WHERE IS THE 4TH ESTATE?

What good will government transparency do when what we see clearly now doesn't get reported?

I'm all for oversight, checks and balances but, over the past 8 years it hasn't mattered one little bit. The corporate media won't report on anything that truly is a danger to our democracy. Oh sure we'll get headline after headline about ACORN workers fudging voter registrations but not one word about the electronic voter machines flipping vote tallies, or the voter caging being done by the Republicans or the swing state voter purgings of Democratic voters that number in the hundreds of thousands.

Over the past 8 years Bush has appointed people to the most influencial offices of our country several without congressional approval, with their only qualification being a loyalty to George Bush. The justice department, the FBI, Homeland Security, FEMA, the CIA, the list goes on and on. Not one word about these appointments ever made the 6 o'clock news. More recently, if you weren't watching MSNB'S Countdown with Keith Oberman I doubt you'd be aware that Obama's counsel sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking the special prosecutor to look into the “unholy alliance” between Republican operatives and potentially illegal conduct by law enforcement targeting voter fraud and ACORN. The coordinated “misconduct” by McCain campaign representatives and GOP officials is relevant to the special prosecutor’s work, because these activities may relate to the dismissal of seven U.S. attorneys in late 2006. The letter requests that the special prosecutor’s inquiry “include a review of any involvement by Justice Dept. and White House officials in supporting the McCain-Palin campaign {and RNC's} systematic development and dissemination of unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud.

You see this big news, for the first time in my recollection a Democratic nominee has taken the initiative to preemptively do something about the Republican efforts to disenfranchise voters before an election instead of just bitching and moaning after an election. Kudos to the very Obama friendly Keith Oberman and Rachel Maddow for making this story "BREAKING
NEWS" . . . They're kind of like the Left's version of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reily only funnier, smarter and less likely to incite a riot. The news came down late Friday afternoon but I see no mention of it anywhere this morning. While it remains to be seen whether or not this will result in charges being filed, (remember that Atty. Gen. Mukasey was nominated by Bush and was confirmed by the narrowest of margins) at least Obama is laying the ground work for legal action should we have a repeat of the shenanigans that enabled Bush to steal the 2000 and the 2004 elections.

Oh the Right wing blogesphere is all a buzz about this turn of events: One of the blogs called Obama's legal counsel a "Goon Squad" and another well, here I'll let one of them speak for themselves:
"After a week of shifting stories and clumsy corrections regarding Barack Obama's connections to ACORN, the Obama campaign resorted to their now-customary heavy handed tactic of attempting to criminalize political discourse. Today's outrageous letter to Attorney General Mukasey and Special Prosecutor Dannehy at the Justice Department asking for a special prosecutor to investigate Senator McCain and Governor Palin's public statements about ACORN's record of fraudulent voter registrations (including in this week's Presidential debate) is absurd. It is a typical time-worn Washington attempt to criminalize political differences. For someone who promises 'change,' it is certainly only more of the same."- Free Republic

Gotta love it! "Criminalizing political discourse" No, actually they just called attention to a coordinated effort on the part of a political party's effort to suppress votes. Something that is currently under investigation by a special prosecutor. Six US attorneys were fired because they ruled that they could find no cases of "voter fraud in the 2006 elections. A fact that those on the right seem to forget. Sure there are fraudulent registrations turned in to ACORN but, that is fraud against ACORN, not the American voter. None of the duplicate signature, phony name registrations ever get put on the voter list. The Right Wing knows that but, they prey on the low information electorate that only gets their news from one source. Making a big deal and misrepresenting this story takes any focus away from the true criminal threats to our democracy: Electronic voting machines and the ongoing purging of Democratic voters from the voting lists!!!! If only these two issues received the kind of media scrutiny that "Joe the Plumber" got, I wouldn't have to keep repeating myself. Have a nice day.

DaG Out