CBS News Catches Republicans in Dirty Trick
Rick Jacobs
Posted December 4, 2007 | 12:37 AM (EST)


CBS Weekend News broadcast a solid view of desperate Republicans who
know that they cannot win the 2008 presidential election unless they
resort to dirty tricks. As I have written here since August,
Republican operatives, many with ties to Rudolph Giuliani, have been
attempting to place on the June 2008 California primary ballot an
initiative that would change the way electoral college votes are
allocated from the traditional "winner take all," to a proportional
system that allocates electoral college votes by congressional
district.

We all dislike the Electoral College, but this is just a simple dirty
trick. If it were equitable, the Republicans would have joined with
Democrats to sponsor such initiatives and legislative changes in all
of the big states across the country. Even Governor Schwarzenegger,
still officially a Republican, says "changing the rules in the middle
of the game" is a "loser's mentality." And that's just what we see. If
you can't beat 'em at the polls, change the rules, change the way you
count votes, do anything but face reality.

The CBS story speaks for itself. It came about because dedicated
online activists including a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara who
is a diarist at Daily Kos, caught signature gatherers for the dirty
trick initiative lying to students to get them to sign the petitions.
They used children's cancer care as bait for to switch people to
signing the dirty trick initiative. The Courage Campaign (disclosure:
I am founder and chair) received a call from the intrepid blogger and
activist. Our staffer, Erik Love, captured the whole sordid mess on
video. You can see Erik's story here at Daily Kos.

This is one example of the mainstream media reporting the news, not
reporting commentary masquerading as news. Have a look. And if you
feel so inclined, check us out at the Courage Campaign to lend a hand.

edspyhill01@yahoo.com, 12/5/2007,9:38:28 AM, wrote:

>
>
> CBS News Catches Republicans in Dirty Trick
> Rick Jacobs
> Posted December 4, 2007 | 12:37 AM (EST)
>
>
> CBS Weekend News broadcast a solid view of desperate Republicans who
> know that they cannot win the 2008 presidential election unless they
> resort to dirty tricks. As I have written here since August,
> Republican operatives, many with ties to Rudolph Giuliani, have been
> attempting to place on the June 2008 California primary ballot an
> initiative that would change the way electoral college votes are
> allocated from the traditional "winner take all," to a proportional
> system that allocates electoral college votes by congressional
> district.
>
> We all dislike the Electoral College, but this is just a simple dirty
> trick. If it were equitable, the Republicans would have joined with
> Democrats to sponsor such initiatives and legislative changes in all
> of the big states across the country. Even Governor Schwarzenegger,
> still officially a Republican, says "changing the rules in the middle
> of the game" is a "loser's mentality." And that's just what we see. If
> you can't beat 'em at the polls, change the rules, change the way you
> count votes, do anything but face reality.
>
> The CBS story speaks for itself. It came about because dedicated
> online activists including a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara who
> is a diarist at Daily Kos, caught signature gatherers for the dirty
> trick initiative lying to students to get them to sign the petitions.
> They used children's cancer care as bait for to switch people to
> signing the dirty trick initiative. The Courage Campaign (disclosure:
> I am founder and chair) received a call from the intrepid blogger and
> activist. Our staffer, Erik Love, captured the whole sordid mess on
> video. You can see Erik's story here at Daily Kos.
>
> This is one example of the mainstream media reporting the news, not
> reporting commentary masquerading as news. Have a look. And if you
> feel so inclined, check us out at the Courage Campaign to lend a hand.

I like the Electoral College just as it is. The wisdom of the Founding
Fathers when putting roadblocks in front of politicians was genius. If
only we could return to the spirit of the Constitution instead of what
it has been "interpreted" into we would be in much better shape than we
have become over the last 100 years. Of course that would mean having
to deport all current politicians and special interests groups to
Afghanistan or such place.

--
"Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights could get through
Congress today? It wouldn’t even get out of committee." ~ F. Lee Bailey

On Wed, 5 Dec 2007 06:38:28 -0800 (PST), "edspyhill01@yahoo.com"
<edspyhill01@yahoo.com> wrote:

>CBS News Catches Republicans in Dirty Trick
>Rick Jacobs

CBS News?

ROFLMAO

--
Scott in Florida

"Scott in Florida" <JustAskl@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:f2gdl359g06h5kpn5v9hgfqfj76niam5u4@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 5 Dec 2007 06:38:28 -0800 (PST), "edspyhill01@yahoo.com"
> <edspyhill01@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>CBS News Catches Republicans in Dirty Trick
>>Rick Jacobs
>
> CBS News?
>
> ROFLMAO
>
> --
> Scott in Florida


It's also been mentioned by a militantly conservative news source that you
approve of. Go find it.

