(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)
__
Or should that be “cowardly chickenshits”? In any case, your modern Republicans…
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the vulture capitalists who bankrolled those ‘VOTER FRAUD IS A FELONY’ billboards have been outed:
Stephen Einhorn – a Wisconsin venture capital fund manager and major GOP donor – disclosed Monday that he and his wife, Nancy, paid for dozens of anonymous billboards in and around Milwaukee and two Ohio cities warning residents of the penalties for committing voter fraud. Democrats and civil rights groups complained that the signs – which were taken down last week – were concentrated in minority neighborhoods and intended to suppress the election turnout…
Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, issued a statement Monday raising several questions for the Einhorns.
“Perhaps their Chicago public relations firm could answer why the Einhorns only felt it was necessary to target legal voters in minority communities, and why they didn’t feel the need to do this ‘public service’ throughout communities across Wisconsin where a majority of the residents are white,” Ross asked in his email. “Or put their name on it, rather than hiding behind the cowardly veil of anonymity.”
Last week, conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes posted an item on his blog reporting on an interview with the head of the then-anonymous family foundation behind the billboards.
Sykes said the foundation chief was given the option of disclosing his family’s identity or taking down the ads. After initially considering releasing the family’s name, Sykes wrote, the foundation’s leader opted to pull the billboards because he was “reluctant to put his children and grandchildren at any risk.”
The Washington Post reports that Virginia Senate candidate Jason Flanery, of text-spammer ccAdvertising, seems to be up to his old tricks:
RICHMOND — A week before Election Day, Democrats have taken legal action to try to stop thousands of unsolicited text messages encouraging people in Northern Virginia to vote against their candidates.
A lawyer for the Democratic Party of Virginia wrote to ccAdvertising, a political phone and text-messaging vendor with a history of sending unsolicited messages, whose chief operating officer, Republican Jason Flanary, is running for Senate in Fairfax County. And a local Democratic activist, Ruth Miller, filed a lawsuit in Fairfax County General District Court on Monday.
Others who received texts have contacted the office of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R), the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the Federal Communications Commission…
FreeEats, the parent company of ccAdvertising, has been fined for similar conduct in North Dakota, according to news reports. Americans in Contact political action committee, which lists Flanary as executive director, has been tied to unsolicited messages in other states, including North Carolina, Illinois and Pennsylvania, according to published reports.
Both companies have given in-kind services to Flanary’s campaign, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in politics. Many other Republicans in Virginia also employ ccAdvertising….
And, via Paul Constant, ThinkProgress reports that the Romney campagain has asked Donald Trump to campagain for his (no)soulmate:
… Trump will be doing robo-calls in Ohio, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Florida — crucial battleground states. The campaign also reportedly asked him to do campaign stops, which may conflict with the taping of his show, “Celebrity Apprentice.” Romney has embraced Trump’s support in spite of his widely ridiculed belief that the president was secretly born abroad… The billionaire also scoffed at the devastating storm that submerged New York and New Jersey, saying, “Hurricane is good luck for Obama again – he will buy the election by handing out billions of dollars. Not only giving out money, but Obama will be seen today standing in water and rain like he is a real president —don’t fall for it.”
How are the mischievious little ghouls, and also the trick-or-treaters, doing in your neighborhoods tonight?
Baud
In related news, the Obama campaign has also asked Donald Trump to campaign for Romney.
Bipartisanship!
dmsilev
You know, if Trump wasn’t simply an ambulatory ego capped by a dead ferret he would take that $5 million that he promised on the event of Obama jumping through Trump’s hoops and donate it, no strings attached, to the Red Cross.
I’m somehow slightly dubious that this will happen.
Erection Swallower
Only SIX days left until President-Erect Romney!!1one
UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH!!!
Jeffro
Easiest non-fiction book in the world to write, just collect documented reports of Republican election shenanigans for the next week, add a table of contents & a barf bag, and you’re all set, folks.
I somehow expect to see a lot of said reports on Maddow. Where I don’t expect to see them is pretty much anyplace else…
Violet
Our neighborhood has been teeming with trick-or-treaters. Cars everywhere. Large groups of parents and kids and an abundance of happy laughter and screeching.
