Letters to the Editor
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Considering the push polling Clinton surrogates have done in this election
Is it really that much of a stretch to think she's behind this?
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Thanks!
Wow, that was definitely worth the wait. Thanksf or the even handed converage of this. Initial reports looked pretty damning, but it seems as though the cooler heads will prevail on this one. Well done.
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Thank you, Koppelman
That's a lengthy article! No wonder it took you a little longer than announced to write about. Thanks for covering it.
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This is an apologist version of events
The more we learn, the worse this looks, and I take issue with your opinion. In fact, this has been a problem for five months now, in which WVWV make these illegal (yes, they're illegal) robocalls and then repeatedly apologize for the confusion.
You can view the organizations ties to Clinton here:
http://www.npr.org/news/images/2008/may/01/wvwvchart.html
And although you correctly note that Lux now supports Obama, you for whatever reason decided not to reveal that he used to support Clinton, and switched his allegiance.
The aggregated evidence from several sources now (NPR included), not just TPM, are in fact suggesting exactly the opposite of what you're arguing. WVWV has very strong ties to Hillary Clinton, is made up of several former political appointees of Bill Clinton's administration, and has recklessly, repeatedly, and (in the case of NC) knowingly placed misleading and illegal robocalls in several states.
See also this DailyKos diary which picks up some of the group's cronyism and possible financial mismanagement, as the group hired relatives of its board members (in one case the company of its founder's husband) to produce mailings and other collateral. One of their board members's firms has done $1,000,000 of work for Clinton's campaign.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/2/64733/51431/906/507604
You do great work, Alex, but you're no JMM.
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Wow
My head is spinning. I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, I really shouldn't.
Alex, you're a goddamn hack and a shill.
I would like to refer everyone reading this to a host of other articles that have covered this organization's activities. A word to those who don't like to read bad things about people connected to Hillary Clinton: most of these articles don't have "they're too stupid to be evil" as their thesis.
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/labels/women's%20voices%20women%20vote.asp
"As we have already noted, many of the group's top leaders have worked for Bill and Hillary Clinton in some capacity. Founder and President Page Gardner, for example, served as the deputy political director for the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign and worked on his presidential transition team. Executive Director Joe Goode was a pollster for Bill Clinton, and former Women's Voices leadership team member and strategic planner Maggie Williams is now Hillary Clinton's campaign manager.
"The Center breaks new ground by showing just how heavily and disproportionately Women's Voices principals have invested in the Hillary Clinton campaign. According to the chart, they have donated a total of $34,800 to Hillary Clinton or HillPAC since 2000. At the same time, they have donated only $3,600 to the Obama campaign and $2,300 to John Edwards."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90114863
"The Institute turned up other complaints about the group as well, in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. A 'Lamont Williams' robocall similar to North Carolina's ran in Ohio last fall. In Virginia, robocalls days before the February primary caused voters to flood the board of elections with phone calls, in turn triggering an investigation by the state police.
"Kromm says this shows at least five months of a 'deceptive tactic, illegal in many states.' He notes, 'Each time this group is criticized for this activity, they apologize for the confusion.'"
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/nonprofit_womens_voices_women.php
"As Facing South notes in detail, this is not the first time that there have been complaints about WVWV's activities. There have been complaints in several states.
"And in Virginia this February, the state police there even investigated the calls as a possible identity theft scam, only to find that WVWV was behind them. The calls had gone out shortly before the Virginia presidential primary."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x501721
"In a statement posted yesterday to the website of Women's Voices Women Vote, the D.C. nonprofit behind the illegal and deceptive robo-calls placed to North Carolina residents, President Page Gardner claims her group notified the N.C. State Board of Elections about their activities in the state before sending out registration forms to voters:
"In advance of the mail, a letter was sent to Gary Bartlett in the North Carolina Board of Elections Office. A copy of the letter and a press release sent to North Carolina media announcing the registration effort is attached.
"There is no copy of a letter or press release attached to the posted statement. But more important, the group did not notify state elections officials about their registration effort in advance, as Gardner claims -- at least not the whole of that effort. The following e-mail was sent today, May 1, by Board of Elections attorney Don Wright to Joyce McCloy, an elections watchdog with the N.C. Coalition for Verified Voting:
As of yesterday's mail, this office had not yet received a mailed copy of the Women's Voices, Women Vote letter. The attached faxed copy was faxed to me around 5:50 pm on Monday April 28th. As you can see, it does not say anything about automated phone calls, and informs this office that the voter registration mailings "will arrive in homes the week of May 1st". Prior to this fax, this organization had not communicated to this agency about its current actions.
We are aware of the statement posted on their website and the fact it refers to attachments that are not available.
Don Wright
General Counsel
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HILLARY HAS BECOME SCARY
I used to see Hillary as a hack, and maybe a corporate shill. The Dem "good cop" to the Repub "bad cop". Then she became cold, graspy and nasty. Now I understand why Repubs have a livid visceral reaction at the menyion of her name.
Theres an amazing video excerpt exploding on Youtube of Clinton staffers Carville and Kantor in a campaign office talking about Indiana voters, saying they don't matter, and calling them "sh*t" and "white ni**ers". Some Clintonians say the audio is doctored. But it's not. The volume is raised so you can hear it, and that's all. Not my opinion, that's from the source of the video post (and you can also hear it on the original footage from the documentary "The War Room"). Pretty stunning. While it's a bit fuzzy, you can definately make out Kantor calling the people of Indiana "white ni**ers". Charming.