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Democrats In Trouble?

Posted by Gary Gross on Thursday, August 03, 2006 1:30:12 AM
The Washington Post's Jim VandeHei seems to think so. It appears as though he isn't the only one thinking that:

Top Democrats are increasingly concerned that they lack an effective plan to turn out voters this fall, creating tension among party leaders and prompting House Democrats to launch a fundraising effort aimed exclusively at mobilizing Democratic partisans.

It seems to me that the most important thing that the national parties should be about is putting together an efficient GOTV system. Obviously, a bunch of Democrats think that that system isn't in place. Here's one person that thinks that:

At a meeting last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA), criticized DNC Chairman Howard Dean for not spending enough party resources on get-out-the-vote efforts in the most competitive House and Senate races, according to congressional aides who were briefed on the exchange. Pelosi, echoing a complaint common among Democratic lawmakers and operatives, has warned privately that Democrats are at risk of going into the November midterm elections with a voter-mobilization plan that is underfunded and inferior to the proven turnout machine run by national Republicans.

Dean keep insisting on funding state party chairs in places like Mississippi rather than putting together an efficient GOTV team. Heads will roll this November if we see a lackluster turnout for Democrats. Dean's head would be at the top of that list.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (IL), who no longer speaks to Dean because of their strategic differences, is planning to ask lawmakers and donors to help fund a new turnout program run by House Democrats. He recruited Michael Whouley, a specialist in Democratic turnout, to help oversee it. "I am not waiting for anyone anymore who said they were going to" build a turnout operation, Emanuel said. "It has got to be done."

Emanuel is from the Clinton wing of the party so he's naturally opposed to the Deaniac wing. Don't expect them to mend fences in my lifetime. There's a better chance that we'll see peace in the Middle East before we see Dean and Emanuel getting along.

Whouley is an expert at GOTV operations but he isn't a miracle worker. The GOP GOTV team that brought voters to their voting booths nationwide in 2004 was actually put in place in 2002. The GOTV team from 2004 is still pretty much intact for 2006. It'll be difficult, if not impossible, for Whouley to make up that big a gap starting from scratch with only three months left to election day.

That's what happens when you have a maniac in charge of pulling the levers at the DNC.
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A Tangled Web of Deceit & Violence

Posted by Gary Gross on Thursday, August 03, 2006 1:02:44 AM
When I came across an older Steve Emerson post on the Counterterrorism Blog, it jogged my memory on a couple things, like:

The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) issued a fatwa against "terrorism and extremism", a 'fatwa' that "the Council on American, Islamic Relations (CAIR) organized the press conference, stating that several major U.S. Muslim groups endorsed the fatwa."

Emerson's conclusion is that the fatwa was bogus. Here's the logic behind his opinion:

Nowhere does it condemn the Islamic extremism ideology that has spawned Islamic terrorism. It does not renounce nor even acknowledge the existence of an Islamic jihadist culture that has permeated mosques and young Muslims around the world. It does not renounce Jihad let alone admit that it has been used to justify Islamic terrorist acts. It does not condemn by name any Islamic group or leader. In short, it is a fake fatwa designed merely to deceive the American public into believing that these groups are moderate.
In fact, officials of both organizations have been directly linked to and associated with Islamic terrorist groups and Islamic extremist organizations. One of them is an unindicted co-conspirator in a current terrorist case; another previous member was a financier to Al-Qaeda.

I recalled Hugh Hewitt repeatedly asking a guest from CAIR to denounce specific Muslims to no avail. The guest, whose name I forgot, kept on telling Hugh that he didn't think it was his job to denounce people. Rep. John Dingell made a similar-sounding statement yesterday on the subject of the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