I, however, seem to be coming down with some sort of cold or flu. I have a stockpile of candy but am not up for dealing with people and have been lying on the sofa under a blanket, drinking plenty of fluids and taking extra Vitamin C. So the porch lights are off and so far I haven’t had to answer the door.
I really don’t need to get sick, but then, there’s never a good time for that sort of thing.
Raven
We never have had more than a handful of goblins so we took the pups three blocks away where literally hundreds of kids were out!
General Stuck
Dr Stuck’s Au Naturale Pre Election Nerve Tonic
dmsilev
Wait, I thought we had been assured that NC and FL were in the bag for Romney, and that Ohio was inevitably trending his way. Now they’re ‘crucial battleground states’? I feel so let down.
Schlemizel
We have had 3 times as many kids tonight has we have had in the 18 years we have lived here. Still not many, less than 30 but I like giving out the candy (I always over buy & dole out big handfuls – its fun!) so this made me happy.
I don’t want to think about the clowns & liars in the GOP tonight. One week from now we can go back to worrying how President Obama is going to deal with them & their tiny majority in the House and whining about the spineless Dems
Yutsano
@dmsilev: That would require him having $5 million dollars to begin with. No way in the world does he have that kind of loot hanging around.
@RedCon: So totes adorbs!!
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
It’s going to require some careful editing, or the reader will get a hernia trying to lift it.
dmsilev
Not too many candy-seekers here. One big group, and a few singletons. Of course, I didn’t get home until 6 so I may have missed the early wave; there certainly were plenty of kids out and about as I was walking home.
Plenty of leftover candy. My coworkers will eat well tomorrow.
dmsilev
@Yutsano: Wait, are you saying Donald Trump *lied* to us about his finances? I’m shocked, shocked that you could make such a scurrilously plausible statement.
Liquid
One day, in Seattle, it started raining, and it hasn’t quit for a week. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin’ rain and big ol’ fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rains at night.
But it appears to have stopped now so the kids will be out in force.
Raven
We did have one trick or treater, a cool neighborhood 6th grader and her school teacher mom. We had them in to see my fish!
Drew
@RedCon: I, too will be terrified of the mouthbreathing red staters calling for violent revolution when they learn that the Kenyan Usurper has bought another 4 years to finish transforming America into a negrososhulist paradise.
Keith
Einhorn’s a man?
General Stuck
Meanwhile, via planet LV-426, Powerline brings the brain damage.
Well, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is back. Not for gays in the military. It’s President Obama’s new policy for questions about Libya. Don’t ask. Don’t tell.
We need jokes, lots of jokes/wingnut = Victory!
Tally Ho!
Jeff
Phone Internet tv down 6 hours so far. I work from home. Can’t get answers . I’m on fl/al border. Anyone else ???? Thanks!
fuddmain
Someone gave my 6 year-old daughter deodorant.
One of my son’s friends went as Mitt Romney (his parents are Republicans). That was the scariest costume of the night.
Fun was had by all.
Baud
Rachel just showed the cutest picture of a dog being rescued.
dead existentialist
@RedConDerp1: Boo!
@Humans on BJ: I got to be in a Halloween parade at school today. Since I was subbing for PE and was dressed for the part, I fit right in with the little ones. (Actually, the little ones all had pretty cool costumes; the older grades were more thrown together.)
Raven
@Jeff: Anyone else what? Are you in Florala?
Raven
@Baud: Sheep dog.
BruceFromOhio
TorT has been rescheduled to Sunday evening by the proto-fascist local government.
I’m investing in a german shepherd puppy mill to cash in on the next SCOTUS decision that allows drug-sniffing dogs to pull you out of your home and trash your house looking for that joint you forgot about after your bro-in-law-to-be’s bachelor party.
Meanwhile, Gin and Tacos.
SiubhanDuinne
@Liquid:
How totally Calcuttaesque.
Poopyman
We had our first trick or treater at 6:10 EDT. Turns out he was also the last. The pumpkin is dark and the door is locked. Total tally:1
Gonna be a bowl of candy in the breakroom tomorrow.
lacp
Hope I’m not repeating something that’s already been beaten to death here, but the UAW has picked up on Greg Palast’s story about Willard profiting from the auto bailout, and they’re not happy.
uaw.org/articles/unions-good-government-groups-file-ethics-complaint-against-romney-failing-disclose…
Yutsano
@dmsilev: INORITE??
gbear
I had a couple dozen kids tonight and went thru a couple bags of candy (I only ate two pieces) but it’s tapering off and I just shut off all the front lights.
