CNN: Romney Violating Federal Laws 'Coordinating' With Karl Rove

[kpete]

THU AUG 02, 2012 AT 08:33 AM PDT
CNN: Romney Violating Federal Laws 'Coordinating' With Karl Rove
bykeepemhonest

CNN is http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/... reporting that Romney is violating Federal Laws that govern the illegality of Super PACs coordinating with a Campaign. According to CNN, today Karl Rove and Romney's Adviser, Ed Gillespie, are illegally coordinating campaign strategy at a Policy Briefing in Colorado.

CNN

August 2, 2012 (Thursday): Aspen, Colorado (CNN) –

Despite laws barring coordination between federal campaigns and outside groups, Karl Rove and (Paid Romney Adviser)Ed Gillespie are hosting a joint closed-door political briefing with leading Republican donors Thursday.

According to Republicans familiar with the schedule, the two operatives are headlining a lunchtime political briefing for top donors at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Aspen, a posh, closed-press affair where GOP governors mingle with some of their biggest financial backers.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/02/first-on-cnn-rove-gillespie-hosting-joint-political-briefing-in-aspen/

MORE:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/02/1116041/-CNN-Romney-Violating-Federal-Laws-Coordinating-With-Karl-Rove

[bigtree]

1. not the first instance, either

. . . better late than never, CNN

k&r

[Turbineguy]

2. Laws are for

little people.

[bigtree]

4. not the culturally superior

. . . of course.

[MoonRiver]

12. You mean "small" people.

I think that's the new PTB official designation of we plebeians.

[Coyotl]

16. In anthropology, it would be "others" or "other people"

The verb is "othering" and the act is as old as cannibalism, warfare, slavery, and rape. To perpetrate injustice, first comes the rationalization that they are "others" in forms like Nixon's political enemies, or witches, or people of color. Then, it is easy to war on them, steal their voting rights, tax them unfairly, jail them for drugs, etc.

[MoonRiver]

22. How about we just cut to the chase.

All "others" are simply sub-human. There, now it all becomes very easy.

[Coyotl]

70. The "othering" process goes farther, it removes the others from the human category

Those "people" is not the result. New terms are invented to reclassify others outside the human family. That is why they can be killed, their gold taken, the women raped, their lands seized, etc. This scenario played out after Contact in the Americas. It took the Church a long time to declare that Native Americans were real humans and had souls, but even then, slavery was possible and non-believers could be paraded around the plaza in dunce caps before they were burned to death for thinking.

[MoonRiver]

71. Well said Coyotl.

When we visited Australia we learned about the dehumanization of Aborigines there. At one time, tourists were taken on safaris to bag themselves an Aborigine. The heads were then proudly mounted in hunters' homes.

Needless to say our reaction was and

[tblue37]

54. The comment is quoting super-wealthy hotel magnate Leona Helmsley,

nicknamed "the Queen of Mean," who was ultimately jailed for tax evasion.

She was quoted by an employee or an acquaintance (I forget which) as saying she didn't pay taxes because "Taxes are for the little people."

[lastlib]

20. "You people"

[thecrow]

34. That's what Ann Rmoney said when telling off the black reprter about the taxes

"we released our taxes for a year and that's all YOU PEOPLE need to know" (sic)

I'm surprised that more people didn't jump on the "you people" part of that
because she was obviously talking to an "other" and smiling while belittling her.
I suppose she was thinking she was culturally superior to the reporter.... after all, she's rich!

[Kablooie]

50. Laws are for Democrats.

[SammyWinstonJack]

67. +1.

[SkyDaddy7]

53. ...And Democrats!!

If Obama were doing the same thing the entire press would be screaming about it on every channel & the GOP would be opening up investigations!!!

[Lint Head]

3. I clicked on the blog link and got this.

Not Found

Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.

[Firebrand Gary]

6. The link in the grey box works, I just checked!

[MADem]

5. What brass! nt

[Voice for Peace]

7. "we go to the big house"

not the white house.. do you suppose they'll be charged?

