This past weekend, Americans from across the country gathered in Richmond, V.A. for the Virginia Tea Party Patriot Convention. Attracting conservative leaders and activists alike, the gathering featured training from a number of organizations including American Majority.

However, many participants may have been unaware of the quiet smear campaign that has been spreading for weeks by Obama’s old employer, Project Vote.

“As what is purported to be one of the largest Tea Party gatherings in Virginia gets underway in Richmond this weekend, a new poll clearly shows that Tea Party sympathizers hold minority views on most issues regarding government, government spending, and the budget.

What Happened to Hope and Change? A Poll of 2008 Voters was conduced by nonpartisan voting rights group Project Vote, surveying 1,947 randomly selected Americans who cast ballots in 2008. The poll is unique in that it not only surveys the historic 2008 electorate as a whole, but also includes special samples of black voters, low-income voters, and youth voters, and compares these groups to self-identified Tea Party sympathizers.”

The press release clearly attempts to characterize the convention as a “whites only” event for  angry Tea Partiers to complain.

“Contrary to the claims made by event organizers that the Tea Party frustrations are shared by a wide cross section of America, the results of the new poll show that Tea Party sympathizers — who are overwhelmingly likely to be white, older, and more affluent — are out of touch with the views of both average Americans and the surge voting groups who so decisively increased their participation in 2008.

‘Black voters, low-income voters, and youth voters together represent roughly a third of the electorate, and they will play an increasingly important role in American politics in the years to come,’ says Project Vote’s executive director Michael Slater. ‘Yet over the past two years the opinions and values of these populations have been drowned out by the anti-government rhetoric of more affluent, older, and mostly white Americans who have organized under the Tea Party banner.’”

Project Vote’s report was released in mid-September to much fanfare and liberal media attention. A conference call was planned,  and among the featured participants was Frances Fox Piven. Piven is a professor of Political Science and Sociology at the City University of New York. Piven and her husband Richard Cloward are the same socialists responsible for the Cloward-Piven Strategy.

This reporter listened in on the conference call as elitist liberal whites claimed to understand the concerns of “real” voters, the blacks,  and other minorities Project Vote used for this “study.” Piven was praised for her insight and her socialist connections were never mentioned. During a brief question and answer session, one caller expressed some dismay about the availability of the information that Project Vote had accessed. This comment was laughed off by Project Vote’s Michael Slater.

Sensing an opportunity, I inquired as to how Project Vote had obtained the information of all those voters. Micheal Slater had admitted that some of it was public information, but the rest? Slater refused to answer a directly if the list had been obtained through officials connected with Obama’s administration or his campaign. The call was quickly ended and all callers placed in a conference or holding status.

Project Vote uses the tried and true standard of the Left: instigating racial animosity. According to the report, a minority of whites are controlling the national debate and silencing the true majority, progressive and liberal blacks and Latinos. Among their findings:

“Together, the three “surge” groups represent a larger portion of the electorate than those who self-identify with the Tea Party. Project Vote’s analysis reveals that black voters, low-income voters, and young voters have starkly different views about the role of government, federal spending priorities, and the budget deficit than Tea Party sympathizers, and in fact are far closer to the views of the 2008 electorate as a whole. Key findings include:

• Nine in ten Tea Party sympathizers are white; they are predominantly older, more affluent, and more conservative. Their views on the role of government and government spending are not only starkly different from black voters, young voters, and low-income voters, but from the majority view of a representative sample of all 2008 voters.

• Tea Party sympathizers, while almost universally dissatisfied with the way the country is going, report they themselves are doing very well: more than three out of four say their personal economic situation is fairly good or very good. 76% are married; 78% went to college; 84% are working or retired.

• Majorities of black voters, young voters, and low-income voters, as well as a majority of all voters, support spending the same or more on income support programs such as Food Stamps for less well-off Americans. Two-thirds of Tea Party sympathizers support spending less.

• Strong majorities of black voters, young voters, and low-income voters agree that government should work to provide for the needs of all citizens. Half of all voters agreed with that sentiment, while only one in five Tea Party sympathizers agreed.

