There are excellent developments to a story we posted last week on Republican-lead efforts to deny voting rights to homeowners facing foreclosures in Michigan. The story has gone national. The Barack Obama campaign, the Democratic National Committee and several Macomb County voters filed a lawsuit in federal court in Detroit to prevent the practice.
The injunction [would] prohibit the Macomb County GOP, the Michigan Republican Party, the Republican National Committee or anyone connected with them from challenging Michigan voters whose homes are on foreclosure lists.
Obama campaign general counsel Bob Bauer said during a conference call with reporters that the “lose your home, lose your vote” strategy, even if the challenges are unsuccessful, “creates an atmosphere of intimidation that could drive voters from the polls” because even people who aren’t challenged may leave without voting because polling gets bogged down.
Even better news: The despicable Republican foreclosure strategy is now becoming a campaign issue because “Obama was joined by running mate Joe Biden and a dozen other Democratic U.S. senators in calling on Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey to ensure that voters facing foreclosure aren’t harassed or intimidated at polling places.”
But wait there’s more. Macomb County Republican Party Chairman James Carabelli claims he did not say the state party would challenge voters whose homes are on foreclosure lists. The party boss claims he will sue MichiganMessenger.com for libel if they do not retract the story. ‘Cause, you know, the Republican Party never challenges or suppresses voters and they can prove that. Not.
Voting rights are a bedrock of the Democartic Party and it’s freakin’ fantastic the Obama campaign will challenge Republicans in Michigan over this sacred right. After weeks of lackluster campaigning and being off-message, it’s downright orgasmic to hear Obama will adopt this issue. As we said last week, this is a winning issue in Michigan for the Obama campaign.
UPDATE: It’s hard to keep up with the lies. Additions are below the fold. Jeebus H. Christ, from the man who needs his wife to surf the Internets, this breathtaking boast from a spokesbot:
Move over, Al Gore. You may lay claim to the Internet, but John McCain helped create the BlackBerry. At least that’s the contention of a top McCain policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
Waving his BlackBerry personal digital assistant and citing McCain’s work as a senator, he told reporters Tuesday, “You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.” McCain has acknowledged that he doesn’t know how to use a computer and can’t send e-mail, one of the BlackBerry’s prime functions.
Within the hour, [Obama] chief spokesperson Bill Burton released a statement putting the falsehood in context: “If John McCain hadn’t said that ‘the fundamentals of our economy are strong’ on the day of one of our nation’s worst financial crises, the claim that he invented the BlackBerry would have been the most preposterous thing said all week.” Now let’s briefly correct this latest McCain campaign whopper.
McCain did not “help create” the “miracle” of the BlackBerry — he does not even know how to use email or a computer. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee was not even pivotal: the BlackBerry was invented by a Canadian company, Research In Motion. So this claim is false and absurd, obviously, and it may seem like a distraction from the current debate over the candidates’ economic agendas.
According to a McCain campaign pool report, senior aide Matt McDonald said that McCain “laughed” when he was told about Holtz-Eakin’s comment. “He would not claim to be the inventor of anything, much less the BlackBerry. This was obviously a boneheaded joke by a staffer,” McDonald said.
Andy Tobias, the openly gay treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, had these words to say to the readers of LGBT for Obama about why LGBT involvement in this election is so crucial.
This past week was historic for the nation as Sen. Obama become the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. With all eyes glued to the happenings in Denver, you may have missed some of the great recent posts. So, here is a quick recap of the best that LGBT for Obama had to offer in the last week
In his history speech last night accepting the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama included the following line recognizing the LGBT community as a vital part of the American family.
I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.
Last night I wept as I watched the Democratic Party nominate Barack Obama for President of the Alan_convention United States. All those trials and tribulations of the 1960’s in the struggle for freedom seem to have new meaning and new purpose. As Democrats we should be bursting with pride, as Americans we should celebrate our progress and as human beings we should all stand a little taller.
-Senator Clinton certainly wowed the Convention on Tuesday night and proved that she is committed to the Democratic Party and its principles. In a powerfully delivered speech she stuck to her journey while making a powerful case for supporting Barack Obama. Her supporters must be extremely proud and the party is very grateful. I believe her best line of the evening was:
Most of all, I ran to stand up for all those who have been invisible to their government for eight long years. Those are the reasons I ran for president, and those are the reasons I support Barack Obama for president. I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?
Barack Obama officially became the Democratic nominee for President tonight after Hillary Clinton interrupted a roll call vote to lead a motion nominate him by acclamation. Obama has officially become the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party in U.S. history.
I walked into the convention hall today, on my way to the LGBT Caucus (and on my way to pick up a credential to get me into the Pepsi Center today), when I saw San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. After what he did in San Francisco, and what came of it on the California Supreme Court, I couldn’t just pass him by. (It didn’t hurt that he was taller and more handsome in person than he is in his pictures.) I had to stop and thank him.
I told him, I was just on my way to the LGBT caucus and that just wanted to stop and thank him. To which he responded “Thank you!” One of his aides overheard me say where I was going, and invited me to walk with them since they were going to the LGBT caucus too.
And then we stepped into the hall, and heard the announcement that Del Martin just passed away. She died quietly, surrounded by her family and friends. There was a gasp, and a moment of stunned silence.
And as I thought about Del, I realized that before she died she got to do something that perhaps she never thought she would: after 55 years together, she got to marry the woman she loved. Something Gavin Newsom helped happen, and something that some people with deep-pockets want to keep us from doing.
Sen. Hillary Clinton delivered a powerful speech and a ringing endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama last night at the Democratic Convention. Her speech will go a long way towards unifying the Democratic Party and focusing our sights on a crucial goal: electing Barack Obama as our next president.
Hillary Rodham Clinton summoned the millions of voters who supported her in the primaries to send Barack Obama to the White House Tuesday night, and drew thunderous applause at the Democratic National Convention when she declared her one-time rival is “my candidate and he must be our president.”
“We don’t have a moment to lose or a vote to spare,” said the former first lady, writing the final chapter in a quest for the White House every bit as pioneering as Obama’s own.
The packed convention floor became a sea of white “Hillary” signs as the New York senator _ Obama’s fiercest rival across 56 primaries and caucuses _ strode to the podium for her prime-time speech. The signs were soon replaced others that read simply, “Unity.”
Here is a short video of reactions by women in Denver to Sen. Clinton’s speech:
Here is video of Michelle Obama speaking to the luncheon for LGBT delegates during the Democratic Convention. Mrs. Obama addressed over 600 LGBT delegates, supporters, bloggers and members of the media at the luncheon sponsored by Congressman Barney Frank and the Victory Fund
