only a very small percentage of all sellers.
FALSE "HISTORY" CLAIMED BY McCAIN:
Later the same day, the McCain campaign released another 60-second radio ad, titled "Recipe." This one is in English, and it's also misleading.
Announcer: Life in the spotlight must be grand for Barack Obama. But is he ready to lead in tough economic times?
Official records document, Barack Obama has a history of raising taxes – even on middle class Americans making just $42,000 a year.
If elected president, Obama's promises would mean even more taxes on income, electricity, oil, small business, seniors, your life savings, your family.
Painful taxes when times are tough enough.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal calls Obama's ideas "a recipe for economic disaster."
The Washington Post says Obama's policies are "poorly crafted" and will result in "higher prices at the pump."
And The Wall Street Journal reports Obama's plans will "stunt small business" and threaten "America's economic competitiveness."
More taxes. Higher gas prices. A recipe for economic disaster.
That's the real Obama.
McCain: I'm John McCain and I approved this message.
Announcer: Paid for by John McCain 2008.
It says: “Official records document, Barack Obama has a history of raising taxes – even on middle class Americans making just $42,000 a year.” But that's false. No taxes were increased, and the Obama vote that the McCain campaign refers to could not by itself have resulted in any increase on anybody.
The measure for which Obama voted was a budget bill for fiscal 2009. Budget bills set revenue and spending targets for appropriations and tax-writing committees, but don't by themselves legislate any changes in taxes or spending.
A CONTINUING PATTERN OF DECEIT:
These new McCain ads continue what has become a pattern of deceit, with McCain repeatedly misrepresenting what Obama is proposing.
Here are some of McCain's previous false claims:
>>> McCain falsely claimed Obama's plan would increase taxes on 23 million small-business owners, when the vast majority of them would get a cut. Any increase would actually fall only on the most affluent, a few hundred thousand business owners.
>>> McCain falsely claimed Obama "says he'll raise taxes on electricity," though Obama has said no such thing and his tax plan contains no proposal for a tax on electricity.
>>> As noted already, McCain falsely claimed Obama once voted for a Democratic budget bill that called for raising taxes on persons making as little as $32,000 a year, when in fact the proposal would not have affected anyone with total income under $41,500 a year, or $83,000 for a married couple with no children.
>>> McCain stated that Obama would raise taxes "if you have an investment for your child’s education or own a mutual fund or a stock in a retirement plan." This was also found to be "false" by our colleagues at Politifact.com, and we concur.
McCain has been twisting tax facts about Obama as far back as June 10, when he gave a speech to a small-business gathering saying: "Under Senator Obama's tax plan, Americans of every background would see their taxes rise." There may be persons of "every background" among the affluent, but McCain's phrasing was misleading. These ads continue his long-running pattern of deception on Obama and taxes.
Update, Aug. 12: McCain misrepresented Obama's tax plan again with a Web ad released Aug. 11. Mocking Obama's popularity, a narrator says, "Now, you too can join 'The One's' fan club. ...The perks are amazing. Like a tax increase for everyone earning more than $42,000 a year." As noted, Obama proposes no such thing. Even the budget bill he once voted for called for an increase only on single taxpayers at that income level, not "everyone."
OTHER COMMENTS FROM factcheck.org:
McCain's new ad touts "renewable energy," but his energy plan offers little to support it.
Obama's Overstatement
An Obama ad says McCain's campaign got $2 million from "Big Oil." The total is actually $1.3 million.
McCain's Small-Business Bunk
McCain claims 23 million small-business owners would pay higher tax rates under Obama. He's wrong. The vast majority would see no change, and many would get a cut.
The $32,000 Question
The McCain campaign falsely claims that Obama voted to raise income taxes on individuals earning "as little as $32,000 per year."
Will it never end……..probably not.
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