This is truly sickening. Maricopa County's infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio just sent this shocking message to his followers:

"STOP ILLEGALS FROM STEALING THE ELECTION! Our grassroots army of VOTER FRAUD PREVENTION VOLUNTEERS will stand vigilant across the nation. We will be the first and strongest line of defense to ensure that only legal citizens vote on November 2nd."

Bogus accusations of "illegal voters" crop up every election, and every election they are proven false.  What's truly frightening is that, this year, Arpaio is recruiting an "army" to block people from voting in the name of "fraud prevention."

However, you can send a message to the Justice Department demanding that they send election monitors to Arizona immediately.  These are the people who are supposed to protecting our right to vote, not suppressing it.

When you take action, you'll also get to download a new voter protection card (in English or Spanish) with a nationwide hotline to report problems on election day.

We're encouraging voters to bring it with them to the polls and do their part to protect one of our most cherished rights - unfortunately, we're hearing reports of Arpaio-like tactics in other parts of the country too.

How will Arpaio's "army" and others like them single out who to intimidate? Hair? Accent? Shoes? This is un-American.

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Bill O'Reilly's undies got in a bunch because I had a meeting with president Obama along with a few other bloggers. To Bill, George Soros is everywhere, but his contributions are pale in comparison with the likes of the Koch Brothers. The Right has many more billionaires and millionaires who are funding their efforts to radicalize America.

O'Reilly:...and the President met with five far left bloggers at the White House. folks who have said extremely hateful things...

If holding Bill O accountable is considered far left, then I'm in. At least Bill used a decent snapshot of me in his piece -- and isn't it funny that he couldn't find anything "hateful" that I supposedly said? Even when he plucked comments from Oliver and Barbara -- they were very tame in contrast to many of the things Tea Partiers say everyday. O'Reilly's comments are often hateful, including his attack of the young Shawn Hornbeck, who he blamed for for his own abduction and molestation. Joe Trippi went on to defend us, I guess, but I'd rather take up my own cause against BillO, but he'd never have me on. I've refused to go on FOX up to this point, but one of these days I might make an exception. I'd put up my record against Bill's any day.

Oh, by the way, remember when right-wing milbloggers met with Bush in the Roosevelt Room? Tears were forthcoming then, weren't they?

Digby writes:

If a Democrat wins the presidency and you get the chance to sit in the Roosevelt Room and have a chat with him or her about issues of the day, try not to cry. (And try to refrain from sharing with the folks the fact that you "tinkled" in the white house. It's icky.)

"Being right next to him, I caught a single tear attempt to roll down his left cheek before he casually wiped it away.

Truthfully, it's kind of sweet that all these bloodthirsty milbloggers turned into weeping fangirls in the presence of their commander in chief. They just love him so much. It kind of brings a tear to my eye too

And of course one right wing blogger called Mrs. Greyhawk of the Mudville Gazette had this gem:

Mrs. Greyhawk added another highlight: "I tinkled in the Whitehouse."

That's the kind of stories right wing bloggers like to write about. How embarrassing. And here's a memo to Bill. Soros wasn't at the meeting or involved, but he does dominate Bill's world, doesn't he?

UPDATE:

I also questioned the President on two other topics that progressives are very interested in. One to see if he supported filibuster reform and the other about the Dream Act and immigration reform. I'll have more on that later.

Another day, another reminder about an uppity woman attacked by Godly right-wing extremists -- this time, in Seattle back in 2008:

ILeah Burton is the author of Palin’s America ~ God, Guns & Greed, which will be released in early 2011. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (I've written before about the courageous work of founder Mikey Weinstein) fighting Christian Dominionism in the U.S. armed forces. This is her description of what she says happened to her:

I found out what it felt like to be the victim of the [...] skinhead version of curbing…right after I left a gathering where I had shared openly how dangerous Sarah Palin is because of her extreme religious world view. I had passed out my card to several who asked which had “TheoPalinism: The Face of Failed Extremism” on it, along with “This is our WAKE UP CALL!”