I spent the evening putting stamps on postcards to GOTV to vote NO against the MN Marriage Ammendment. I’ll head out to the main St Paul post office in a bit to catch the late mail pickup.
Also installed a new keyboard tray on my desk this evening after the new cat laid on the old one and and broke it. Old tray wasn’t meant to hold 12 pounds…
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
Raven: “Here ya go, kid, a nice guppy for your UNICEF can.”
RSA
@Keith:
Actually, a unicorn, in German at least. I only wish he were mythological.
BruceFromOhio
@Drew: There are at least two different households on my street that concern me regarding the imminent Obama/Biden win. NRA cashes in on their fears of getting guns taken away, while I wonder who these fucking morons are going to start shooting first: cops, neighbors, or random targets in a fucking theater.
TerryDarc
@RedCon: Uh, care to place a $10k wager on the presidency?
geg6
They’veb postponed Halloween here until Saturday. There was no real reason to do it, but it was a fait accompli by Monday evening. But I will say that the weather will be more cooperative Saturday. It’s supposed to finally stop raining by then.
cathyx
I’m already sick of answering the door and I haven’t had a single trick or treater yet. But I’m anticipating the constant interruption.
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Guppy? How soon they forget!
eemom
@General Stuck:
aw, what a cutie!
Beats the hell out of fucking Sully, also too.
kay
@General Stuck:
The Toledo Blade had a funny picture today.
It was John McCain, Josh Mandel and MAYBE thirty people clustered around
them in the Bowling Green, OH Romney “Victory” headquarters.
McCain was there ranting about Benghazi.
Bowling Green is in Wood County, a “bellweather” county in Ohio for Republicans.
Drew
@Keith: -strips and burns clothing in bucket, squeezes toothpaste directly in mouth-
Amir Khalid
Mitt wants The Donald to go out and stump for him? The Donald, the professional cartoon caricature of a rich man whom nobody takes seriously? If that’s not proof of stupidity and unfitness for the presidency, I don’t know what is.
@Yutsano:
Tsk, tsk. You know he hates it when you call him that. Don’t tease him.
Just Some Fuckhead
Dead people voted for Kennedy 50 years ago! Both sides!
Baud
@kay:
Did it look something like this?
Jeff
@Raven:
Yeah florals massive #s without service since3 pm AT&T says either sandy or mass modem fail. I freak out bc it’s business for me. Thanks!
Liquid
@SiubhanDuinne: Imagine answering the door to find two high school kids, both over six feet. One with the unicef box and the other cradling a baseball bat.
It didn’t even occur to me until later that I probably shouldn’t have been carrying that bat. But we were (are) total sweethearts IIDSSM (and from testimonials of ladies past).
SiubhanDuinne
Because it’s an Open Thread, and still Hallowe’en, I wanted to get this in:
youtube.com/watch?v=5xH4uKPDAEE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Moderation? For why?
kay
@Baud:
I feel as if he’s come down in the world, really. Josh Mandel looks like he’s about 15 years old, and the two of them were sort of awkwardly standing in front of this single row of people.
Romney is sending “ONE HUNDRED” (probably lying about the number) “surrogates” out this week so I’ll have to look for more photos like that.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Erection Swallower: Nice one.
danimal
My hopes for the post-election season:
1) The hypocrisy of deficit hysteria is exposed when Obama takes us over the fiscal cliff while the GOP screams like WATB AND
2) Donald Trump loses massive audience share as liberals, moderates, thinking people, decent conservatives and everyone else abandon the worthless prick, leaving him with flooded Atlantic City casinos, massive debt and a reputation in tatters.
gogol's wife
@Poopyman:
We had a total of one too. Apparently it was an angelic little blond girl in a fabulous princess outfit, but my husband didn’t ask them to wait for me to get to the door so I missed it! AARGH!
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne: Presumably it was immoderate.
Kineslaw
We ran out of candy after 329 kids and probably should have bought for 400. The people that owned the house last year said they got over 200 last year, so apparently business is up. A lot of non-neighborhood kids, but I came to this neighborhood my last year of trick-or-treating, so I have no room to complain.
