I still hear people dismissing accusations of Republican election fraud as crazy conspiracy theories. This dispite mounting evidence that Republicans and their corporate allies, like Diebold, HAVE systematically explored vote tampering. Right now the evidence is strongest for the 2002 Senate race in Georgia and now evidence links Karl Rove with election fraud in that race.

Anyone who first makes such accusations is almost bound to be accused of being crazy. One of the earliest whistle blowers was Clint Curtis in Florida, a former Republican and computer expert, who claims he was approached by his Congressman, Tom Feeney, and asked to design software that could alter vote totals on touch-screen voting machines. This was in 2000 BEFORE the Presidential election. Clint Curtis was horrified, left the Republican Party in protest and even made two runs against Feeney (whose corrupt ass was finally brought down this year by Kosmas). Many criticized Curtis for claiming that people were trying to subvert the touchscreen machines BEFORE the 2000 election when supposedly no one was thinking touch screen. Well, some actual investigativg journalism by Dan Rather eventually revealed that people WERE thinking touch screen before the 2000 election and, in fact, the problems that arose in 2000 in Florida may have been part of the push for touch screen machines. That makes two reports of Republican scheming to commit election fraud in Florida. Add to that evidence that Republicans deliberately tried to create an undercount in Florida's 2006 Congressional race in the FL-13 district (see here and here) and you have a pretty good case for Republican Fraud in Florida.
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The latest Republican to get caught in a scandal is Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota. He seems to be getting hit with a bunch of scandals all at once. Of course this will come as no suprise to those who know that Coleman is good buddies with Alaska's Ted Stevens, currently indicted for corruption and who I have dubbed the most corrupt politician in America. Seems some of Ted Stevens' greedy mentality has rubbed off on Norm Coleman.

Scandal number one is a violation of the Senate Ethics rules. Seems that Norm Coleman's Washington, DC home is rented to him at well below market value by fellow member of the Republican Culture of Corruption, Jeff Larson. And when I mean rented at well below market value, I mean when Coleman even bothers to pay his rent. Larson generally lets Coleman skip his rent, basically giving him free lodgings. Now this COULD be just kindness on Larson's part, except it directly violates the Senate ethics rules regarding gifts.
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Seems that Washington State Republican gubenatorial candidate Dino Rossi is a bona fide part of the Republican Culture of Corruption. It is hard, these days, to find a law-abding Republican anymore! From Daily Kos:

It's well known in Washington state that Republican gubenatorial candidate Dino Rossi is essentially a subsidiary of the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW). Check that--a subsidiary of the corrupt BIAW. Washington's attorney general has filed suit against the organization, along with the tweedle dum to its dee, the Master Builders Association (MBA), last week. The two organizations have been funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars into Republican campaigns, particularly Rossi's. The state's Public Disclosure Commission found the BIAW and MBA guilty of multiple "egregious" campaign finance violations, which led to the AG's suit.

So, was Rossi an unwitting beneficiary of these illegat activities, or was he an active participant? Well, we can get it right from the horse's ass (yes...that's the name of the website):
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The Alaska Republican Party is quite probably the most corrupt state party around today, though I will say that it has competition from the Missouri, Kentucky and Ohio Republican parties. From the VECO scandal to Troopergate, almost the entire Alaska Republican Party is under investigation, indicted or, for some State level Republicans, in jail. One of the Republican Senators and Alaska's House Rep are part of this culture of corruption.

Now it seems to be Sarah Palin's turn.

When I was first told that John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his VP, my response was "is he crazy?" To pick someone who is ACTIVELY under investigation and who is a member of the most corrupt state party in the country seemed insane given the fact that Republican corruption was the number one issue in 2006...and one that led to a major Democratic victory. For McCain, himself linked to the old Savings and Loan scandal, to pick someone actively under investigation seemed to be among the dumbest things he could have done.

Now is when it will start to hurt him, as the Troopergate investigation goes into full swing.

From The Public Record:
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Last week it was all Palin. Well, here is a little more.

First comes something from the Anchorage Daily News.

Governor is stonewalling the Troopergate investigation

Gov. Sarah Palin is taking the wrong approach to Troopergate. She should be practicing the open and transparent, ethical and accountable government she promised when running for governor and boasts about now that she's on the national stage.

Instead, Gov. Palin has begun stonewalling the Legislature's attempt to get the bottom of allegations that she, her family or staff violated ethical or state personnel rules...

The allegations are that she, her family or administration improperly pressured then-Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire Gov. Palin's ex-brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten, who had been in the middle of a custody dispute with Palin's sister...

Palin's lawyer has asked the Legislature to drop its investigation. He had the governor file an ethics complaint against herself, in a bid to turn the entire matter over to the state Personnel Board, which would hire an independent investigator.

This is not an open and transparent attempt to establish Gov. Palin's accountability. It is an attempt to drag out the investigation until after voters decide the fate of her vice-presidential bid.
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First the Bush family Pastor slams McCain's character and endorses Obama. So McCain sure needs a pick me up when it comes to the character issue. I think that was what the Palin nomination was SUPPOSED to give him. Now the Palin decision is already backfiring on McCain, simlpy adding to his problems.

Two conservative "pundits" slam McCain's Palin decision:

Meanwhile, seems Palin attends a church that embraces anti-Semitism. Certainly this deserves as much coverage as Bush's pastor endorsing Obama, and McCain's "spiritual guide" (McCain's words)Hagee's anti-Semitism. Seems McCain/Palin has far more pastor problems than Obama.
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