Do you watch Morning Joe?  You should start.  Congressman Peter King (R-NY) just called out Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) big time for coming out against aid for Sandy victims.  He has done this before and has been rebuked by the GOP House leadership but he remains really, really, really pissed off.

King blasted Rubio specifically because of all the money Florida has received for hurricane relief — and then going to NY to raise money.  His exact words about the latter were “He should stay home.”  I cannot find that video but here is some of his complaining about the issue.  When I find the video I mean, I will post it.  Oh and this is older video but very well worth watching.

And if you want to know why people call Joe Scarborough a RINO (Republican in name only), this may show you why:

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare turns three today.  Many of the provisions will go into effect in January 2014 and you may be unsure about how this may impact your coverage.  Some states have seen insurance companies increase their premiums and you may be concerned that will happen to you.  A new web site has been set up to explain the bill and what your options will be.  If you are interested, check this out.

PS.  I recently had a heated conversation with someone who was convinced the ACA could have been written by Hitler (really, it was surreal, I am such a freak magnet).  Nothing I have read about makes me think that, if you have evidence to prove me wrong, please let me know.

 

By Ben Cohen: We discuss the topic of Republican voter suppression in this weeks mailbag, but I thought it was worth expanding on a little given how serious the issue is. A reader asked whether we thought that the Republican’s admission that they tried to stop minorities from voting would change anything for elections going forward, and I answered that it most likely wouldn’t.

The answer why is fairly straight forward – Republicans lost the general election in part because of the ‘demographic time bomb’ and unless they change their policies, they don’t really have any other way of sustaining electoral viability. As Steve Benen noted:

Mitt Romney took an enormous gamble about a year ago: he would run very far to the right on immigration policy, alienating the fastest growing segment of the American electorate on purpose, in order to secure the Republican Party’s nomination. Then, he hoped to be able to avoid a drubbing from Latino voters in the general election. It was, as Ron Brownstein put it, Romney’s “original sin.”

The gamble, we now know, failed miserably. President Obama won close races in Colorado, Nevada, and (probably) Florida, and it was Latino voters who made this success possible.

We covered the issue of voter fraud a couple of months back, talking with Craig Unger about his book ‘Boss Rove’ where the Vanity Fair contributing editor detailed Karl Rove’s extraordinary efforts to suppress the vote in Ohio in 2004. The picture Unger painted of Republican efforts to stop minorities from voting was terrifying to say the least. Here’s an excerpt from the interview we did where Unger outlines GOP attempts to stop minority voting in the 2012 election:

“You’re going to see this on a large scale in the upcoming election,” he explained to me. “That is Karl Rove who is the father of voter IDs and voter suppression. He started a campaign, he started it before 2004 in Ohio saying that there’s widespread voter fraud, people who a registering are Mickey Mouse and so forth, or they are dead people being registered to vote en-masse and as a result we need voter IDs. But the fact of the matter is that this type of thing happens very very rarely.”……..

Rove, a careful and insightful strategist has long understood that the Republicans face a demographic ticking time bomb. There are around 50 million Hispanics in America today, and there will be about 70 million in about 2020. In Texas alone there are roughly 10 million Hispanics, and they vote about 2:1 for Democrats. Rove is extremely worried that if they were to start voting in large numbers states like Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico will turn blue, and he’s working diligently on strategies to keep voter turn out low.

“It’s also been called ‘Juan Crow’ because of the challenges the Republican face demographically,” said Unger.  “The answer has been to keep these people from voting. And they do that again and again. They do it in the black districts in Ohio, in Cleveland, in Cuyahoga County — I itemize this in my book, but the lack of voting machines, and I refer to the technique of cross over voting where blacks were shunted to the wrong voting booths deliberately and when that happens you’re using punch cards, you may not know it but if you vote for the Democrat, the vote actually goes to the wrong candidate.”

Unger’s predictions played out exactly on election day and in states like Florida, thousands of minorities were prevented from voting by the hiring of ‘election consultants’ that pushed for reductions in early voting days and hours, knowing African American and immigrant communities tended to vote early. In 2008 Democrats, minorities turned out in unprecedented numbers for the President. For example, in Palm Beach County, 61.2 percent of all early voting ballots were cast by Democrats that year, compared with only 18.7 percent by Republicans. In a stunning admission from the Former Republican Party Chairman in Florida Jim Greer, he revealed he had attended meetings where consultants made clear that early voting had to stopped at all costs. From The Palm Beach Post:

“The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates,” Greer told The Post. “It’s done for one reason and one reason only. … ‘We’ve got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us,’ ” Greer said he was told by those staffers and consultants.

“They never came in to see me and tell me we had a (voter) fraud issue,” Greer said. “It’s all a marketing ploy.”

The demographic change presents a true nightmare scenario for the GOP, and its attempts to circumvent this have been truly horrifying. Republicans are catching on to the fact that labeling half the American population as ‘social parasites’ and ‘takers’  isn’t good when it comes to getting votes. This theme has been perpetuated in public – mostly on Fox News and Right Wing radio – but the audience is limited and the knock on effects counterproductive. Most Americans in the center are not comfortable with that type of rhetoric, and the Democrats are hoovering up wavering voters with a more inclusive approach to politics.