<edspyhill01@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:845b09f9-4421-4d51-8bdd-376e196aefa5@x69g2000hsx.googlegroups.com...
>
>
> CBS News Catches Republicans in Dirty Trick
> Rick Jacobs
> Posted December 4, 2007 | 12:37 AM (EST)
>
>
> CBS Weekend News broadcast a solid view of desperate Republicans who
> know that they cannot win the 2008 presidential election unless they
> resort to dirty tricks. As I have written here since August,
> Republican operatives, many with ties to Rudolph Giuliani, have been
> attempting to place on the June 2008 California primary ballot an
> initiative that would change the way electoral college votes are
> allocated from the traditional "winner take all," to a proportional
> system that allocates electoral college votes by congressional
> district.
>

Republican "operatives"? Darrell Issa is behind this, and he is not an
operative -- he is a sitting United States Representative.

I am not in favor of his plan, not because it would help my party but
because it would change the fundamentals of the Electoral College. There is
a strong argument that the Electoral College is outdated and we need to
scrap it, but Issa's plan only covers California and we need a change that
affects all 50 states or we leave the Electoral College alone.

Democrats in the state fear the Issa Plan because the majority of the state
is a red state -- we vote republican -- but the main population centers
along the coast line contain the blue-state voters. If one looks at the
voting turnout from 2004, you would see that most counties (which are
different from congressional districts) voted red, except that San
Francisco, Los Angeles, and a few othersw along the coast voted blue. If the
Issa Plan succeeds, then many of our Electoral College votes will be
funneled to the Republican Party, and this would spell disaster for the
Democrats nationally. Today, all Electoral College votes go to the winner of
the general election, typically a Democrat because a Democrat really only
needs to carry Los Angeles and San Francisco. Issa wants the Electoral
College votes to be allocated based on the voting of each district. Using
2004 as a guage, the Republican candidate would have received more than 20
Electoral College votes from the state. We have 53 congressional districts,
and in '04 the Republican candidate would have captured about half of the
votes of the EC.

Since it takes a majority of EC votes to carry a national election, Issa's
Plan has a huge negative impact for Democrats. It would make California a
hot compaign stop for both parties, where it is virtually neglected today.
Why campaign in California when it does not matter -- the liberal voters in
the two large population centers will vote Democrat and thusly award the
entire state to one candidate. Issa seeks to change that dynamic. But,
Darrell Issa is not an "operative", and his plan is well known in
California -- hardly the antics of dirty tricksters. Calling this a dirty
trick is a bit dirty in itself, but you probably do not see that.



> We all dislike the Electoral College, but this is just a simple dirty
> trick. If it were equitable, the Republicans would have joined with
> Democrats to sponsor such initiatives and legislative changes in all
> of the big states across the country. Even Governor Schwarzenegger,
> still officially a Republican, says "changing the rules in the middle
> of the game" is a "loser's mentality." And that's just what we see. If
> you can't beat 'em at the polls, change the rules, change the way you
> count votes, do anything but face reality.
>
> The CBS story speaks for itself. It came about because dedicated
> online activists including a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara who
> is a diarist at Daily Kos, caught signature gatherers for the dirty
> trick initiative lying to students to get them to sign the petitions.
> They used children's cancer care as bait for to switch people to
> signing the dirty trick initiative. The Courage Campaign (disclosure:
> I am founder and chair) received a call from the intrepid blogger and
> activist. Our staffer, Erik Love, captured the whole sordid mess on
> video. You can see Erik's story here at Daily Kos.
>

CBS is not reporting anything new here. Indeed, Issa's plan has already
failed once, and is back again with a few changes that may or may not make
it more appealing.

I accept your characterization of the loser mentality, I would not call it
that but I get what you are saying. If EVERY state conformed to the Issa
Plan -- award 2 EC votes to the majority vote winner, then award the
remaining EC votes according to the outcome of the congressional
districts -- then I would be in favor of the changes he has in mind. The
problem I have with the Issa Plan is that it only affects one state, and
this is bad.



> This is one example of the mainstream media reporting the news, not
> reporting commentary masquerading as news. Have a look. And if you
> feel so inclined, check us out at the Courage Campaign to lend a hand.
>

The Daily Kos is a far-left ultra-liberal organization. Take anything they
have to say with a grain of salt.

"JoeSpareBedroom" <dishborealis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Cnz5j.21755$ya1.16623@news02.roc.ny...
> "Scott in Florida" <JustAskl@verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:f2gdl359g06h5kpn5v9hgfqfj76niam5u4@4ax.com...
>> On Wed, 5 Dec 2007 06:38:28 -0800 (PST), "edspyhill01@yahoo.com"
>> <edspyhill01@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>>CBS News Catches Republicans in Dirty Trick
>>>Rick Jacobs
>>
>> CBS News?
>>
>> ROFLMAO
>>
>> --
>> Scott in Florida
>
>
> It's also been mentioned by a militantly conservative news source that you
> approve of. Go find it.
>

I'm not sure -- I did not see the segment -- but they (the militantly
conservative news source) were opposed to the plan that Issa is floating.