It was a really fun night with kids and parents walking around the neighborhood and having a good time.
Todd
We get no trick or treaters, so it was movie and sushi night. Seven Psychopaths was incredibly funny on every level – Sam Rockwell is goddamn brilliant.
RaflW
Brad DeLong pointed to the latest Geo Will column by saying the formerly bow-tied one “Starts Raving Even More than Usual.”
Yes. Will calls Obama indolent in mind. Them’s fancy-pantsed elitist words for lazy NI-clang!, right?
Boudica
@SiubhanDuinne: More like Forrest Gumpesque.
Liquid
@Kineslaw: Where do you live? Even when I was a kid and Halloween was all “razor blades in apples and such” the most we would get was about 40 or 50. That’s in a good neighborhood between Ballard and Fremont.
Comrade Mary
@Erection Swallower: Now there goes somebody who understands the central mission of BJ.
Comrade Mary
Anyway, despite a chilly Toronto rain, we had about as many kids as usual tonight. The wee plush unicorn carried by his Dad was my favourite.
I had 96 Caramilk bars (chosen because they’re easy for me not to eat) and was completely raided by 99 kids between 6:30 and 7:30. When the chocolate stocks started getting low, I asked the first group of three girls to show up together to make a choice: chocolate or books (the first three volumes of this series.) I was very pleased to hear all of them say “BOOKS!”
mai naem
Here’s stephen eihnorn’s email at his Venture Capital Fund. Send the ass wipe a love letter – [email protected]
And here’s his son’s email – maybe the younger guy can knock some sense into the old fart.
Daniel Einhorn: [email protected]
I hate these people. Complete dickwads. I hope they have a good story tp justify all this crap, to tell the one above when they pass on.
Origuy
My housemates and I were going to a special showing of “Young Frankenstein” so we didn’t buy candy. We rarely get more than one or two groups anyway, so I just got a pile of quarters. The digital projector or the movie file or something crapped out. We waited 30 minutes for anything to happen, then the theater gave us passes and refunded the concessions. We’re home now, no kids yet. I think I’ll have enough quarters.
Jerzy Russian
@dmsilev:
That was funny. Would it be wrong of me to propose to you?
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
Oh, THAT fish! Sorry, I thought you meant fish in the plural, as in tanks of guppies.
Yes, that was some fish!
jayboat
@RaflW:
Seems to me as if Georgie Bowtie is becoming a bit… how you say… shrill.
I’m guessing he’s actually smart enough to realize the game is over and he’s just clapping louder, hoping the ni*CLANG in his head will stop.
scav
post sheparding costumned ones (including one whose birthday is today) about fantastically out of my class streets in a grand fall day. All other adults came equipped with alcohol and there were still rumous of the one house that handed out martinis three years ago. In case you hadn’t noticed, a minute blue my little pony girl stopped me in the middle of the street to inform me intently: “It’s HalloWEEN!” so I pass that along. I’m personally trying to catchup on the personal ++++s. I simply had no idea how much minecraFt purchases could be wrapped and delivered to one newly nine-year-old.
jeff
Update–Pensacola/South Alabama has mostly been restored as of the last few minutes. Apparently it is due to Sandy…maybe system-wide calibrations or something technical that I wouldn’t understand. Hopefully Manhattan will be up tomorrow.
Kineslaw
@Liquid: I live in Arlington, Texas. Certain neighborhoods – generally nice, large and non-gated – seem to get hit really hard. The kids were a very diverse group, and incredibly fun and polite even after we ran out of candy. A lot of non-English-speaking Hispanics out, which is a dead giveaway they don’t live in this neighborhood.
I kind of view it as an odd act of service to the city at large and have fun with it.
YellowJournalism
@Comrade Mary: My kid only got one Caramilk bar between him and his brother. The little turkey discovered it and ate it before I could “trade” it for something from our leftover hand-out stash. (Don’t judge me!)
It was cold here in Edmonton. Took the boys around to a few neighbours’ houses, then gave in and went to the mall where it was warm. So much whining about frozen ears, runny noses, and snow blowing into faces.
My husband and I are such big babies. I’m sure the boys were sick of us complaining. They probably would have stayed in the cold all night for enough candy!