Unlike Ms. Valle, there were no cameras to capture what the cowards did to me…the evidence of my attack was clearly in the damage to my face, and the looks of shock and horror by my companions who were ahead of me on the crowded dark sidewalk. No, these people are cowards who travel in packs, just like dogs. They are tough and mighty then. They lack the ability to discuss their issues, they are angry and the only way they feel that they can calm their anger is to do harm to the perceived enemy.

What happened in Alaska less than 2 weeks ago to reporter Tony Hopfinger when he was cuffed by militia/security goons hired by Tea Party candidate Joe Miller who thinks he is so important that he even requires protection…is not unrelated to this mentality of use of force to push back against anyone who disagrees with them.

This is a frightening trend and I don’t seeing it stopping. I can’t even count the number of death threats I have received in the 2 years that I have actively worked to preserve the separation of church & state and expose the bible-based cult of Christian Dominionists. And I cannot tell you how many of these self-identified “Christian Patriots” (their label – not mine), after threatening to do me harm, quote from the Bible to me and sign off that they are praying for me.

[...] After an MRI and examination it was determined that I was very lucky. I suffer to this day (nearly 2 years later) from constant pain in my left cheekbone…but, as my doctor said, the force from the impact and then the compression from the boot on my head could easily have resulted in pressure popping my eye out and a shattering of my cheekbone requiring a metal plate and surgery. So yes, I am lucky…in a sick and twisted way.

Unfortunately, I was attacked by cowards who ran after blurting out a profane remark that I will not repeat here, but it was their way of letting me know that this was no accident.

She's the daughter of a cop and reported the incident to Seattle police -- who, she says, didn't seem all that interested.

In Rachel's opening segment last night, she compared and contrasted the Democrats' message of compromise with the Republicans "hell no" stance and took the Dems to task for not noticing that there was no one to compromise with. In her analysis, she missed the true message of the "we'll compromise" message.

In the NYTimes/CBS News Poll released this week, respondents were asked the following question:

Which do you think the Republicans in Congress SHOULD do -- compromise some of their positions in order to get things done, or stick to their positions even if it means not getting as much done?

Their answer was pretty emphatic: 78% of respondents said they thought Republicans should compromise, while 15% thought they should stick to their positions. That 78% is up from 74% two weeks earlier. When the same question is asked about Democrats, 76% say they should compromise with 17% saying they should stick to their guns.

This is where Rachel misses the boat. When 78% of poll respondents answer that Republicans should compromise and Republicans respond with "Hell, no!", there's a clear advantage for Democrats to say they're open to compromise.

This seems like Politics 101 to me, and I'm a little surprised Rachel took aim at Democrats for smart messaging. Usually they're dumb about it, but they got this one right.

Andrew Sullivan notes that Rush has given 'no compromise' marching orders, laying out a strategy where President Obama vetoes all of their his initiatives, should Republicans actually win the House and Senate, including balanced budget amendments, repealing 'Obamacare', and all the other teabag goodies we've been hearing over and over.

Of course, even if all these things were desirable, they're wildly implausible. But he knows that: "Obama's gonna veto all this," Limbaugh says. "So be it! Let him veto it! That helps us. We come back for it all again -- and he vetoes it again, and he calls us mean-spirited, extreme."

I wonder if Limbaugh is aware of that the latest NYT poll revealed that massive majorities want the main parties to compromise in the new Congress rather than stick to their positions. But when asked who would be more likely to compromise, 72 percent said that Obama, while only 46 percent said the Republicans. Limbaugh's nihilism and talk-radio conservatism is one sure way to bring independents back to the president. Advantage: Obama.

(I'm not sure where his numbers come from, but the poll numbers I have are the latest).

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A district school board member in Arkansas will resign after making comments on Facebook saying that gays should commit suicide.

"I am going to resign from the school board," Clint McCance told CNN's Anderson Cooper Thursday.

McCance is vice-president of the Midland School District in Pleasant Plains, Arkansas.

The Advocate first reported Tuesday that McCance had posted a screed on Facebook wishing that gays would "commit suicide" and "give each other AIDS and die." He also used words like "queer" and "fag."

Thursday McCance said he was quitting "to help my community, to help my school."

"I don't want them to receive bad press or have a distraction because of some ignorant comments that have -- that I made."