CAIR promotes themselves as a civil rights organization and as a moderate Muslim organization. Based on what I've found, I'd call them more of a PR firm for militant Islamic groups. Here's why I say that:
  • CAIR has championed and defended officials of Islamic terrorist groups including Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzook, Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami al-Arian, Palestinian Islamic Jihad fundraiser Fawaz Damra, and the radical Egyptian cleric Wagdy Ghoneim.
  • CAIR has repeatedly attacked the prosecutions of Islamic terrorists arrested and/or convicted since 9-11 and has attacked the government’s freezing of Islamic terrorist fronts as part of a "war against Islam" by the United States.
  • CAIR has led protests against the deportation of radical Islamic clerics who have called for Jihad or who have been fundraisers for Hamas.
  • CAIR has asserted that the indictment of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami al-Arian on conspiracy to murder more than 100 people was "politically motivated" and instigated by "the attack dogs of the pro-Israeli lobby."
Let's take a look at the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an organization that Al-Arian headed in North America. As you can imagine, PIJ isn't a moderate Muslim organization. Here's something that I found:

In the Western world, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad is the organization usually meant by the term "Islamic Jihad", due to the widespread media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Although other groups may claim Islamic Jihad as their name, the particular name Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO) is the one used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or Pasdaran, as a cover name for state sanctioned terrorist operations.

Here's what I found out about Sami al-Arian's conviction:
  • In court papers unsealed Monday, al-Arian admits to raising money and lending support to Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
  • He admits to knowing that the PIJ "achieved its objectives by, among other means, acts of violence."
  • And he admits that he has been lying about it since the allegations first emerged in 1995. "Defendant is pleading guilty because defendant is in fact guilty," reads the agreement al-Arian signed.
Among the other things that al-Arian involved himself with was an organization called the Islamic Committee for Palestine. Here's how he was introduced at an event in 1991:

In 1991, a lecturer introducing Al-Arian at a conference in Cleveland, Michigan called the Committee "the active arm of the Jihad movement in Palestine."

That's a creative way of saying that Al-Arian helped raise funds for terrorists. By the way, there's an "armed wing" of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. They're known as the Al-Quds brigades. Here's what they're about:

The PIJ's armed wing, the Al-Quds brigades, has claimed responsibility for numerous militant attacks in Israel, including suicide bombings.

The bottom line to all this is that CAIR purports to be a voice for moderate Muslims in its press releases but is tied into a string of violent terrorist groups, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Al-Quds Brigade. Those groups aren't the types of groups I'd associate with moderation, tolerance and openmindedness. Rather, I'd say those groups were the face of violent Islamic terrorism.
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MNGOP Asks For Investigation Into Hatch Ethical Violations

Posted by Gary Gross on Wednesday, August 02, 2006 4:05:15 PM
In their most direct complaint into Mike Hatch's ethical behavior, MNGOP Chairman Ron Carey asked Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles to investigate potential violations by Attorney General Mike Hatch of Minnesota’s code of ethics. Here's a Carey quote from the pres conference:

"It is becoming increasingly clear to us at the Republican Party, and apparently to those at the Independence Party, that Mike Hatch has made this office, his official, taxpayer funded office, into a shadow campaign headquarters. His use of public resources for campaign purposes represents a serious violation of the public trust," Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Ron Carey said.

This set of accusations will be difficult, if not impossible, for Hatch to dodge because villifying Republicans doesn't wash away the problem. That the Independence Party was the first to publicly call attention to this issue is huge because the public doesn't see them as partisans, much less hyperpartisan. Here's a list of concerns Carey cited:
  • In a press release on state letterhead, Hatch referenced a press conference his campaign held, and specifically cited his running mate Judi Dutcher numerous times.
  • Hatch has used lengthy research reports prepared and paid for by the taxpayers of Minnesota for political purposes.
  • On state letterhead, Hatch wrote a lengthy complaint to the Minnesota News Council, which included numerous references to the political campaigns for attorney general and governor.
The last complaint is the most damning. Hatch wrote a threatening-sounding letter to the Minnesota News Council on OAG stationery. Implicit in that action is that the Attorney General's office would be looking into that. That's the ultimate chilling effect that government has had on free speech that I've come across. What's worse is that his campaign would be the only organization to benefit from that threat.

It's safe to say that Mike Hatch is one of the most, if not the most, ethically-challenged candidates for governor in my lifetime. It's time that Minnesotans rejected his ethically-flawed candidacy.
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