[KansDem]

10. Photo of their "big house"

[Spitfire of ATJ]

35. The house he sold in Deer Valley was nice.

[img][/img]

[KansDem]

36. House? That looks like a village!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

39. The Romneys ARE a village.

Have you seen the family pictures?

[img][/img]
What's with blue and white checkered shirts?

[img][/img]
Here all the boys are in navy and the girls in white.

[img][img]
Nice shot of them in the gene pool.

The Republican establishment want this to be a political dynasty to replace the Bush family.

[CoffeeCat]

61. And it takes a village...

...to clean all 12 bathrooms in that house.

[KansDem]

69. That's right! Mitt's a "jobs creator!" (nt)

[Stuckinohio]

41. Of course not Karl plays by a different set of rules

[jillan]

8. As if CNN would ever report on this on their cable news shows. Wolf???

[Jamaal510]

32. You expect Mr. -$4,600 to report this on his show??

[Ganja Ninja]

9. Time to revoke Crossroads GPS's tax exempt status.

[IDemo]

11. Law, shmaw

IOKIYAR

[kestrel91316]

13. Laws don't apply to white folks with incomes over $250k.

[lark]

15. Laws don't apply to white folks with incomes over $250K

who are Repugs. Laws for some funny reason do seem to apply to Dems, no matter what the income.

[kestrel91316]

52. I forgot to add that.

[hootinholler]

46. Bullshit, ask Don Seigleman (sp?) n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

66. Martha Stewart begs to differ with you....

nt

[progressivebydesign]

14. I think a great ad would be: "If you liked GWB, you'll LOVE Romney" with a pic of Rove/Romney.

Basically, it's the same people from Bush's campaign. The candidates are interchangeable. Rove should be in prison, but he's not.

[Coyotl]

17. If you liked GW Bush, you will love MR Money!

[gordianot]

18. Laws mean nothing to Mitt after all he was a retroactive citizen of Massachusetts for 7 years.

Which allowed him to run for Governor as a resident. This too will be easy for him to dismiss. Rove also seems to have acquired plenty of legal immunity over the years.

[Historic NY]

19. Rules are for the peons...Mitt even wink winks blind trusts..

because his kind think they are special.

[berni_mccoy]

21. Romney to Federal Laws: "Kiss my ass"

[LiberalAndProud]

23. Good that CNN is reporting this.

Nothing will come of it, but at least we have noted that there are still campaign laws that can and will be broken without penalty.

Our political system is in a shambles. Thank you SCOTUS. We are well fucked.

[glinda]

26. +1

[Ian_rd]

24. Pfff. Laws are for poor people.

[Maineman]

25. Prosecute them, damn it!

I suppose there is no real penalty. Where are the justice department and FEC???

[Uncle Joe]

27. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[heaven05]

28. so

nothing will be done to anyone at that luncheon. but it's good to see how easy it is to ignore campaign law. rethugs KNOW they are above reproach and give less than a damn about legalities except when working it in their favor.

[barbtries]

29. this is so frustrating

will someone please enforce the laws for rove? aargh i could scream

[Harriety]

30. They can do anything that want even if it's illegal.

Because they are Republicans. Any one else to tries this kind of crap gets put through the ringer and strung out to dry. They did get caught in Watergate scandal but that one slipped for the shits of it.

[valerief]

31. So since a law is being broken...

nothing is going to happen.

[ananda]

33. Hell, why bother with laws when you're a Reep.

Laws are only for Dems.

[kentuck]

37. Laws....schmaws....

"Kiss my ass, America" Mitt Romney 2012

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

38. I'm sure they'll get a sternly worded letter from the FEC. If that. nt

[DCKit]

40. Because Citizens United just wasn't enough. nt

[Stuckinohio]

42. Justice dept.

Will do nothing because since its a political opposition committing the alleged crime if they were to persue it's would be seen as politically motivated and thus hurt their
image

[Stuckinohio]

48. Justice dept, the fed, the AG

Will do nothing because since its a political opposition committing the alleged crime if they were to persue it's would be seen as politically motivated and thus hurt their
image

[Amonester]

58. As if when they 'decide' not to persue it's not seen as politically motivated...

and does not hurt their image... (in some way).

