Of course, Republicans will get the blame because they represent “Congress” collectively, even though the Senate holds the majority. That means little or nothing, because…

Statewide seats will be won based on local politics, not national issues like this.

The next Federal election will be, as it always is, a base election where congressmen and senators are elected, and those will be won by successful incumbents or good challengers untethered to national level decisions. Remember that Nancy Pelosi doesn’t care what the nation thinks of her as long as she can get reelected.

The ensuing economic condition will be blamed on the president after it takes hold and not be blamed to the economic cliff. But this won’t hurt Obama because he’s not running again and Joe Biden doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected.

Republicans need to stick to their principals and appeal to their base. If that means going over the cliff, then so be it.

Consent decree from 1982 prohibits the RNC from combatting vote fraud
By: James Simpson
The Examiner
November 19, 2012

The news gets worse every day. Apparently in 1981 some really stupid New Jersey Republicans played games with minority vote challenges that really did amount to voter intimidation. Much like the 2008 Black Panther Party voter intimidation case, they allegedly recruited off-duty police officers to wear “National Ballot Security Task Force” armbands and walk around polls with firearms visible.

The Democratic National Committee sued and won a consent decree that would from then on severely restrict the RNC’s ability to engage in any meaningful way in activities to assure voter integrity. Among other things, the decree states that Republican Party operatives must:

“…refrain from undertaking any ballot security activities in polling places or election districts where the racial or ethnic composition of such districts is a factor in the decision to conduct, or the actual conduct of, such activities there and where a purpose or significant effect of such activities is to deter qualified voters from voting; and the conduct of such activities disproportionately in or directed toward districts that have a substantial proportion of racial or ethnic populations shall be considered relevant evidence of the existence of such a factor and purpose.”

In 1986, Louisiana Republicans were sued again, resulting in a modification to the consent decree in 1987 that added language defining ballot security to mean: “ballot integrity, ballot security or other efforts to prevent or remedy vote fraud.” The decree also added:

“…a preclearance provision that prohibits the RNC from assisting or engaging in ballot security activities unless the RNC submits the program to the Court and to the DNC with 20 days’ notice and the Court determines that the program complies with the Consent Decree and applicable law.”

So the DNC gets to see what Republicans are planning to do and can alter their strategy accordingly. Presumably they can also appeal to the court to prevent Republicans from doing anything that might interfere.

This court decision, flying under the radar for decades, explains why the RNC has done little to support voter integrity measures, and has given Democrats carte blanche to run wild with vote fraud in inner cities for years.

Republicans have repeatedly attempted to get this ruling altered or vacated but have as yet been unsuccessful. The judge who originally heard the case, Dickinson R. Debevoise, a Carter appointee, has been retired since 1994, but until 2009, came out of retirement repeatedly to decide against any appeals the RNC put forth.

The latest attempt was filed in March 2012, and was turned down by a three judge panel of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Two of the three judges were appointed by Democrats, Sloviter (Carter), and Greenaway, (Obama). Stapleton was appointed by Nixon.

Just fell out of my chair.

For anyone else still following this thread, here’s a key link:

http://www.examiner.com/article/consent-decree-from-1982-prohibits-the-rnc-from-combatting-vote-fraud

I/we may have occasion to re-post this at an opportune time in an opportune context.

neo . . . I hope you follow this one.

Thanks, blert.

Our goose is cooked. Oh My Gawd.

Only a new party can get out from under the insane consent decree that the RNC penned, decades ago.

A new party would not be held back from pursuing the corruption that abounds in the Democrat ranks.

It really is that simple.

The Republicans are as dead as the Whigs in 1856. They just don’t know it, yet.

BTW, the Consent Decree is entirely loaded against the RNC — and for the DNC. It was drafted by the Democrat Machine of New Jersey.

The RNC signed a consent decree that makes it essentially IMPOSSIBLE for that entity to stop the 0bomba political machine from stealing elections — like the last one.

It dates all the way back to 1982 — and is still in force. It will not lapse until the DEMOCRATS decide it’s okay.

And Hell freezes over.

In the meantime, the RNC cannot actively stop voter fraud — especially fraud committed by ACORN and its successors on behalf of the Democrats.

Google around on Consent Decree, 1982, RNC, and New Jersey.

You’ll fall out of your chair.

I agree with your entire argument right up until the very end. My only quibble there is, the “R” party is the only game we’ve got. The “L” party is good for one’s political purity and moral hygiene, but by the time an “L” party could ever make a ^genuine^ difference, we’ll already have been the USSA* for decades.

* United Socialist States of America

For my children and their children, I don’t want to give up that easily.

It’s a messy, complex world we’ve been handed. The “L” party just strikes me as too much of a dodge.

At a time when the radical Left has seized almost all of the levers of power, the so-called “opposition” could not be more craven or feckless. The Republican leadership simply wants to hang on to their perks, the country be damned. They have no principles at all. They seem to be content with minority status, as long as they have a seat at the table of power.

I predict that the Republicans will lose the House in 2014. The base voters will continue to melt away, as they see no reason to continue to support such a pathetic joke of a party.

More and more, I’m coming to agree with Libertarians who say that there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between them.

southpaw Says:
December 4th, 2012 at 8:27 pm
I don’t see a victim or a principled leader, I see a calculating politician who has no interest in winning control or leading us out of this.

That is the entire problem in one sentence. We have only calculating politicians. We have no
“bold, imaginative, principled and dynamic leader.” And so, we’ve been screwed, are being screwed, and will continue to be screwed by the very people elected to lead us.

“Popular Front” is late to the game. I believe “Politically Correct” is also a communist term, and it has been in common usage here for at least 20 years. I recall hearing it about the time of the Thomas hearings.

I am sure you know or can guess what it means. The truth must be abandoned whenever it stands in the way of political aims (power).

But I must have first encountered it in Darkness at Noon or something Solzhenitskin wrote.

Best, Sefton