Democrats, like the Chair of the South Carolina Democrat Party, are taking these “findings” to heart:

“These studies found that young and minority voters will be a key factor in the midterm elections.

According to Project Vote, the policy preferences of African-American, low-income and young voters are more closely aligned with the mainstream than with the far right and the tea party.

This segment of the electorate turned out in record numbers in 2008. I believe they will turn out again to support candidates who can put partisanship aside and turn our state around. They are tired of Republican hypocrisy and ready to move South Carolina forward with Democrats”

Project Vote and ACORN have a great deal of help from the media who are always willing to carry water for the group. Lefty blog sites like the Raw Story couldn’t resist jumping on the story with a racially charged headline, an obligatory attack on Fox News, vulgar references, and ending with pinning the blame on Bush:

“The findings seem to indicate that corporate networks like Fox News have largely ignored majority views in America, instead dedicating large amounts of time to covering the wealthy, vocal tea party minority.

‘Analysis of the findings from around the net also underscores what we’ve long argued,’ blogger Brad Friedman opined. “[The] Tea Baggers don’t actually give a damn about ‘the deficit’ or even the Constitution. If they did, they wouldn’t have waited until after Republicans lost the elections in 2008 to start marching and decrying the deficit explosion (and supposed concerns about Constitutional rights) brought about under the previous Administration.”

The liberal bloggers are not the only one demonizing the Tea Party movement. Over at The Nation, a writer laments about Obama’s “forgotten base” and paints the Tea Partiers as pessimistic when compared to this courageous and put-upon demographic.

“We’ve all spent so much time dwelling on the slights and accusations of the Fox News crowd, there’s been shockingly little attention paid to the views, frustrations and convictions of what we might call the forgotten electorate, otherwise known as Obama’s base.

“Which is why a new poll from Project Vote of 2008 voters is such a refreshing corrective. According to the poll, Tea Party sympathizers constitute 29 percent of 2008 voters, while black voters, those under 30 and those making less than $30,000 a year together make up 32 percent….

That is the tragic and perilous irony of this political moment: the people with the most faith in the president and the Democratic Party are the hardest hit by the continuing economic disaster; it’s this brute fact that’s driving the so-called enthusiasm gap between liberals and conservatives.”

The fact is most Americans understand the liberal slant of the media and tend to overlook such attacks. The report published by ACORN “affiliate” Project Vote started off as a quiet murmur among bloggers, but the message was clear. It’s time to paint ordinary Americans as selfish, angry and out of touch with reality. By inciting racial and class divisions Project Vote uses a classic Alinsky technique, marginalizing the enemy.

For a long time, the Left was unable to address the issues of the Tea Party and thus resorted to name calling and derision. When that tactic failed, the liberal elitists at Project Vote – presumably with the encouragement or help of Piven – decided to change the dialogue.

The Washington Post was careful not to be seen endorsing the ACORN-tainted story, but was quick to produce one of its own, as evidenced by Project Vote’s “victory” blog posting.

“Yesterday the Post reported that their own new survey finds—as Project Vote’s poll did—that there is strong support for government programs that provide a social safety net and protect ordinary people from the predations of the market.  Although Republicans, and many Democrats, have tried to demonize Washington,’ write Jon Cohen and Dan Balz, ‘they must contend with the fact that most major government programs remain enormously popular…’

According to the Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University poll, large majorities among the public say that Medicare (96 percent), Social Security (95 percent), food stamps (82 percent), federal aid to public schools (91 percent), unemployment benefits (91 percent) and environmental protection (89 percent) are important government programs.”

Allah Pundit weighs in here. You can bet that in a few days this story will be accepted as fact and repeated by the likes of Rachel Maddow. However, the biggest danger is in how ACORN/Project Vote has decided to frame the message. Acting as agent of misinformation, Project Vote tries to pretend that the mainstream media has been anything but a willing helper in pushing Obama’s unwanted agenda.