[McCamy Taylor]

43. Looks like CNN is writing off Romney, too. Remember how many election laws Rove broke

for W. and how little MSM attention it got?

[Blue Owl]

44. Lying, Cheating, and Stealing.

So what's new?

[starroute]

45. Rove and Gillespie have a long history of working together

Here's a PBS interview with Gillespie from 2005:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/architect/interviews/gillespie.html

In 2000, I was working for [Ohio] Congressman John Kasich, who was the chairman of the House Budget Committee. He was considering running for president, but decided against it. ... It was at that time that I started to talk to the folks in the Bush campaign in Austin. My wife [Cathy Gillespie] had known Karl Rove. She's a political operative in her own right. ... She and Karl had worked on a campaign in Texas back in 1984. She introduced me to Karl, and he asked me to serve as an informal adviser to the Bush-Cheney campaign from Washington, which I did.

----

Gillespie first became known in 1994 as a principal drafter of Newt Gingrich's Contract with America. He became RNC director of communications during the 1996 election, then left to found a PR firm that was involved in dodgy campaign money-raising practices.

The Buying of the President 2004 says of Gillespie, ""He has also earned the loyalty and trust of White House political advisor Karl Rove and the Bush inner circle by doing some of the sensitive political work they can't be seen doing themselves. Gillespie reportedly helped to plant and 'spin' some negative news stories about Gore in the crucial weeks before the 2000 election, including accounts of pollution at Gore's Tennessee farm and an endorsement Gore received from a group of pornographers. He is believed to have helped to orchestrate the infamous 'penny-loafer protesters' riot of Republican Capitol Hill aides flown in by Representative Tom DeLay in Miami during the Florida recount. He has also helped the party as a fundraiser; for instance, he was involved in a GOP power and fundraising project called ROMP ('Retain Our Majority Program') run by GOP House leader Tom DeLay to funnel campaign cash to vulnerable Republican candidates, in Gillespie's case squeezing major bucks out of Washington's K Street corridor of lobbyists and lawyers."

Much of Gillespie's dodgy fundraising was designed to conceal the identity of corporate donors. In 2001, for example, he set up something called the 21st Century Energy Project to promote the Bush energy plan. Enron funneled $50,000 to it by way of Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, and Daimler-Chrysler contributed the same amount by way of Dick Armey's Citizens for a Sound Economy.

Gillespie then served as RNC chair during the 2003-04 election cycle, when he was particularly involved in promoting claims of "voter fraud" in response to Democratic charges that the GOP was engaging in voter suppression and intimidation.

So in the light of their past history together, any accusation that Gillespie and Rove are engaging in illegal circumvention of campaign finance laws is not even news. It's just what they do.

[pinto]

47. What a list (and history) of shady operatives in that article...

and agree - circumventing campaign finance laws is nothing new to this group. It's standard operating procedure.

[KamaAina]

49. Guess he doesn't watch Colbert

Colbert and his lawyer demonstrated for us how to NOT COORDINATE months ago!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

51. And he used none other than Ham Rove himself.

[blkmusclmachine]

55. Laws are for schmucks, peons, the little people.

If only we had an uncompromised Press in this Country ...

[fascisthunter]

56. but he's a fascist(opposite of socialist) so it's ok!

right CNN?

[Peaceful Protester]

57. ...but, it's his turn.

[SunsetDreams]

60. love the graphic :)

[justabob]

59. so, what is the possible punishment for this crime?

I know it is unlikely to come to that, but assume for a minute prosecution is going to happen and they are found guilty. What happens? A fine equivalent to a slap on the wrist? Dissolution of the involved PACs? Jail? What?

[spanone]

62. send in the feds...we are a nation of laws

[tclambert]

63. Is it really CO-ordinating, if Rove just issues marching orders to Romney's crew?

You don't think Romney or the crew of the S.S. Minnow actually get to make suggestions.

[Gman]

64. Typical Rove attitude...

Whatcha gonna do about it? As he LOL's all the way to the bank.

[deutsey]

65. No one will do a goddam thing

News like this gets people like us all in a lather, but no one else gives a fuck.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

68. Those laws are not enforced for Republicans. n/t