Jay Laprete / AP
In an effort to raise money from conservatives, Josh Mandel, the Republican candidate for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat, is falsely accusing President Obama of "trying to suppress the military vote." Even in a political environment awash in hard-hitting and often misleading charges, the accusation stands out as a flat-out lie.
"President Obama and the Democratic National Committee are trying to suppress the military vote in Ohio," writes Mandel in a fundraising email sent Monday afternoon to conservative activists and obtained by Lean Forward. Mandel trails the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Sherrod Brown, in polls of the race.
The email goes on to quote a report in the right-wing news outlet Newsmax:
In a move that could have an impact on the final result of the presidential election, Barack Obama’s campaign has sued Ohio to block a measure which extends early voting for members of the military.
"As a veteran, this absolutely makes my blood boil," Mandel adds, before asking for money.
The reality is very different. As we explained earlier this month when Mitt Romney tried to make his own political hay out of the episode, the Obama campaign is challenging a Republican-backed measure that scrapped the last three days of early voting for everyone except military voters. But rather than asking that early voting for service-members be cut too, the suit seeks to restore the last three days of early voting for all voters. (You can see for yourself by reading the Obama campaign's brief [pdf]. The relevant excerpt is at the bottom of page 4).
In other words, if the Obama campaign's lawsuit succeeds, military voting will be unaffected, while voting will be made easier for non-military Ohioans. To claim, as Mandel does, that Obama is "trying to suppress the military vote" is a flat-out lie.
It's worth recalling some of the background here, too. The law the Obama campaign is challenging, which got rid of the last three days of early voting for everyone but the military, was signed last year by Republican Gov. John Kasich. Republicans went ahead with the new law even though in 2008, over 93,000 people took advantage of those last three days to vote, and despite the fact that, as Rachel Maddow recounted in detail, excessive wait times at urban polling places on Election Day 2004 had led to a congressional report (pdf) urging reform.
It's bad enough that Ohio Republicans are making it harder for Democratic-leaning groups to vote. That they're also making up a lie about Obama suppressing the military vote is mind-bogglingly cynical.
A spokesman for the Mandel campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Another lie....how much are you willing to overlook ?>
This politican want to be would make a good republican for sure...telling a lie comes easy to him. The problem I see in this is that NO ONE stands up and corrects these people in front of the same group he lies too..This goes for Romney and all the republicans running for any office today. The trully sad thing is..too many people who do not keep up with current events will believe this garbage..It is sad when our president is accused on not being a citizen from a guy, Romney, who has no problem making sure his money is not in this country but makes big claims of how much he is concerned about this nation. So concerned he through his company, Bain , outsoursed jobs .....so much for the idea of being for this country.
Liar, liar pants on fire, must be nice to be know as a liar young man. But of course he is just honing his skills as a right wing nut job. .... He surely will never be as good as Obama!!!!
Good Lord, is there anything they don't lie about? The opposite is true!
I wonder why that guy's nose is so long! LOL
And the stupid wife? is just standing there eating it up!
I sure am glad Obama has decided to drop that law suit. As a vet myself I was really pissed when I heard Obama was wanting civilans to be able to vote those three days as well. Our vets have earned the 3 extra days. I am so glad they have dropped the law suit.
This guys even look like a Dick.................( Not as in Chenny)
Yea, also as in chenny.....
This guy is nothing but a lying zygote in a suit.
Why are the fundamentalist Christians, in the Republican Party, so silent; while one of the 10 Commandments is so blatantly broken?
What is so very aggravating and dangerous about this is Tom Brokaw and the "mainstream reporters" will offer some PC bs about how 'both' sides "stretch the truth". Right now, there are two verifiable lies being perpetrated in Romney campaign ads. This has been repeatedly called by MSNBC, but, not a word from broadcast news.
i agree, mrz.
what mitt romney and josh mandell are doing is something the repubs do very well.
they call the democrats out (lying about the democrats) FOR THE VERY THINGS THEY ARE DOING THEMSELVES.
they will overlook lies, and even tell them, and encourage others to tell them IF THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS.
The media and the American peope needs to put a stop to this disgraceful behavior.
Barack Obama has done nothing to "supress" the military vote. This is the same distortion of actual reality that fuels the Romney campaign. Their claim is predicated on the idea, the fact, that the Obama camnpaign and the democrats would like to see the Ohio early voting situation legally repealed. This unnecessary set of election laws give military servicemen/women the ability to have early voting and takes it from everyone else. Keep in mind that the Ohio law doesn't give anyone any extra early voting privelages, it primarily takes them just not from military individuals. So the Obama campaign wants to repeal it so everyone can have early voting!
They want early voting for all the people! This is about giving back what republican government is stealing.