"I'm sorry I've hurt people with my comments," he said. "I'm sorry I made those ignorant comments and hurt people on a broad spectrum."

"I would never support suicide for any kids," McCant said. "I don't support bullying of any kids."

"I'd like to extend apologies to those families that have lost children, for all those children who feel that suicide is the only way out, especially for the five families who have already lost children," he continued, referring to a rash of recent suicides by gay teens. "I brought more hurt on them... they didn't deserve that and I do feel genuinely bad for them."

McCance said that he had received "thousands of phone calls, hate mails, people threatening to kill my family and me."

In a statement, Arkansas commissioner of education Tom Kimbrell said, "I strongly condemn the statements that appeared on Mr. Clint McCance's Facebook page."

"The statements attributed to Mr. McCance constitute a significant departure from statements we expect from our school leaders. The divisiveness and disruption of these comments cause me to seriously question the ability of Mr. McCance to remain as an effective member of the Midland School Board."

McCance's posts to Facebook were made in response to a campaign by The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). The "Spirit" campaign sought to raise awareness of anti-gay bullying by encouraging people to wear purple.

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Apparently I was not the only one extremely aggravated at Howard Fineman for playing the false equivalency game of "all sides do it" on Hardball this Friday. Digby had the same reaction as well. I tell you what, Howard -- if you want to find some examples of the left wing behaving badly maybe we can compare some of what the anarchists or the PETA crowd have been doing out there that might come close to what we've seen out of these "Tea Party" wingnuts, but there is no equivalent to the militia movement, these white supremacists and to the leadership and politicians on the right drumming up the crazies this election cycle with their fear mongering and hatred.

It simply does not exist from any of the Democratic leadership, and there is no equivalent for Fox News and the right wing hate radio machine on the left. Thank you to Chris Matthews and Joan Walsh for pointing that out to Howard Fineman.

MATTHEWS: Now let`s get physical, as we said in the old song. The Huffington Post`s Howard Fineman -- there`s the -- he`s an NBC analyst, as well as a Huffington Post reporter, and Joan Walsh is the editor-in-chief of Salon.com.

Well, that`s an old song, and it`s almost -- it`s funny but it`s not funny. Here we have this crazy stuff. Let`s start with the video from outside the Kentucky debate this week. Let`s watch and listen and judge if we were on the jury -- and there`s going to be jury trial here, a criminal case, it looks like -- what kind of punishment would you assign this perp? Let`s listen and watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get the police!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, no. Come on!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Well, that head stomper -- his name is Tim Profitt, P-R-O- F-I-T-T -- told the local radio station out there, WKYT, that he feared for Rand Paul`s safety. I want to let you start with this, Joan, because I know you`ll find this outrageous. It just seems to me that that guy`s instinct was a bit storm-trooperish, to put it lightly.

JOAN WALSH, SALON.COM: It was to hurt. You know, there`s been a lot of defense of him, saying he just was trying to bring her down, he was just trying to hold her down there, Chris. He put his foot -- a lot of people were saying the foot was on the shoulder. The foot went straight, you saw it, from the shoulder to the head.

Can you imagine being that poor woman? Now, maybe she got a little close to Rand Paul`s car. I don`t know all those details. But she did not look like a threat and she did not deserve to have her head stomped by a Rand Paul volunteer. And I just don`t think -- I don`t think enough attention has been paid to this. I think it`s very dangerous, very sobering, and people should be denouncing this.

MATTHEWS: I`m going to have a commentary on this at the end of the show, Howard, because I think there`s a certain whiff of something here I don`t like, which is this evidence of going operational. These are supposed to be just supporters. They go into this fighting mode, this street tough mode here.

HOWARD FINEMAN, HUFFINGTONPOST.COM, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. And they did it against a woman who was engaging in some street theater there --

MATTHEWS: With a wig on.

FINEMAN: -- with a wig on, who, you know, is no physical threat to Rand Paul. You know, having worked in Kentucky and known that place and know a lot of people there, it`s nothing special about Kentucky. But you know, it`s a hard fought battle with a lot of nasty stuff -- and this is true all over the country -- very nasty things said. Don`t forget, Chris, that virtually every ad that`s been on television, every message from every candidate all year this year has been negative.