So what options do Republicans have going forward?

We’re starting to see cracks in the low tax militancy front with several prominent Republicans saying they would budge when it comes to negotiating with Obama on the fast approaching ‘fiscal cliff’, some have made noise about toning down the anti immigrant rhetoric (with even Sean Hannity doing an about turn), and pro choice, pro gay marriage Republicans have begun to make themselves more visible. But the change isn’t exactly dramatic and it won’t be enough to undo the years of abusive rhetoric and archaic policy proposals that have come to define the Republican Party.

The only choice they have left is to continue efforts to stop minorities and poor people from voting – the conclusion Karl Rove has obviously come to and is dedicating all his resources to pursuing. The Republican’s admission that they were involved in voter suppression shines some much needed light on the skeletons in their closet, but in reality it’s only scratching the surface.

 

 

By Bob Cesca:

This probably won’t go over very well in the southern states where the whiny, pouty threat of secession has been revived yet again, but the federal government needs to take over the regulation and process of voting — and specifically in the states where Republicans have conspired to suppress and disenfranchise minority voters.

Dennis Miller (when he used to be reasonable) once said, “States can’t pave fucking roads.” In other words, if they can’t handle the simple task of applying new macadam over cracks and potholes, then why are the states still running our most sacred civic event? The Republican-controlled states have especially abused the privilege by rolling back early voting and adding nonsensical voter ID laws. This year, they’ve proved themselves entirely incapable of conducting themselves on the level and have, instead, opted to turn voting laws into self-serving weapons in service of the Republican Party, rather than making sure everyone regardless of ethnic background can conveniently cast a vote with the same ease of use as a fast food drive-thru.

How do we know they’ve been nefarious about voting? Jim Greer, the former chairman of the Republican Party in Florida, said so.

“The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates,” Greer told the Post. “It’s done for one reason and one reason only…‘We’ve got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us.’”

Greer went on to refer to the claims of voter fraud as a “marketing ploy.” Of course it is. In Iowa, Matt Schultz, the secretary of state, is on a crusade to enact similar voter ID laws in the wake of the 2012 election. As evidence of voter fraud, Schultz has smoked out exactly… eight cases. Most of them appear have been benign — cases where residents, such as convicted felons and immigrants, didn’t realize they were ineligible to vote but did so anyway.

By the way, there were 1.5 million votes cast in Iowa in this month’s election, which means the rate of alleged voter fraud was 0.00053 percent. Can you imagine undergoing compulsory radiation and chemotherapy if your doctor told you there was only a 0.00053 percent chance you’d die from cancer? Worse, as of this writing there hasn’t been a single conviction. So, really, the rate of convicted voter fraud in Iowa is zero percent.

As we’ve written and discussed over and over: there’s no there there. Which leaves only one explanation. The laws are racially-motivated.

Greer also acknowledged that the effort to restrict early voting would directly affect turnout among Florida’s African Americans, a demographic that consistently supports Democrats.

“The sad thing about that is yes, there is prejudice and racism in the party but the real prevailing thought is that they don’t think minorities will ever vote Republican,” Greer told the Post.

Consequently, it doesn’t matter to Republicans if minorities are able to vote. The fewer the better. This is precisely why the Voting Rights Acts is more important than ever. Not since the Jim Crow era have white conservative southern politicians engaged in such a concerted effort to prevent minorities from exercising their right to vote.

Therefore it’s critical that the federal government intercede on behalf of those voters and take over the process, not unlike the Reconstruction era when it was clear that the post-secession south was incapable of conducting fair and open elections. If they want to act like secession-fetishists who are actively preventing minority Americans from voting, then they ought to be treated accordingly.

The top-line changes:

1) Enact universal voter registration. When citizens turn 18 or attain citizenship status, they should be automatically registered to vote.

2) Ballots and voting machines should be standardized nationwide and only contracted to fully nonpartisan organizations without any political ties, agendas or connections to political parties or candidates. Software should be open source and routinely audited, and ballot-counting should be conducted by non-political government workers.

3) Government preclearance should be expanded and enforced. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act mandates that states where Jim Crow laws were prevalent are required to receive approval from either the Justice Department or federal judges before enacting new voting laws. Clearly this isn’t working. In Florida, the Republican law that restricted early voting — the law Greer and others have criticized — was only reversed in five of 67 counties when it clearly should’ve been struck down throughout the entire state.

4) Early voting should be permanently expanded to a full month nationwide, culminating with the traditional first Tuesday of November.

5) Or, quite simply, there should be a constitutional amendment turning over the election process to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) or another regulatory body, thus beefing up the 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th Amendments.

