Obama Attacks Founding Fathers & Constitution

Barely noticed in the furor over Barack Obama’s remarks dealing with income re-distribution was the Illinois Democrat’s assault on the Founding Fathers and the Constitution they created.  Said Obama:

“To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical.”

What followed that remark was a screed that should frighten the daylights out of any American who understands that the Constitution is the sole and most important safeguard of our rights and our liberties. Without it we are subjects, not citizens.

According to Obama:

If the Constitution didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and [the] Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties.

The document, he argued, “Says what the states can’t do to you, says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf.”

That remark shows a shocking ignorance of the purpose of the United States Constitution. Writing in National Review, Bill Whittle explained, “The entire purpose of the Constitution was to limit government.”

And that’s the last thing Barack Obama, a devout worshiper at the shrine of Big Brother government, wants to do. It would stop him from taking your money and giving it to someone else.

Obama’s remarks would have sent shivers up the spine of Thomas Jefferson, et al. And they should do the same to all thinking Americans who know that without the Constitution as framed by the Founding Fathers to protect our rights and liberties, we would be at the mercy of a powerful and unrestrained Federal Government ruled by power-hungry men like Barack Obama, and not by law.

Maybe It’s Your Civic Duty Not to Vote?

Should Uninformed Voters Be Casting Their Vote on Nov. 4?

By JOHN STOSSEL

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We keep hearing how important it is for everyone to vote and that voting is our civic duty.

Celebrities like Christina Aguilera, Leonardo DiCaprio, Diddy and Dave Matthews urge everyone to get out and vote. And to help people vote, voter registration groups such as HeadCount deploy volunteers to sign people up.

HeadCount focuses on registering young people at rock concerts and music festivals around the country. During the concerts, famous musicians such as Eddie Vedder and Jack Johnson implore their fans to sign up to vote. Marc Brownstein, the bassist for the band The Disco Biscuits and a co-founder of HeadCount, tells fans to “please participate this year by casting your vote!”

Brownstein and a friend, Andy Bernstein, co-founded HeadCount in 2004.

“We do this because we want the kids to be a part of the political process,” Brownstein said.

Bernstein added, “We registered over 100,000 people. … It is so imperative that this generation’s voice is heard. And they are being heard.”

But are these get-out-the-vote drives entirely a good thing? “20/20” asked some newly registered young people some basic questions about our government.

Some people were knowledgeable. “There are two senators from each state, making a total of 100,” one young voter said. Another knew that “the Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments to the Constitution.”

But many of the young voters didn’t seem very informed. Some didn’t know how many states are in the U.S. or how many senators there are. Few could explain Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling upholding abortion rights.

“Roe v. Wade is segregation maybe?” one new voter guessed.

Another asked: “Was Roe v. Wade where we declared bankruptcy?” And still another wondered, “That was about a black person and a white person?”

Brownstein said, “There’s a lot of uninformed voters out there.”

So should those uninformed voters just stay home?

“It’s an argument that really, really smacks against everything we hold dear as Americans,” Bernstein said.

“Democracy is not about taking … the most educated portion of the society and having them decide,” Brownstein said.

But could these voters’ civic duty be to not vote, because they know very little?

“We don’t believe it’s their civic duty not to vote. We’re out there telling them that it is their civic duty to vote,” Brownstein said.

Maybe it’s not fair to pick on kids at a rock concert. So “20/20” moved on to our nation’s capital and spoke to prospective voters on the Washington Mall. Certainly people there will know more, won’t they?

Few recognized Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, yet almost everyone recognized television's Judge Judy

People were shown some pictures of prominent Americans, like John McCain and Barack Obama. Everyone recognized Obama and McCain. And maybe half the people knew who Sarah Palin was. But Joe Biden? Most didn’t recognize the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Few recognized Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, yet almost everyone recognized television’s Judge Judy.

“Maybe 75 percent of people can name the vice president. … The public’s knowledge of politics is shockingly low,” economist Bryan Caplan said.

In his book “The Myth of the Rational Voter,” Caplan argues that people who know little about our government ought to stay home on Election Day.

But aren’t Americans always told it’s their civic duty to vote?

“This is very much like saying, ‘It’s our civic duty to give surgery advice,'” Caplan said. “Now, we like to think that political issues are much less complicated than brain surgery, but many of them are pretty hard. If someone doesn’t know what he’s talking about, it really is better if they say, ‘Look, I’m just gonna leave this in wiser hands.'”

