Pro-GOP mouthpiece Dana Loesch baselessly accuses Robin Carnahan and Eric Holder of neglecting Joplin Tornado victims b/c the area voted Republican

Pro-Kinder mouthpiece Dana Loesch and the rest of the right-wing lie machine are seizing on this falsehood that "Obama, Carnahan, Koster, Holder, and Nixon are ignoring 10,000+ voters in tornado-ravaged and heavily Republican Joplin."  The fact-free imbecile Loesch used multiple falsehoods on this story, including the smear that she was linked to the now-defunct ACORN and blamed this on Holder and Obama.

Dana Loesch's BFF Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder (R):

#WhereIsRobin? RT @tookiew: @edmartin4mo @peterkinder are fighting for #Joplin where is Holder , Obama or Carnahan
— Peter Kinder (@PeterKinder) August 4, 2012

RT @dloesch: Fascinating that the ACORN-linked SOS Carnahan who ignored more voters than people in 15 counties is silent. #Joplin #MO
— Peter Kinder (@PeterKinder) August 4, 2012

Ed Martin:

We have a legal & moral obligation to ensure that each of the displaced voters in Joplin can vote on Aug 7 ow.ly/cJNDc
— Ed Martin (@EdMartin4MO) August 4, 2012

Big Government::

Eric Holder accused Florida lawmakers of disenfranchisment when the state took to cleaning up ineligible voters (due to death or felony) from its voter rolls. That same DOJ has been silent about a story brewing out of southern Missouri; after suffering through one of the worst tornados in history, Joplin residents will now face losing their vote. 

Asking Robin Carnahan for assistance when she's already refused to clean up Missouri voter rolls seems fruitless, but it can't hurt. Carnahan has in the past been linked to ACORN, and the state has fought voter fraud for years. It seems only logical to question whether or not the Secretary of State and DOJ's reluctance to intervene is because the 10,000 Joplin tornado victims are heavily Republican. 

President Obama and Eric Holder often talk of how the government can help, and they preach against the evils of disenfranchising voters. So where are they? 

She [Dana The Distortion Artist] is indeed out of touch with what's going on.

The actual facts, NOT the GOP-biased spin on 10,000+ voter registration cards returned in Jasper County, Missouri (via the Joplin Globe):

JOPLIN, Mo. — Registration cards for more than 10 percent of Jasper County’s approximately 80,000  voters have been returned by the post office, County Clerk Bonnie Earl said Monday.
New cards, which must be sent to voters each two years, were mailed out earlier in July. But about 10,000 cards have been sent back because the addresses on them were no longer valid. That’s going to pose a problem for voters — and election officials — at the Aug. 7 primary election, said the clerk.
Election officials say many of the cards being returned were sent to residents in Joplin and Duquesne who moved after their homes were damaged or destroyed in the May 22, 2011, tornado but have not yet changed their address with election officials.
Voters can make address changes at offices of the county clerk in the Carthage courthouse and on the second floor of the county courts building at 6th Street and Pearl Avenue in Joplin. Offices are open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. during the week, and will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The always-reliable Randy Turner has more on the Joplin story (via Daily Kos):

I am anticipating that the scandal will continue to grow over the next few days with all of those who are attacking the president, the attorney general, the governor, the secretary of state, and other Democratic officials overlooking a few facts. 

1.    The chief election official in Jasper County, County Clerk Bonnie Earl, is a Republican. And I don’t say that to cast any blame on her. If she were needing help, she would have asked. Sending out the voter ID cards gave her the first indication of what the situation is in Joplin and Jasper County. Some might ask why that step has not already been taken since numerous elections have occurred between May 22, 2011, and now. 

2.    The Joplin Globe article that first revealed the problem did not have any mention of people not being allowed to vote. It said that those who do not have the new voter ID cards will probably face some problems. In other words, it is likely it will take longer for them to vote or they may have to cast provisional ballots. 

3.    It would not do the Democratic Party any good for those voters to be disenfranchised this Tuesday. It is a primary election so it will not have any effect whatsoever on the race between President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney. Election officials now have three months to fix the problem and certainly have incentive to do so, especially since those election officials are Republican in a state where close races are expected for some statewide offices and for a U. S. Senate seat. 

