National Politics

A Mid-Missouri tipster tells Fired Up! that the McCain campaign is up with a round of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) polling calls to voters in the state.  IVR uses automated voice prompts and asks respondents to reply to questions with a press of the telephone keys.

Yesterday's McCain IVR calls asked a battery of five questions (as remembered and relayed):

1. Do you consider yourself a Republican, Democrat or Independent?

2. If the Presidential election were held today, would you vote for John McCain, Barack Obama or other?

3. Have things that you have recent seen, heard or read made you more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain?

4. Have things that you have recent seen, heard or read made you more likely or less likely to vote for Barack Obama?

5. Which candidate has stood up to President Bush on the issue of global climate change by promoting new policies to deal with that issue: John McCain or Barack Obama?

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This evening, bestselling author and nationally syndicated columnist David Sirota will visit St. Louis to discuss his newest book, THE UPRISING: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street & Washington.   The event will be held at 7pm at Left Bank Books (399 N. Euclid, St. Louis, MO.) at Euclid and McPherson in the Central West End.

Sirota, a longtime Congressional committee advisor to Wisconsin Democrat Dave Obey and consultant to Dem Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, has a new book that looks at populism on both the Right and Left and how it is shaping American politics. 

David Sirota will join State Senator Jeff Smith at a reading, Q&A and book signing sponsored by Fired Up Missouri, the Young Democrats, the Midwest Coalition for Responsible Investment and the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition.  

Richard Monroe is the Democratic Candidate facing Roy Blunt in the seventh district Congressional race.  His campaign is gaining more and more momentum as voters in this district learn of the voting record and position stands of Blunt.  Mr. Monroe is out on the campaign trail daily, talking to the voters of the district, and is drawing good crowds in the traditionally Republican areas of Jasper, Newton, and McDonald counties.

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Every once in a while we get a perfect illustration of why GOPers work so hard at obscuring facts. 

Today's example is a story from the AP's Lara Jakes Jordan about the prospective grand jury investigation into possible perjury by former U.S. Attorney Brad Schlozman.  Jordan notes the connection between Schlozman and predecessor Todd Graves, writing:

Schlozman had defended his decision as U.S. Attorney in Kansas City to bring a Missouri voter fraud case days before the 2006 election, despite guidelines that discourage such cases because of the chance they could influence voting.

Schlozman's predecessor in Kansas City, Todd Graves, testified at the same hearing that he was asked to resign his post after clashing with senior department officials over the handling of some high-profile cases, including the voter fraud case. Graves was one of nine U.S. attorneys who were ousted in 2006 in an unusual midterm purge that ignited charges of White House political meddling at the fiercely independent Justice Department.

Something is very much wrong in this excerpt.

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New Report reveals abuse/torture of detainees. "The report is prefaced by retired U.S. Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led the Army's investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in 2003. There is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes," Taguba says. "The only question is whether those who ordered torture will be held to account." (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/18/gitmo.detainees/index.html)  Story Continued »

As reported everywhere, John McCain is in Springfield today for a public forum on energy policy.  

McCain shares the stage at the forum with Mike Chesser, chairman and CEO of Great Plains Energy which owns Kansas City Power & Light.  This spring, KCP&L endorsed the effort by Missourians for Cleaner Cheaper Energy to place a renewable energy standard on Missouri's November ballot:

"Our endorsement of the renewable energy initiative proposal underscores our continuing commitment to achieving regional sustainability by supporting investments in clean energy sources," said Michael Chesser...

But McCain has consistently opposed renewable energy standards, voting in the Senate at least 10 times either against implementing renewable energy production thresholds or renewable energy production tax credits. 

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As former US Atty Brad Schlozman resurfaces as the likely focus of a federal grand jury investigation for perjury, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Perez buys into the Todd Graves spin on why he was forced out as US Attorney.  Perez writes:

Mr. Schlozman's promotion to the U.S. attorney's office in Kansas City came after the department asked his predecessor, Todd P. Graves, to resign. Mr. Graves was among several U.S. attorneys who had shown reluctance to bring vote-fraud-related cases, according to testimony and documents gathered by Senate investigators last year.

What reluctance, exactly?  As we've pointed out here before, then-US Attorney Graves announced vote fraud charges only 10 days before the 2004 PRESIDENTIAL election, which had to be in violation of the Justice Department policy.  Yet the Wall Street Journal reports as fact Graves' supposed "reluctance to bring vote-fraud-related cases."  

Maybe while the investigators are looking into fibs made under oath, they should take a look at Graves' testimony too. 

...but a rejection of his policies by someone with such a proven track record of failure as GOP Gov. Matt Blunt seems like something Barack Obama might wear as a badge of honor.  

Just a thought. 

In a battleground state, being State Director for a presidential campaign is normally a full-time job.  But apparently not for the McCain campaign.

Why do I say that?  Well, according to Jo Mannies, today, the McCain campaign named Dave Hageman as the State Director for Missouri. 

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Freddy Hulshof and Matt Blunt (in a ploy no doubt constructed by their shared advisor, John Hancock) are anxious to find a convoluted way to turn the clock back to the Republican halcyon days of 2004.  Hence their tortured effort to pull Jay Nixon into California's gay marriage fight:

Like Blunt, Hulshof noted that 10 Republican attorneys general in other states that have such bans ”are asking the California Supreme Court to delay finalizing its ruling to legalize same-sex marriage, because of its national implications.”

“Missouri has a similar ban, but our attorney general has yet to join the list of those calling for a stay,” Hulshof said in a release.

This in spite of the fact that California voters, via initiative petition now certified for November's ballot by their Secretary of State, will have the opportunity to vote to overturn the recent Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in that state. 

So why do Matt Blunt and Kenny Hulshof want Jay Nixon to appeal to unelected state judges in California on gay marriage when the people of California are about to have their own say in the matter?

Why do all these guys think they can cleanse their souls by pouring their concerns into "tell-all memoirs" written years after they ceased having meaningful input? 

Scott McClellan had ample opportunity to staunch the flow of Bush administration lies while he worked in the White House.  Instead, he said nothing until writing a book that almost no one will read and which will make zero difference in outcomes.

He's already cast his lot.

Federal Judge S.L. Senter has issued a ruling barring Todd Graves and his firm from further participation in a high profile case in Mississippi:

GULFPORT, Miss. — A federal judge on Monday disqualified a group of Missouri lawyers, including a former high-ranking prosecutor, from working on a case against State Farm Insurance Cos. over its handling of policyholder claims after Hurricane Katrina....

Todd Graves, who joined the latter firm after serving as a U.S. Attorney in Missouri, is one of the disqualified lawyers. Graves said he couldn’t comment on the ruling because he hadn’t read it yet.

Senter faulted the lawyers for failing to act after they learned of alleged ethical misconduct by another attorney in the case, Richard “Dickie” Scruggs.

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Check out the new Missourians for Fair Elections website:  

http://mofairelections.blogspot.com/

And call your Senator and tell them not to mess with the constitution and our voting rights.