But isn’t it elitist to say only some people should vote?

“Is it elitist to say only some people should do brain surgery?” Caplan said. “The bottom line is, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you are not doing the country a favor by voting.”

Voting is serious business. Democracy works best when people educate themselves. So maybe instead of telling people things like “Rock the Vote,” these groups should say “Rock or Vote.”

Record Of Recent ACORN Voter Fraud (Not Complete)

States in red have past investigations of ACORN voter fraud that were proved

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Recent Fraud

State	Year	Details
AR	1998	A contractor with ACORN-affiliated Project Vote was arrested for falsifying about 400 voter registration cards.
CO	2004	An ACORN employee admitted to forging signatures and registering three of her friends to vote 40 times.
	2005	Two ex-ACORN employees were convicted in Denver of perjury for submitting false voter registrations.
FL	2004	A Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokesman said ACORN was “singled out” among suspected voter registration groups for a 2004 wage initiative because it was “the common thread” in the agency’s fraud investigations.
MI	2004	The Detroit Free Press reported that “overzealous or unscrupulous campaign workers in several Michigan counties are under investigation for voter-registration fraud, suspected of attempting to register nonexistent people or forging applications for already-registered voters.” ACORN-affiliate Project Vote was one of two groups suspected of turning in the documents.
MO	2007	Four ACORN employees were indicted in Kansas City for charges including identity theft and filing false registrations during the 2006 election.
	2006	Eight ACORN employees in St. Louis were indicted on federal election fraud charges. Each of the eight faces up to five years in prison for forging signatures and submitting false information.
	2003	Of 5,379 voter registration cards ACORN submitted in St. Louis, only 2,013 of those appeared to be valid. At least 1,000 are believed to be attempts to register voters illegally.
NC	2004	North Carolina officials investigated ACORN for submitting fake voter registration cards.
NM	2005	Four ACORN employees submitted as many as 3,000 potentially fraudulent signatures on the group’s Albuquerque ballot initiative. A local sheriff added: “It’s safe to say the forgery was widespread.”
	2004	An ACORN employee registered a 13-year-old boy to vote. Citing this and other examples, New Mexico State Representative Joe Thompson stated that ACORN was “manufacturing voters” throughout New Mexico.
OH	2007	A man in Reynoldsburg was indicted on two felony counts of illegal voting and false registration, after being registered by ACORN to vote in two separate counties.
	2004	A grand jury indicted a Columbus ACORN worker for submitting a false signature and false voter registration form. In Franklin County, two ACORN workers submitted what the director of the board of election supervisors called “blatantly false” forms. In Cuyahoga County, ACORN and its affiliate Project Vote submitted registration cards that had the highest rate of errors for any voter registration group.
MN	2004	During a traffic stop, police found more than 300 voter registration cards in the trunk of a former ACORN employee, who had violated a legal requirements that registration cards be submitted to the Secretary of State within 10 days of being filled out and signed.
PA	2008	An ACORN employee in West Reading, PA, was sentenced to up to 23 months in prison for identity theft and tampering with records. A second ACORN worker pleaded not guilty to the same charges and is free on $10,000 bail.
	2004	Reading’s Director of Elections received calls from numerous individuals complaining that ACORN employees deliberately put inaccurate information on their voter registration forms. The Berks County director of elections said voter fraud was “absolutely out of hand,” and added: “Not only do we have unintentional duplication of voter registration but we have blatant duplicate voter registrations.” The Berks County deputy director of elections added that ACORN was under investigation by the Department of Justice.
TX	2004	ACORN turned in the voter registration form of David Young, who told reporters “The signature is not my signature. It’s not even close.” His social security number and date of birth were also incorrect.
VA	2005	In 2005, the Virginia State Board of Elections admonished Project Vote and ACORN for turning in a significant number of faulty voter registrations. An audit revealed that 83% of sampled registrations that were rejected for carrying false or questionable information were submitted by Project Vote. Many of these registrations carried social security numbers that exist for other people, listed non-existent or commercial addresses, or were for convicted felons in violation of state and federal election law. In a letter to ACORN, the State Board of Elections reported that 56% of the voter registration applications ACORN turned in were ineligible. Further, a full 35% were not submitted in a timely manner, as required by law. The State Board of Elections also commented on what appeared to be evidence of intentional voter fraud. “Additionally,” they wrote, “information appears to have been altered on some applications where information given by the applicant in one color ink has been scratched through and re-entered in another color ink. Any alteration of a voter registration application is a Class 5 Felony in accordance with § 24.2-1009 of the Code of Virginia.”
WA	2007	Three ACORN employees pleaded guilty, and four more were charged, in the worst case of voter registration fraud in Washington state history. More than 2,000 fraudulent voter registration cards were submitted by the group during a voter registration drive.
WI	2004	The district attorney’s office investigated seven voter registration applications Project Vote employees filed in the names of people who said the group never contacted them. Former Project Vote employee Robert Marquise Blakely told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he had not met with any of the people whose voter registration applications he signed, “an apparent violation of state law,” according to the paper.