“But it has been a difficult story to convince the media to tell. For more than a year now, the media’s fascination with an apparently ‘angry’ public rising up against alleged government tyranny has seemingly taken priority over the first principles of responsible (objective) journalism. The spectacle of older white people dressing up in Revolutionary War garb and railing against  ‘Obamacare,’  has held many in the mainstream media hostage to their own prejudices. And the herd mentality of our modern, 24-hour news cycle has only made things worse.

By locking in the distorted-but-dominant media frame on the Tea Party as representative of the electorate, the skepticism we expect from good journalism has been locked out. As a result, the mainstream media has not just reported or investigated the news: in beating the drum, it has unwittingly emerged as a vital supporting player, playing in the rise of the Tea Party movement itself.’

That said, we are encouraged by the Washington Post’s initiative in digging beneath the surface of apparent voter anger to independently confirm our findings about attitudes toward government.

The preceding statement will rankle any American who has witnessed the distorted reports, downplayed crowd sizes and hostility towards the Tea Party movement. Project Vote actually credits the mainstream media with the rise of the movement. Their statements are an insult to those who have labored tirelessly for the cause.

In the days leading up to November 2^nd, groups like ACORN and Project Vote hope to tap into the well of racial discontent and class warfare to once again divide this country for their own political goals. And, as usual, will be aided by the mainstream media.

Cross-posted from American Majority.

Late last month when the RNC announced that it would cut its get out the vote (GOTV) program, conservative groups around the country adjusted and decided to run their own GOTV programs. But what does the RNC’s decision really mean?

“The Republican National Committee has decided against sending Congressional staffers out on the campaign trail for traditional get-out-the-vote efforts, focusing its resources instead on mailings and other last-minute pre-election efforts, the committee confirmed Tuesday.”

Lately, it has seemed like the RNC has gone the way of the Obama administration and ignored the will of the people. With serious missteps in key races and a national morale problem, the RNC really doesn’t get it.

Dana Loesch reports that after a few posts on Twitter that the RNC responded:

“Shortly thereafter I got an email from RNC spokesman Doug Heye about the matter asking me to call him…

In light of the recent criticisms against the RNC, with the Hawaii conference, Steele’s cross-country tour, I can see why the RNC would want to rectify an ineffective and expensive program to ward off further accusations of wasteful spending – so long as the money saved stays with their GOTV efforts, which Heye explained that it would.

Heye discussed the RNC’s other GOTV efforts.

‘We have 352 victory offices funded by us throughout country. We’ve crossed the 20 million contact threshold – contact in messages left, door knocks, phone calls. We’re ahead of where we were in 2008 and in the next five weeks we’ll have a minimum of two million more contacts.’”

Does the RNC only read the New York Times? Have they paid attention to the countless articles by conservative journalists, bloggers and organizational leaders? GOTV is key the winning an election. A copy of the “proprietary and confidential” “After Action” report from the data company used by the DNC, ACORN, SEIU, Obama for America/Organizing for America contains startling facts and figures that need viral attention fast.

The Background

As previously reported:

“The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN spent a number of years perfecting an organizing model that resembled that of Catalist and the Obama Campaign. ACORN’s close ‘affiliate’ Project Vote detailed their efforts in a 2007 report:

‘The Pilot Technology Project carried out during the summer and fall of 2006 was a first attempt to integrate the potential of high quality enhanced data developed for voter participation programs with on-going grassroots community organizing programs. Building upon the work of Catalist (formerly Data Warehouse LLC), Project Vote deployed an updated version of our online voter management system (VBASE) to enable local community organizations to access a robust voter file with enhanced phone numbers, geographic and demographic information for use in voter mobilization, membership development and organizational capacity building.’”

In 2008, years of coordination between leftist groups like SEIU, ACORN, Emily’s List and Obama/Organizing for America, resulted in a turbo charged election cycle unlike none other.