4.    Don’t think there are any Jasper County Democratic officials who will stand in the way. County Republican primary winners are guaranteed election because no Democrats are running. Nor are there any Democratic officeholders.
All of these things were conveniently overlooked as statewide Republican officials and so far, one national right-wing rabble-rouser (with more undoubtedly to come) sought to capitalize one more time on the Joplin Tornado.

Discredited fraudster J. Christian Adams visits The Dana Show

Yesterday on KFTK's The Dana Show, regular guest and voter suppression advocate J. Christian Adams attacked Holder for doing the right thing, which is to stop Texas's horrible voter suppression law from taking effect. And of course Loesch is a vehement supporter of "Voter ID," along with a host of other far-right causes.


From the 07.11.2012 edition of KFTK's The Dana Show:



Highlights:

• They whined about Republican-favored redistricting isn't stopping their voter suppression efforts. (approx. 2:35)
• Adams and Loesch both declared that if Texas's law is struck down, then it will put the laws on voter suppression closer to oblivion. (approx. 4:20)
• Loesch falsely claims that True The Vote, a spin-off of King Street Patriots, monitor elections honestly. They don't. (approx. 5:31)
• Adams misleading states that the DOJ is "facilitating lawless behavior in our polling places." (approx. 7:09)

Partial Transcript:

LOESCH: "Eric Holder currently has in his sights Texas trying to invoke their 10th Amendment rights to uphold 'voter integrity' in their state. According to J. Christian Adams at Pajamas Media, the Texas Voter ID law is on life support."[...]J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS: "Well, the latest is that the trial is still going on. Tthe Justice Department actually put up a witness this morning to testify that Governor Perry is a 'fascist.'" LOESCH: "So if the Department of Justice scores a win here in Texas, and they prevent them from requiring photo ID in order to safeguard the votes of those casting them. This is, to me, going to set a precedent that is going to endanger the 10th Amendment powers of the other states that are currently in this same tussle with the DOJ."
ADAMS: "Well, you're exactly right. In the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was amended in 2006 to essentially give enormous federal power over state election decisions."
[...]
"The same laws designed to help Republicans with redistricting is causing voter integrity efforts across the country to be attacked by the Justice Department. They're gonna kill Texas's Voter ID law, probably kill South Carolina's Voter ID law, Mississippi and Alabama are trembling. So what you have is heading into the election situation where Eric Holder is using a weapon given to him by Republicans in 2006 undermining election integrity."LOESCH: And this just underscores the huge point that even if we have Republicans in office passing legislation where you give government that much oversight, you can't be guaranteed that you're going to always have good people in office. You should never want someone else to have that kind of power over voting and states' rights anyway."ADAMS: "You're exactly right, Dana, this is part of a bigger problem. Republicans wanted to tend to disengage on racial issues, on election issues, on anything that the NAACP beats its drum about."

James O'Keefe on The Dana Show: "Voter Fraud is rampant and ignored by the Democrats, Media"

Notorious discredited hack James O'Keefe visited KFTK's The Dana Show with O'Keefe apologist Dana Loesch to talk about his latest dud of a video.  Of course Loesch will praise any and all efforts from him.


Key Points: 

• Loesch falsely claimed that "he denies the existence of widespread 'voter fraud.'" (approx 1:20)
• O'Keefe says that the "'mainstream media' will never love us." (approx. 2:20)
• Loesch falsely states that "the 'mainstream media' and the Democrats' narratives claim that no voter fraud exists, but it's been proven wrong by you, O'Keefe." (approx. 3:10)
• O'Keefe: "my exposés have been effective to the point that state legislatures are passing voter ID laws." (approx. 4:00)
• O'Keefe blames the "establishment for covering up the problems." (approx. 4:40)
• Loesch and O'Keefe bash Sharpton and the Dems for telling the truth about "voter ID" laws. (approx. 5:50)
• Loesch baselessly accuses "Eric Holder and the DOJ of refusing to uphold voter integrity." (approx. 7:00)
• Loesch falsely peddles the non-truth that "Voter IDs help voters, not suppress the voters." (approx. 7:30)
• O'Keefe: "I think the people will stand behind us on this one." (approx. 8:28)
• Loesch: "If the DOJ, Eric Holder, and the Democrats will go after O'Keefe, then wouldn't it compromise their inability to do their jobs." (approx. 9:10)
• Loesch: "O'Keefe scored a victory right out of the gate with this." Nope, he LOST right out of the gate, as usual. (approx. 10:40)

The real Eric Holder is right, and people like O'Keefe and Loesch are lying liars.