Actualy our vets and active duty deserve three extra days than non vets. These are people who have literaly been shot at and fought for our country. Alot of businesses give vets a small discount as well. No reason for civilans to be included in these three days. I thought the point of the article was saying Obama actualy dropped the law suit. However it seems he wants civilans to get the same treatment as vets. Shame on you Obama let the vets get the privlege of three extra days we have earned it.
Its the whole GOP are compulsive liars. If they told the truth I wouldn't believe them. The GOP is one BIG COLLECTIVE LIE MARCHING IN STEP! LIE LIE LIE AND LIE SOME MORE!
What a great example they are setting for the young people of this country! And anyone who backs and repeats these lies are just as guilty of lying! How low can they go nobody knows! But they set a new low every day!
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WOW no lie!
^ Wait a second, isn't Zachary Roth a part of the media? Isn't this site associated with NBC and MSNBC? Why, exactly, do you all say that the "media" is ignoring these lies? The referenced e-mail was sent out by the Mandel office this afternoon!!! Give it all a bit of time to run through the process and let the facts come out as wel asl confirmed and clearly described as a lie, as we all know, Mathews, Sharpton, Shultz, Maddow and O'Donnel are sure to provide - as they fit it all into a narrative. Patience!
Note to self: Don't write a paragraph and answer the phone before one proof reads and clicks "send". Sorry about the typo, but y'all can easily figure it all out. ☺
Tomorrow in Tampa all the lies at the RNC will be spilling out! It was suppose to be today..But they lied!
First of all Josh Mandel get a suit that fits...then try to run on some issues that you believe in and quit with the republican party lies...Not only do you look foolish you sound foolish...
He has the same tailor as Ron Paul..
lol.....
I thought it looked a little big, but I thought it was just my eyes! He needs to grow into that suit in more ways than one. Leaving the Republican Party would be a good starting point.
The whole GOP establishment in the state of Ohio needs to be hauled into federal court for trying to reduce the number of voting days. Ohio had massive problems in 2004 with having enough voting machines, polls, and having long lines where people stood for hours. This type of garbage is totally avoidable because the polls should be open on weekends, longer hours at night, and mail in ballots should be started all across the state. The GOP's 2012 initiative to reduce the numbers of weekend voting days is totally repulsive and anti-democratic. The 93,000 people who voted early in 2008 on the days eliminated by Governor Kasich's new law need those voting days again in 2012. President Obama is doing the right thing in challenging this GOP law that suppresses the vote in Ohio, especially for minority voters. I think most Democrats are real sick of this anti-American, anti-democratic garbage from the GOP.
Rex, Yep.
Real sick and real tired of the lies, obfuscations, and racism.
Rex is it against the law for a state to decrease the number of days it allows its Citizens to vote? Hell No.
What about extending voting hours in Republican Precincts but not cutting back in Democratic Precincts?
Is THAT against the law? Because the GOP got caught doing it !
And BTW, I would think the Equal Protection clause would apply here.
All governments and especially state and local election officials have a responsibility to make voting as easy and accessible for all Americans period. The right to vote is so fundamental to being an American that to repress it or suppress the vote or reduce hours of polling places is unconscionable. The Department of Justice needs to show the state of Ohio what the 1965 Voting Rights Act means in federal court. Ohio's GOP Governor Kasich and the legislature are failing to do their duty. We need a federal law that mandates more mail in ballots plus polls that are open for at least a week so that all citizens who want to vote can vote. The government needs to intensely focus on poor neighborhoods, Seniors in assisted living homes, and college students to make sure all of these people vote period.
What is at stake here is not which party is up or which party is down. What is at stake here is viability of our political system and the quality of our democracy. No group or groups have the right to restrict voting for their own political benefit. All reasonable efforts to accommodate voters must be made because many poor people do not have automobiles. Many college students can not afford cars. Many Seniors no longer drive cars and have limited mobility. If every state has 8% or 10% of its adult citizens without cars and very mediocre public transportation systems how are all of these people supposed to vote? We need to go to an all voting by mail system with polls opened on a limited basis to accommodate the public who may not have had a chance to vote by mail.
The United States has undergone fundamental demographic changes in the last couple of decades. The days of white Caucasian people running everything are permanently winding down. Hispanics, Asians, and blacks are increasing in numbers as whites have smaller or no families. The U.S. has always been an immigrant society. Most immigrants need become good citizens and thoroughly "Anglosized" to the predominant Anglo culture in America overtime. Our Anglo-American culture ends up changing the immigrant. So what if 11 million undocumented Hispanics get citizenship and vote? Many of them will someday be successful in business and vote for a future Republican the first Republican Hispanic President.
