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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (736382)	4/11/2006 11:20:05 AM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

BS. There's nothing unusual about Bush's regional campaign directrr callingthe WH which "points to" complicity in the phone jamming case. Its garbage. J.

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (736382)	4/11/2006 11:25:19 AM
From: Thomas A Watson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

ROTFLOL... your posts are perfect proof of only one proffer. Buddy McKee is seriously afflicted with Bush Derangement Syndrome.... ROTFLOL...And that Buddy McKee cannot see this perfect proof is recursive perfect proof of only one proffer. Buddy McKee is seriously afflicted with Bush Derangement Syndrome.. What a joke!

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (736382)	4/11/2006 3:29:49 PM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

The AP Manufactures Another White House Scandal Media Blog Stephen Spruiell Reporting With a headline like "Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House," you might expect the AP to provide some evidence that actually ties the White House to the New Hampshire phone-jamming scheme in which a Republican operative was recently convicted. Here's what you find instead: <<< WASHINGTON - Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show. The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 — as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down. [...] A Democratic analysis of phone records introduced at Tobin's criminal trial show he made 115 outgoing calls — mostly to the same number in the White House political affairs office — between Sept. 17 and Nov. 22, 2002. Two dozen of the calls were made from 9:28 a.m. the day before the election through 2:17 a.m. the night after the voting. There also were other calls between Republican officials during the period that the scheme was hatched and canceled. >>> So the RNC's man in New Hampshire called the White House political affairs office pretty regularly leading up to Election Day in 2002 — and this is news? Wouldn't it be more newsworthy — i.e. more unusual — if Tobin had no contact with the White House that fall? In fact, I would bet my next paycheck that all the RNC regional directors in the country talked pretty regularly with the White House political affairs office in the months leading up to Election Day 2002. Furthermore, I would bet that a political operative as saavy and smart as Ken Mehlman, who occupied that office at the time, would have nothing to do with this two-bit phone-jamming scheme, and that this was something Tobin and his staff cooked up on their own. If the Democratic attorneys or the prosecutors in this case can turn up any real evidence suggesting otherwise, I'll be interested to see it. But until then, this looks like another media-manufactured scandal. ALSO: The Democrats put out a press release on March 23rd that contains the same information as this AP story: <<< WASHINGTON, March 23 /U.S. Newswire/ — A new report suggests that the national Republican establishment — including the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and even the Bush White House — may have had a role in the criminal Election Day phone jamming scheme that disenfranchised countless New Hampshire voters in 2002. The Union Leader today reported that "court records show Ken Mehlman's office received more than 75 telephone calls from now-convicted phone-jam conspirator James Tobin from Sept. 30 to Nov. 22 of that year." At the time, Mehlman — the current RNC Chair — was White House political director. (Union Leader, 3/23/06) This raises the disturbing question of whether Tobin, who worked for the RNC and the NRSC at the time and has since been convicted on two criminal charges for his role in the scheme, discussed the plan with one of the President's most important political strategists. >>> The press release cites this brief item in the Union Leader, but doesn't mention that the reporter's source was "a Democratic-affiliated advocacy group." So let's trace the evolution of this "scandal": First, the investigation of this phone-jamming scheme turned up phone records that revealed that James Tobin was in contact with the White House — which is completely unremarkable in and of itself. That was part of his job. Second, "a Democratic-affiliated advocacy group" juiced up the story by linking it to Ken Mehlman and leaked it to the Union Leader, which briefly mentioned it as part of a larger round-up of political items. Third, the Democrats issued a press release making it sound as though the Union Leader reported that the White House "may have had a role" in the phone-jamming scheme. Fourth, some AP editor got the press release and assigned the story, which made national news when it went out on the wires yesterday. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah. Fifth, the Media Blog calls BS. media.nationalreview.com news.yahoo.com releases.usnewswire.com unionleader.com