From the 04.09.2012 edition of KFTK's The Dana Show:




Alex Koppelman of the New Yorker rebuts O'Keefe and his ridiculous claims:

James O’Keefe and his supporters think that he’s scored big today. See, not long ago, Attorney General Eric Holder criticized laws that require people wishing to vote to bring photo I.D. with them; he called those laws “a solution in search of a problem,” and said “there is no statistical proof that vote fraud is a big concern in this country.” So one of O’Keefe’s colleagues—a white man who looks considerably younger than the Attorney General—went to went to Holder’s polling place for the recent primary in Washington, D.C., and claimed to be Holder. The punch line, of course, is that he was given no trouble, and welcomed to vote. (He never went through with it and actually committed the voter fraud, presumably because someone’s giving them legal advice not to.) 

James O’Keefe and his supporters think that he’s scored big today. See, not long ago, Attorney General Eric Holder criticized laws that require people wishing to vote to bring photo I.D. with them; he called those laws “a solution in search of a problem,” and said “there is no statistical proof that vote fraud is a big concern in this country.” So one of O’Keefe’s colleagues—a white man who looks considerably younger than the Attorney General—went to went to Holder’s polling place for the recent primary in Washington, D.C., and claimed to be Holder. The punch line, of course, is that he was given no trouble, and welcomed to vote. (He never went through with it and actually committed the voter fraud, presumably because someone’s giving them legal advice not to.)

Well, no. Shapiro and O’Keefe and the rest don’t know when voter fraud takes place, if indeed it does, because they don’t do the work necessary to find out. O’Keefe may be lionized as an investigative journalist, but he’s not one, and he never has been. He takes the easy, flashy way out: his videos don’t prove that malfeasance is happening; they prove that it could, maybe. (Taking the same trick and repeating it over and over again, which is basically what O’Keefe did with this latest video, part of a series of such work, doesn’t help.)
Investigative journalism—the real thing, the kind that discovers the dirt people are actually doing, rather than that they could potentially do—is hard work, and it can be boring. You want to expose systematic voter fraud? Get a bunch of records, pore through them for a few hundred hours.

Media Matters for America also calls out O'Keefe's deception tactics calls out O'Keefe's deception tactics:

James O'Keefe's Project Veritas has unveiled the latest chapter in its ongoing "voter fraud investigation": a video that purports to show a young man nearly obtaining the ballot of Attorney General Eric Holder. Like O'Keefe's past "voter fraud" videos, however, this video fails to show actual voter fraud being committed, and it doesn't prove the existence of a widespread conspiracy to throw an election. That's because both are extremely rare. 

The video shows the man entering a polling place in Washington, D.C., then cuts to the man asking a poll worker, "Do you have an Eric Holder?" After the O'Keefe associate confirms Holder's address, which is censored, the poll worker offers him the voter roll and says, "Please sign your name there." The fake Eric Holder then says he left his ID in the car and leaves. 

This video doesn't prove any of these things. What it shows is a man coming close to committing a serious crime. But even if the man had fraudulently cast a vote under Eric Holder's name, D.C. and federal laws provide a number of protections against fraudulent votes. 

First of all, if the imposter had fraudulently cast Holder's ballot, and the real Eric Holder then had shown up to vote and been told his name was already crossed off the list, the real Holder almost certainly could have still voted. Under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, any voter who is told by an "election official" that he or she is "not eligible to vote" must be allowed to "cast a provisional ballot." 

In spite of all this evidence, however, right-wing media routinely drum up phony or baseless cases of voter fraud, which they then use to rally support for restrictive voter ID laws.