This reality will become true because if the Republican does not change with the demographics of the society the Republican party will become the stewards of the geriatric home and the cemetery. The Romney/Ryan campaign is appealing mostly to a white only conservative Christian base and hoping to win. Some commentators have suggested that this will be the last time in our lifetime that a major party will use a "whites only" political strategy to run a major campaign. So the bottom line is that voting for President Obama is a good thing for America. The GOP will lose this time and be forced to have to swing away from its hard core right wing in the immediate future and appeal to more moderates in the center otherwise the GOP will wither away like the snow and the rain. I believe in a two party system but we can not have a radical right winged GOP party that is out to destroy the social safety net and entitlement programs so that millionaires and billionaires can get another unnecessary tax cut.
Where in the world do these crazy people come from? Lying comes so easy to them. Lying about the POTUS, when he has done no such thing. The governor of Ohio is the one blocking voters from voting. He blocking all minorities, just like Rick Scott governor of Florida. What is wrong with these governors taking our rights away. They sicken me to my core!!!
The Beast (666) is upon us, FOX news F=6, O (15th letter) 1+5=6, X (24th letter) 2+4=6.
Way too much time on your hands pal....
The rudderless Republicans bemoan how the President wasted $800 billion for employing some construction workers since they are more obsessed about the health & wealth of Bozo Bankers and their suger daddies or mommies. But the so called Republican Party maintains silence on the Federal Reserve's $30 Trillion of free cash for stimulating the economy since June 2006 and the best the Band of Bandits could do was giving out credit cards for food & gas.
Now, Romney's political associates want the Gold Standard returned which is a complete joke. How can the US back-up $30 Trillion of 'monopoly money' with gold when it currently trades at $1,700 an ounze and I wonder if there is enough gold on this planet to back $30 Trillion of debased currency. Talk about Toxic Assets!!
UNION CONSTRUCTION WORKERS, lest we forget ....
I will never forget the Florida recount of 2000 where Al Gore sent a legion of lawyers down to Florida to invalidate as many military votes as possible. An absolute disgusting slap in the face of our military personel. It wouldn't surprise me to find out President Obama is trying to suppress the military vote ....it is in the Democrats DNA....Florida was a perfect example.
You realize this is just a Right Wing Hoax, right?
#.UDxrsamtxbo
“Al Gore and I would never tolerate a systemic effort to disqualify votes from our service people, our military personnel abroad,” Lieberman said Sunday on ABCNEWS’ This Week. “We want every vote counted honestly and fairly among the absentee ballots.”
The ballots in Florida 2000 were a JOKE. Hanging chads? Badly designed ballots that led people to vote for Buchanan when they thought they were voting for Gore?
One by one, the ballots had to be carefully checked, by hand. The State's Constitution demands a recount if the margin is less than 1/2%
When the Military ballots came in, some weren't signed. That's an automatic rejection, since on an absentee ballot the signature is what makes it valid and legally binding.
Some weren't postmarked. That's less important. As long as they have the Signature, the presumption is they were probably filled out and signed on or before Voting Day.
Al Gore made NO attempt to invalidate Military Votes, Al Gore IS a Veteran himself !
Then, as now, the Republicans make up a lie.
In this case, the Ohio Secretary of States decided Early Voting would help the Democrats and tried to cancel it for everyone BUT Veterans.
Obama sued to get Early Voting restored for EVERYBODY. There was NO attempt to block Early Voting for Veterans !
Wake up and smell the coffee !
There are people that love to create hoaxes, and get you angry. And they tell these hoaxes over and over again.
But that doesn't make them TRUE.
When are these people ever going to take the blame for anything? Wow, Obama is the blame for this, Obama is the blame for that. Obama is the blame for the Jobs Bill not being passed. And the best part Republicans are squeeky clean. Oh yes Obama is the blame for all the obstruction in Washington because he is an African American. Right Republicans?????
"Liar, liar pants on fire, must be nice to be know as a liar young man. But of course he is just honing his skills as a right wing nut job. .... He surely will never be as good as Obama!!!!"
So much hate on MSMBC. Arn't we all Americans? All I read in here, is hate towards anyone that doesn't hold your point of view. I feel sorry for the people that spend their life in hate. I am happy to be American. I love my country and all points of view. There isn't anything wrong with being different.
Dems are afraid because in a fair election they lose. For christ sake you need an ID to get on a plane, to drive a car, to buy a drink in a bar, just to name a few. Hell you needed to have an ID to get in to see Eric Holder make a speech but you don't need an ID to vote in a Presidential election. No Acorn around this time to register illegal voters and encourage them to vote early and often.., You have angry haters like Ed ("Talk Slut") Schultz, Lawrence O'Donnell, Al (the race baiter in chief) Sharpton and last but not least Rachel Maddow with a TV shows on MSNB Hee Haw... so I guess I understand why their all upset with the ID required to vote law. It disenfranchises all of the illegals and those too lazy to get off their arses and get an ID. There's plenty of time, get a damn ID and get over it...