Continue reading »

First Draft: The Obama charm offensive.

Obsidian Wings: Don't Fear the Reaper.

Zandar Versus The Stupid: Turn on the lights, watch the roaches scatter.

Distributorcap NY: Sharp as a pistol.

skippy: Potpourri.

Wonk Room: Obama, DADT, Dan Choi and Valerie Jarrett.

Darrel Plant: The scariest witch in the west.

Guest post by Batocchio. E-mail tips to batocchio9 AT yahoo DOT com.

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ABC News made Keith's worst person's list for this fiasco. Apparently as Media Matters has reported, they're going to feature Andrew Breitbart in their coverage of the mid-term elections this year. Put this one under the you've got to be f**king kidding me column.

Failing Upward: Breitbart To Be Featured in ABC's 2010 Election Coverage:

Media Matters has confirmed that noted propagandist Andrew Breitbart will provide analysis for ABC News during their election night coverage.

After Breitbart's BigJournalism.com website reported that Breitbart would "be bringing analysis live from Arizona" for ABC, Media Matters confirmed his participation in a town hall meeting anchored by ABC's David Muir and Facebook's Randi Zuckerberg that will be featured in the network's coverage.

Asked about Breitbart's history of unethical behavior and misinformation, ABC News' David Ford told Media Matters: "He will be one of many voices on our air, including Bill Adair of Politifact. If Andrew Breitbart says something that is incorrect, we have other voices to call him on it."

Media figures and outlets from across the board rejected Breitbart's race-baiting lies after he smeared former USDA official Shirley Sherrod as a "racist," using as "proof" a heavily edited video of comments she made during a March NAACP event that he posted on his site BigGovernment.com.

ABC's Terry Moran subsequently reported that "Breitbart had released only a clip of her speech, which distorted her real meaning, that she was wrong and had learned from her error," while Donna Brazile said that Breitbart "should apologize" to Sherrod. Both Brazile and Moran will also be featured during ABC's election night coverage.

Go read the rest and here's more from Digby on this -- Send In The Clowns:

ABC has hired Andrew Breitbart and his lying little helper Dana Loesch to do election night coverage. Seriously.

I don't think I have to spell out all the ways in which it is an insult to its viewers and to its journalists to do this. There are many examples of his grievously bad judgment and disgusting behavior, many of which are listed here. But my personal favorite of his "journalistic" top ten screw-ups has to be this one: [...]

ABC must know that the Shirley Sherrod or ACORN stories aren't the only examples of his mendacious ways. He's made his career out of these racist video hoaxes. It isn't a coincidence. So I think we have to assume they think having a lying racist on the air will bring in some ratings. Whether they foolishly see this as adding "edge" to their allegedly hip "Facebook" program or whether they are making a pitch for Fox's white supremacist audience, it's a journalistic travesty to allow this man and his lying lieutenant anywhere near a legitimate news organization.

But then these news outlets are all making huge profits from the right wing buy out of our democracy, so maybe it's just the price of doing business.

There's more at Digby's place as well, and if you'd like to voice your displeasure over this decision here's ABC's contact page.

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Somehow, the original just gets better and better with time.

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Bill Maher gave us his final edition of Christine O'Donnell's greatest hits from her appearances on his former show, Politically Incorrect on Real Time tonight. The one ironic thing here that Maher failed to point out, in one of the old clips, here's what O'Donnell said about Halloween.

O'Donnell: I don't celebrate Halloween because of what it means, because it is a Satanic holiday, it's a pagan holiday and while people are going around getting free candy other people are falling victim to sacrifices and things like that. [...] That's the reality of what's going on on Halloween.

I assume O'Donnell decided to pass on that rule the night she dressed up in that ladybug costume and got drunk with the idiot who wrote the article about her at The Gawker. This woman's hypocrisy really seems to hold no bounds. Do as I say and not as I do. I'm sick to death of these holier than though types telling the rest of us how we should act after they've found Christ, or pretended to. I guess the devil made her celebrate Halloween with the rest of the heathens.