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Election

Pennsylvania Radio Station Runs Misleading Voter ID Ad

By Annie-Rose Strasser on Oct 29, 2012 at 4:05 pm

Nearly a month after a Pennsylvania court suspended the law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls this November, reports of misinformation on the voter ID law are still rolling in.

The latest misleading claim comes from CBS Pittburgh radio station KDKA, which is running an ad claiming that voters will need photo identification to go to the polls on November 6th, despite the fact that while voters may be asked to show ID, it is not required to vote. The ad aired on October 26, around 7:30 am immediately after a weather report for the Pittsburgh area. “The Voter ID law was just recently signed by the governor,” an unidentified woman in the ad says:

NARRATOR: When you need to vote–

WOMAN: The voter ID law was just recently signed by the governor.

NARRATOR: You need to know –

WOMAN: You’re not going to be allowed to vote unless you present an acceptable photo identification. Get to a PennDOT licensing center and get a photo ID at the drivers’ license center.

NARRATOR: It’s your right, it’s your duty, it’s your choice –

WOMAN: And you will need an acceptable ID in order for you to vote.

NARRATOR: Decision 2012. KDKA.

The ad is particularly confounding because KDKA itself has reported on the recent decisions regarding the voter ID law.

But it also follows a trend of misleading information in the state — like billboards and television ads, as well as reports from local governments — that has become so rampant voting rights’ groups have asked a court to step in to stop the wrong information from spreading.

A request for comment from KDKA was not immediately returned.

Justice

Birther-Linked Super PAC Runs Islamaphobic Ad Against Michigan Candidate

By Hayes Brown and Josh Israel posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Oct 29, 2012 at 2:20 pm

House candidate Dr. Syed Taj (D-MI)

House candidate Dr. Syed Taj (D-MI)

In a stunning appeal to Islamaphobia, a group linked to former Swiftboater and birther conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi has launched a smear attack ad on a Muslim-American Congressional candidate. The spot warns that Dr. Syed Taj, the Democratic nominee in Michigan’s 11th Congressional district, wants to “advance Muslim power in America.”

Freedom’s Defense Fund, a right-wing PAC that has spent at least $150,000 on ads in support of Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin (R) despite his comments that victims of “legitimate rape” are unlikely to become pregnant, reported spending at least $30,000 on ads against Taj and for his opponent Republican Kerry Bentivolio, a Tea Party activist and Santa Clause impersonator.

So far in the 2012 election cycle, the PAC has spent over $3 million to promote its far-right beliefs. Corsi, who has been tied to the Fund, has promoted a multitude of Islamophobic conspiracy theories, including that President Obama wears an Islamic inscription on the interior of his wedding ring. Despite his fringe beliefs, Corsi was recently permitted to ride on the Romney campaign plane with the press corps.

This spot, titled “What do we really know about Syed Taj?” warns:

ANNOUNCER: We know Syed Taj wants to advance Muslim power in America. Syed Taj: too extreme for Michigan. Too extreme for America.

The text on the screen shows a quote from a Muslim Observer article, in which Taj observed that “right now there are two elected Muslims in congress, with a third we can form a caucus, we will have more power.”

Watch the ad:

On its website, Freedom’s Defense Fund claims it fights for “the principles of limited government, as the Founders understood them.” Apparently they don’t believe freedom of religion is of those principles.

GOP Strategist Defends Romney’s Plan To Dismantle FEMA

By Aviva Shen on Oct 29, 2012 at 11:57 am

Atlantic City, NJ

Mitt Romney’s past comments about dismantling FEMA and privatizing disaster relief have come back to haunt him as Hurricane Sandy begins to wreak havoc on the East Coast. Still, one Republican strategist, Ron Bonjean, agrees with him. On CNN Monday morning, Bonjean, a private consultant who advises GOP congressional leaders, defended Romney, suggesting that even talking about federal disaster relief is politically toxic:

Most people don’t have a positive impression of FEMA and I think Mitt Romney was right on the button. But I don’t think anybody cares about that right now. I think people care about whether or not their power’s on, whether or not their basement’s going to be flooded. And I think that if the president gets too far in front of this and something goes wrong, people are going to remember, hey, my power’s not out, and the president’s talking about FEMA. I’m not a real big fan of FEMA. That could sway their vote.

Watch it:

Sandy has already caused severe flooding in the Northeast, hours before the worst of the storm is projected to hit. President Obama has declared a state of emergency in 7 states and DC after several governors’ urgent requests for federal aid to combat the storm. Though Bonjean fails to make the connection between FEMA’s services and people worrying about their power going out, the agency has already dispatched emergency power teams to try to reinforce vulnerable power grids before the storm hits and provided hundreds of generators and other back-up power sources. Americans are unfortunately well-acquainted with the agency, despite Bonjean’s insistence that they “don’t care” about it; a recent study of FEMA data found that, since 2006, 4 out of 5 Americans have been affected by weather-related disasters.

LGBT

Hawaii Senate Candidate Lingle Claims Civil Union Veto Stunt Was ‘Respectful’

By Josh Israel posted from ThinkProgress LGBT on Oct 29, 2012 at 10:50 am

Former Gov. Linda Lingle (R-HI)

Former Gov. Linda Lingle (R-HI)

In a Hawaii Senate debate last week, former Gov. Linda Lingle (R-HI) came under fire for a 2010 move described by LGBT-rights activists as “unwarranted cruelty.” Rep. Mazie Hirono, her Democratic opponent and a supporter of marriage equality, noted that Lingle invited supporters of civil unions to attend what they thought would be a bill-signing ceremony, only to veto the bill.

Lingle, asked about marriage equality, said that she continues to believe marriage should only be between one man and one woman and that she would support putting the question up for a popular vote in the Aloha State. When Hirono reminded viewers of Lingle’s civil unions veto, the former governor said she thought the move was “respectful”:

HIRONO: We all remember when as governor she vetoed the civil unions bill and, in doing so, before she vetoed it, she invited members of the [LGBT] leadership to join her. And they thought that she was going to sign that bill into law. And instead, right in front of them, the very group that had worked so hard to pass this legislation, she vetoed that bill. I thought that was extremely insensitive and disrespectful of their position. Her position, my opponent’s position on marriage equality, is very much in line with national Republicans and is certainly not what the Democrats stand for.

LINGLE: … she gave the impression that I only invited one side in and then went against their point of view… in fact, I had invited both sides in. The passions were running so high, I didn’t feel it was something I should do in my office, or away from the public. And because both sides had spoken extensively on this very important topic, I invited both sides to be with me as I read my statement that day. It was a very difficult decision to make, but one I tried to do in the most respectful way possible.

HIRONO: Well, clearly, to invite the very group that had hoped she was inviting them to sign the bill into law, and instead vetoed it, I think is a very insensitive thing to do. I certainly wouldn’t have done it.

Watch the video:

Donald L. Bentz, executive director of Equality Hawaii, told ThinkProgress in August that Lingle made “an inhumane spectacle.” Activists were told on arrival “you’ll be seated with the media, you are not allowed to react, there will be no questions. If you react in any way, shape or form, you’ll be escorted out of the conference.” Supporters were not even permitted to cry from the disappointment. Lingle made the ThinkProgress Anti-LGBT Senate Candidates Dirty Dozen based on her opposition to hate crimes protections, employment protections, and marriage equality for LGBT Hawaiians.

Lingle’s explanation for this heartless gesture is that because she also invited the anti-LGBT people to see her veto the bill, it was “respectful.” Her successor, Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D), signed a similar civil unions bill into law in 2011.

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