Fraud Potential Impacted by Early Voting, ACORN

Four weeks before Election Day, Ohio is back in the national spotlight with Republicans arguing that, under its new early-voting law, first-time voters are being allowed to cast ballots without meeting the state’s minimum registration requirements. The GOP complaint puts new focus on the issue of voter fraud, which took on new meaning following the contested presidential election in 2000.

From quirks in state voting laws to concerns over fraudulent registration practices, lawmakers and watchdog groups have also raised the red flag elsewhere over the implications of having different rules in different states, not least of which is the impact of early voting on an ever-changing race.

Early voting “changes the dynamics of the campaign,” said Colorado State University political science professor John Straayer, who noted that voting by mail has already begun in Colorado.

“What that means is that you have a shortened election cycle and a lot of candidate advertising and candidate visits will have a shrunken impact. If something extraordinarily unusual happens in the race, people who have dropped their ballot in the mail are unable to change their minds,” Straayer said.

The intent of early voting, which any state can implement, in accordance with the 10th Amendment, is to increase voter turnout and decrease the costs of maintaining the polls on Election Day. But the practice can unduly influence results, depending upon what issues are dominating the campaign trail at the time people vote, said James Terry, chief public advocate at Consumers Rights League.

He added that altering the election cycle also increases the potential for fraud.

“There’s a variety of different mechanisms that vary greatly from state to state and county to county to prevent potential fraud,” Terry said. “Registration fraud and voting fraud are inextricably linked.”

Indiana, for instance, requires ID cards to prevent fraud, Perry said. Other states check registration against internal databases to verify voters’ identities.

Verifying registration becomes more difficult as Election Day approaches. It’s hard in some states, like Wyoming and Maine, that begin voting as early as 40 days prior to the election. It is much harder in a state with a large population, like Florida, which permits voting to begin 15 days before Election Day.

This year, fraud prevention is even more challenging in Ohio, the “deciding” state in the 2004 election. For one week this year — Sept. 30-Oct. 6 — Ohioans were permitted to register and vote on the same day.

Ohio voters line up to cast ballots early in the 2008 presidential race. Election Day is Nov. 4

Three years ago, Ohio changed its law to allow absentee voting to begin 35 days before Election Day, which is Sept. 30 this year. But residents of the state are allowed to register to vote as late as Oct. 6, creating a one-week overlap in which they can register and vote on the same day.

That overlap has come under fire by the Ohio Republican Party and some Ohio voters, who point out that state law requires voters to have been registered for 30 days before they can cast an absentee ballot. This, they say, creates an unfair situation because it is difficult to immediately verify a voter’s identity.

“This window has created an opportunity for voter fraud,” said Ohio GOP spokesman John McClellan, who faults Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, for allowing the practice to occur.

McClellan, who called the overlap “illegal,” said the law mandates that a resident be registered for 30 days before he or she can be considered a “qualified voter.” In order to receive an absentee ballot, McClellan said, a registrant must sign a ballot indicating that he or she is qualified.

“Clearly, the Democrats in Ohio have publicly stated that they were going to take advantage of this loophole and we believe strongly that these shenanigans are the responsibility of the secretary of state and the Democratic Party,” he said.

But the Ohio secretary of state’s office refuted the claim, saying the overlap “is a legal process” that was actually a result of Republican-led legislation.