The notion of voter fraud is precisely what Jim Greer called it: a ploy. In fact, the real and rampant fraud is being perpetrated by the Republican establishment to the detriment of constitutional rights and the integrity of our electoral process, not to mention a considerable cross-section of Americans who’ve already endured far too many years of disenfranchisement and suppression. So enough. No more Republican grabassery. If they can’t behave like adults, then the real adults need to step in and take their newest toys away. And if this is another catalyst for them to further amplify their secession threats, then have at it. It won’t work and will only really serve to vindicate the notion that they have no place in serious corridors of leadership.

The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From Huff Post:

Jim Greer, the former head of the Florida Republican Party, recently claimed that a law shortening the early voting period in the state was deliberately designed to suppress voting among groups that tend to support Democratic candidates, the Palm Beach Post reports.

“The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates,” Greer told the Post. “It’s done for one reason and one reason only…‘We’ve got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us.’”

The HB 1355 law, which was passed by Florida’s Republican legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott (R) in Nov. 2011, cut the number of early voting days from 14 to eight. It was publicly sold as an effort to reduce voter fraud and to save money, but Greer says that this was simply a “marketing ploy.”

Obama is holding on to his commanding lead in Ohio – he’s up by 4 points. Richard Adams at the Guardian points out, for Romney to win, he has to take Florida, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa and Colorado.

Romney’s increasingly narrow path to the Presidency

To get the latest updates and inside info on the Presidential election, check out our live blog.

Ok, we’re off to a ripping start. Obama goes on the attack immediately accusing Romney of being completely out of touch with reality. He accuses Romney of thinking the biggest geo political threat is Russia! He then lambasts him for being wrong ‘every single time’ whenever he’s offered an opinion.

We’re going to be covering the Presidential debate in Boca Raton, Florida live tonight on The Daily Banter, so make sure you check in at 9pm ET/6pm PT for our up to the minute analysis! Tonight’s debate is an important one as the polls are showing a statistically tied race – will Obama continue to climb back after an epic performance in the second round, or will Romney find his voice again and take it to the President on foreign policy – a topic he believes he can score significant points in? Tune in to find out!!

President Obama dropped his planned campaign speech in Florida over the weekend and instead held a moment of silence for the victims of the Aurora, Colorado shootings.

Said the President: “And if there’s anything to take away from this tragedy it’s the reminder that life is very fragile. Our time here is limited and it is precious. And what matters at the end of the day is not the small things, it’s not the trivial things, which so often consume us and our daily lives. Ultimately, it’s how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another.”

Watch the speech below:

From the Huff Post:

A new trove of evidence released by the Florida state attorney prosecuting George Zimmerman for second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin reveals the extent to which law enforcement doubted Zimmerman’s early claims of self-defense.

“His actions are inconsistent with those of a person who has stated he was in fear of another subject,” an investigator wrote in an early report on the Feb. 26 shooting. “Investigative findings show that George Michael Zimmerman had at least two opportunities to speak with Trayvon Benjamin Martin in order to defuse the circumstances,” and Zimmerman twice “failed to identify himself as a concerned resident or a neighborhood watch member.”

The report also said that Martin’s and Zimmerman’s respective physical dimensions did not place Zimmerman at a disadvantage worthy of lethal force.

“Investigative findings show the physical injuries displayed by [Zimmerman] are marginally consistent with a life-threatening violent episode described by him, during which neither a deadly weapon nor deadly force was deployed by Trayvon Martin,” the report said.

The evidence released this afternoon includes a one-hour video recording of an interview between lead investigator Christopher Serino and Zimmerman at the Sanford, Fla., police headquarters, a pair of audio recordings between Serino and Zimmerman, and 29 pages of police reports and notes, including a handwritten narrative by Zimmerman recounting the events on the night of Feb. 26.

Hours after the release of the new evidence, Serino, who had expressed doubts over Zimmerman’s story and suggested that charges be filed, was reassigned to the patrol division, according to the Associated Press. The reassignment came at his own request, AP reports.

This latest Zimmerman disclosures are the latest in a series of releases of formerly sealed evidence, made public under pressure from media companies, who have argued that full disclosure of the evidence is in the public’s interest. The prosecution and the defense both objected.

The neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in central Florida, could soon be released from custody after a judge set a $150,000 bond that will let him get out of jail while he awaits trial.

George Zimmerman apologized in court Friday to Martin’s family for shooting the 17-year-old boy in a confrontation that has riveted the nation and sparked intense discussions about race and gun control.

“I wanted to say I am sorry for the loss of your son,” Zimmerman said in an unusual appeal directly to Martin’s family before he testified in the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford. “I thought he was a little bit younger than I was, and I did not know if he was armed or not.”

Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, said after the hearing that his client was responding to an interview in which Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, said she wanted to hear from the man who shot her son.

“He didn’t want to defend himself, he didn’t want to discuss the facts of the case. He heard the request of the family, and he wanted to respond to it,” O’Mara said, adding that an attempt to apologize to the family in private was rebuffed.

Attorneys for Martin’s family, however, called the apology a self-serving act by a man facing a life prison sentence if convicted of the second-degree murder charge against him.

Read more at CNN…