Even if you do not listen to the Rush Limbaugh radio show for fear of getting nauseated - or worse... chances are pretty good you have heard about his Operation Chaos. In addition to promoting "A rerun of what happened (riots) in Chicago in 1968" when Democrats convene this summer in Denver, this lily livered draft dodging scum bag now appears in a military uniform on his website - complete with a WWII helmet trying to appear like General George Patton urging "his troops" to wreak havoc and subvert the democratic process by tilting the outcomes of all remaining primaries - as they have already done, at least in Ohio and Pennsylvania! As a 'Nam era Army medic, you can't imagine how repulsive I find this charade. Many times every hour on his show, he speaks over patriotic music - delivering what is clearly a political message.... urging Republicans to run to their Supervisor of Elections and re-register as Democrats so they can vote in their respective Primaries for Hillary and deny Barack the nomination that he has worked so hard to deserve. The pleasant man named Miles at the FEC admits it is a loophole, bigger than anything that allows Warren Buffet and Donald Trump to avoid paying taxes. Yes, it is a violation of the spirit of the law, but it is nothing the FEC can prosecute - because stations register (in their daily program logs) such programs as commentary - not advertising. By calling it "news," members of Limbaugh's EIB network escape scrutiny - and penalties for donating - priceless - free air time that is actually (not "sort of" or "virtually"... but really) under the table contributions worth MILLION$ every day! Consequently, the Federal Election Commission is shirking its responsibility by not preventing what is undeniably the "rigging of the electoral process," subjecting the Commission to legal action by defrauded citizens! Grounds to prove Limbaugh is broadcasting genuine political advertising - which SHOULD MANDATE REPORTING OF IN KIND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE THE FEC - is found in the results it has caused. When you hear Senator Clinton brag about increased voter registrations in Pennsylvania and Indiana and North Carolina and other states, she is wrong to take credit for the phenomena. Someone with whom I started corresponding on the FloridaForObama email list service suggested to me earlier today that as much as 3% of the new registrations in Pennsylvania were the result of "Marching Orders" by General Rush. I called a former colleague now working at a Philadelphia TV station to see if he could nail down a more defined percentage. He said some college interns at his station are already working on this... counting only white Republican cross overs older than 30, who were not likely to have registered by the efforts of either Clinton or Obama. So far, among those tallied... those likely inspired to perform chores as Limbaugh commands account for 6.6% of ALL the new Democratic registrants. It's not possible to use those numbers to define or extrapolate how much these "temporary Democrats" accounted for Clinton's 9%+ win in the Keystone state, but I think it's safe to assume pundits like Chris Matthews are being less than honest to claim it had no significant impact. I wish my math skills were comparable to NBC's genius of political number crunching, Chuck Todd. I'm sure with the database he carries around in his head, he could take the stats and tell us whether Limbaugh's Army deserves credit for half of Hillary's victory, or less... or more. Frankly, if they only boosted her margin one of those percents... it constitutes a clear case of unfair election outcome engineering, and where I grew up... that is fraud. On the air today, Limbaugh was taking credit for Hillary's win in Ohio. And sadly, even though he admits his skulduggery, the FEC has no mechanism to take action against such crimes! And now, the focus shifts to where I did come from: Indiana. With an open primary there, the chance is even greater for this kind of shenanigans. I called the Indianapolis Star and spoke to two reporters doing stories on the activity leading up to the Primary. Neither was willing to offer a guess as to how many or what percentage of cross over Republicans might go to the polls next week, and vote like a preprogrammed automaton as Limbaugh orders for Clinton. But with the Hoosier state's long tradition of being a red state, I don't think there's much chance GOP loyalists as directed by Rush Limbaugh will avoid using this as an opportunity to increase the chances of helping nominate someone easier for McCain to challenge this fall.
I sent this message to Robert Baer, an Obama Campaign attorney - already with one complaint before the FEC. I would be thrilled if his team would make this issue a top priority, or at least provide some counseling to those of us who want to challenge this "loophole." Short of storming the (FEC) castle gates, I am not sure what else can be done. I welcome any of my O-Blog fans who might have sone ideas.
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