In a statement Kevin Kidder, a spokesman for Brunner, said, “The Ohio Supreme Court, composed of seven Republicans — with one Democrat on this particular case who substituted for a justice who is on the ballot and recused herself — a federal district court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals have all ruled that Secretary Brunner has properly interpreted and applied Ohio law regarding the overlap for registration and absentee voting in Ohio.”

“This is the first election in which issues have been raised regarding the overlap, though it has existed in some form since 1981,” Kidder added.

Inconsistencies in state voting procedures have long been a point of contention.

“In any given state, the laxity of the rules will correlate with greater Democratic voter turnout,” said Georgetown University government professor Chris Hull, citing the overlap practice in Ohio as an example.

He said charges of voter fraud historically have more often been associated with the Democrats,  a majority of which were substantiated, while charges of voter suppression, never substantiated, have been associated with the Republicans.

But perhaps more troubling to lawmakers is the widespread discrepancy in early voting — and the method by which registrants cast their ballots.

Oregon, which requires all voters to cast their ballots by mail only, has effectively “created two election days,” Perry said.

Many voters in Oregon return their ballots by mail immediately after receiving them, while others wait until the deadline several weeks later, creating “a huge spike at the very end,” he said.

An investigator enters the ACORN office in Las Vegas, 10/7/08, as part of a voter fraud raid

Radical leftist Organizations like The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), where Barack Obama once worked, and is still associated with,  have also faced many charges of fraud in their efforts to drive voter turnout during the election, most of them substantiated, as in Washington state in 2006, and October 2008 in Nevada.

Twenty-seven thousand registrations handled by the group from January to July 2008 “went into limbo because they were incomplete, inaccurate, or fraudulent,” Terry said, claiming the group recently came under investigation for registering deceased individuals in certain states. Not so odd, such happenings are dismissed or never reported on by the radical liberal media, like The Atlantic and New York Times.

Obama Ahead In Nevada. Why? ACORN Fraud.

Nevada state authorities seized records and computers Tuesday from the Las Vegas office of an organization that tries to get low-income people registered to vote, after fielding complaints of voter fraud.

Bob Walsh, spokesman for the Nevada secretary of state’s office, told FOXNews.com the raid was prompted by ongoing complaints about “erroneous” registration information being submitted by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also called ACORN, whom Barack Obama worked for, and is still associated with.

The group was submitting the information through a voter sign-up drive known as Project Vote.

“Some of them used nonexistent names, some of them used false addresses and some of them were duplicates of previously filed applications,” Walsh said, describing the complaints, which largely came from the registrar in Clark County, Nev.  He said some registrations used the names of some past and present Dallas Cowboys players.

An investigator enters the ACORN office in Las Vegas, 10/7/08, as part of a voter fraud raid

Walsh said agents from both the secretary of state’s office and Nevada attorney general’s office conducted the raid, and “took a bunch of stuff.”

ACORN spokesman Charles Jackson confirmed the group’s Nevada office was raided.

It’s not the first time ACORN’s been under investigation for irregularities in registration records.

In 2006, ACORN committed what  Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed called the “worse case of election fraud” in the state’s history.  In that case, ACORN submitted just over 1,800 new voter registration forms, and all but six of the 1,800 names were fake.

In 1992, Barack Obama worked for Project Vote for about seven months; now Project Vote and ACORN–a coalition of radical leftist community organizations serving low income families–just wrapped up a voter registration drive targeting battleground states Obama needs to win the White House.

Though officially non-partisan, the focus of the ACORN/Project Vote voter drive was 100% focused on groups leaning Democratic in the presidential contest: African American, young, Latino and low income earners. They are called “historically underrepresented in elections” in a press release issued by the group on Monday. Republicans call these target groups Democrats, rightfully so.

ACORN/Project Vote ran voter registration operations in 21 states; included are the battlegrounds Colorado, Florida, Michigan (since move to Obama) Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

McCain campaign spokesman Ben Porritt released this statement after this item was posted.

“ACORN is one of the largest radical organizations in America that represents another questionable association of Barack Obama’s. Obama’s campaign has been endorsed by ACORN’s political action committee and their sister corporation received nearly $1 million from Obama’s campaign which they originally misrepresented on their FEC report. ACORN masquerades their efforts as good yet the endless examples of voter fraud and wrongdoing makes clear that their true mission is to poison the political process. ACORN’s efforts are reminiscent of the sleazy Chicago politics that Barack Obama embraces.”