I don't really care that they favor or oppose Issa's plan, I would like to
see the Electoral College changed but think this is not the way to do it. I
think that all states have to count EC votes the same way -- assuming we
keep the EC as a fundamental means of electing national leaders. I like
Issa's idea, but dislike that it would only apply to California. I think
Issa's goal could be acheived if we did not have gerrymandering of
congressional districts. Well, his goal would not be acheived, per se, but
California would look far more red-state than it does today, and this would
throw its weight in a direction that Issa wants and _that_ would lead to the
outcome he is looking for.

"Jeff Strickland" <crwlr@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:XHA5j.25667$AX6.11371@trnddc07...
>
> "JoeSpareBedroom" <dishborealis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:Cnz5j.21755$ya1.16623@news02.roc.ny...
>> "Scott in Florida" <JustAskl@verizon.net> wrote in message
>> news:f2gdl359g06h5kpn5v9hgfqfj76niam5u4@4ax.com...
>>> On Wed, 5 Dec 2007 06:38:28 -0800 (PST), "edspyhill01@yahoo.com"
>>> <edspyhill01@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>CBS News Catches Republicans in Dirty Trick
>>>>Rick Jacobs
>>>
>>> CBS News?
>>>
>>> ROFLMAO
>>>
>>> --
>>> Scott in Florida
>>
>>
>> It's also been mentioned by a militantly conservative news source that
>> you approve of. Go find it.
>>
>
> I'm not sure -- I did not see the segment -- but they (the militantly
> conservative news source) were opposed to the plan that Issa is floating.
>
> I don't really care that they favor or oppose Issa's plan, I would like to
> see the Electoral College changed but think this is not the way to do it.
> I think that all states have to count EC votes the same way -- assuming we
> keep the EC as a fundamental means of electing national leaders. I like
> Issa's idea, but dislike that it would only apply to California. I think
> Issa's goal could be acheived if we did not have gerrymandering of
> congressional districts. Well, his goal would not be acheived, per se, but
> California would look far more red-state than it does today, and this
> would throw its weight in a direction that Issa wants and _that_ would
> lead to the outcome he is looking for.


Before you get to deeply involved in new subjects, you have some unfinished
business. I still need to hear your explanation about how the Oakland (or
any other city government) is allowed to meddle with security procedures
created by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) to protect
Americans.

Stop hiding from this issue.

In article
<845b09f9-4421-4d51-8bdd-376e196aefa5@x69g2000hsx.googlegroups.com>,
"edspyhill01@yahoo.com" <edspyhill01@yahoo.com> wrote:

> CBS News Catches Republicans in Dirty Trick
> Rick Jacobs
> Posted December 4, 2007 | 12:37 AM (EST)
>
>
> CBS Weekend News broadcast a solid view of desperate Republicans who
> know that they cannot win the 2008 presidential election unless they
> resort to dirty tricks. As I have written here since August,
> Republican operatives, many with ties to Rudolph Giuliani, have been
> attempting to place on the June 2008 California primary ballot an
> initiative that would change the way electoral college votes are
> allocated from the traditional "winner take all," to a proportional
> system that allocates electoral college votes by congressional
> district.

Democrats tried this also.


>
> We all dislike the Electoral College, but this is just a simple dirty

The Electoral College was and still is a good idea. The founding
fathers knew what they were doing. Maybe you don't like it, but the
rest of us do.

> trick. If it were equitable, the Republicans would have joined with
> Democrats to sponsor such initiatives and legislative changes in all
> of the big states across the country. Even Governor Schwarzenegger,
> still officially a Republican, says "changing the rules in the middle
> of the game" is a "loser's mentality." And that's just what we see. If
> you can't beat 'em at the polls, change the rules, change the way you
> count votes, do anything but face reality.

So did Gores henchmen in Florida try to change the rules, they failed
badly.


>
> The CBS story speaks for itself. It came about because dedicated
> online activists including a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara who
> is a diarist at Daily Kos, caught signature gatherers for the dirty
> trick initiative lying to students to get them to sign the petitions.
> They used children's cancer care as bait for to switch people to
> signing the dirty trick initiative. The Courage Campaign (disclosure:
> I am founder and chair) received a call from the intrepid blogger and
> activist. Our staffer, Erik Love, captured the whole sordid mess on
> video. You can see Erik's story here at Daily Kos.
>
> This is one example of the mainstream media reporting the news, not
> reporting commentary masquerading as news. Have a look. And if you
> feel so inclined, check us out at the Courage Campaign to lend a hand.

I don't trust CBS news at all.
--
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers.
We are the president."

Hillary Clinton

"dbu." <nospam@nospam.moc> wrote in message


> I don't trust CBS news at all.

I assume you prefer Fixed Noise?

In article <13le99tit8k9n50@corp.supernews.com>,
"mack" <mackerel@dslextreme.com> wrote:

> "dbu." <nospam@nospam.moc> wrote in message
>
>
> > I don't trust CBS news at all.
>
> I assume you prefer Fixed Noise?

I assume you enjoy your shuffleboard. Perhaps games and food at the NH?
--
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers.
We are the president."

Hillary Clinton