“Get-out-the-vote operations mounted by the Obama campaign, the Democratic Party and progressive organizations mobilized more than one million dedicated volunteers on Election Day. But it was buttressed by a year-long, psychographic voter targeting and contact operation, the likes of which Democrats had never before participated in. In 2008, the principal repository of Democratic data was Catalist, a for-profit company that acted as the conductor for a data-driven symphony of more than 90 liberal groups, like the Service Employees Union — and the DNC — and the Obama campaign.”

While the Atlantic reported on the story, many on the Right may not understand the total impact of the body of work from these so-called progressives.

A look at the Numbers

According to the report:

Progressives completed over 127 million contacts to over 49 million unique individuals. Of these individuals, 28 million voted on Election Day, representing over 20% of all votes cast

Progressives attempted to contact over 106 million people, meaning that over 46% of the U.S. adult population were targets of communication from the progressive community.

82% of progressive activities occurred in 16 highly contested states. Individuals contacted by progressives accounted for 37%6 of all votes cast in these states.

The dialogue during the 2008 election cycle was one of change and blaming the outgoing administration for America’s troubles. This message was not only reinforced by the media, but also with a barrage of emails, calls, visits, etc. from progressive organizers in the weeks before the election. Obama’s margin of victory was born out of these contacts.

“The number of votes cast by new voters who were registered by progressives exceeded Obama’s margin of victory in four states: OH, FL, IN, and NC. “

Voter Registrations

The massive voter registration drives that many were made aware of in 2008 generated over 7 million new applications with the report stating that at least 76% from groups not directly affiliated with a candidate or campaign. The report also notes that only about 5.5 million made it onto the voter rolls. The left calls them “true registrations.” What about this other two million cards? Duplicates? Fraudulent registrations? Ineligible voters? While the left tends the downplay voter registration fraud, the type of activities that garner over two million bogus registrations should be investigated.

Get Out The Vote

Progressive groups have proven to be ahead of the curve in regards to voter contact and the numbers show that their efforts pay off at the polls. According to Catalist:

“ Among all sporadic voters (which include Democrats, Independents, and Republicans), progressive contact is correlated with a 10-point increase in turnout. Among just Democratic sporadic voters, progressive contact shows an 11-point difference.”

RNC are you listening? Face-to-face contact, not paid media or mailings resulted in at least a 10-point increase in turnout.

The Usual Suspects

Though Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is now under investigation regarding a pension scandal and the activities of former leader Andy Stern, they had a banner year in 2008.  By far, Stern earned the privilege of  frequent White House visits and the president’s ear by delivering big numbers for Obama in 2008. With tens of millions of dollars invested in Obama, the SEIU ground troops worked feverishly to turn voters out to the polls.

SEIU Activity Report

• Over 5.2 million direct contacts were made to almost 4.5 million voters.
• 2.5 million pieces of response data was collected from over 1.2 million voters.
• SEIU used high concentrations of live phone calls (64%) and in-person contact (24%) to target voters. In both cases, this is approximately 50% more then the average (as a percent) of all progressives.
• In Indiana, over 40% of all independent progressive contacts (not including federal) were unique to SEIU. In Virginia, over 35% of all independent progressive contacts were unique to SEIU. SEIU also had large shares of unique contacts in other highly contested states, including New Mexico (over 30%), New Hampshire (over 15%), and Oregon and Colorado (over 10%).

The stark reality is that the left is better organized and their leadership more motivated in getting boots on the ground. With their sophisticated micro-targeting, the left is able to identify individual voters in precincts that are more likely to vote for their cause/candidate. This means that folks on the right are rarely contacted and may not be aware of the scale of these operations. By flying under the radar, the left has a guaranteed tactic to sway elections their way. Don’t allow yourselves to be blindsided this November.

Who’s working in your community? Not the RNC, but this year, like 2008, you can bet that progressive groups are on the ground spreading their message of racial divisions, big government and more spending.

Cross-posted from American Majority and Emerging Corruption.

Tuesday, September 14^th is primary day here in Maryland. Campaign signs litter roadways and volunteers greet commuters as they idle at traffic lights in Prince George’s County. One hot button issue that should be on the mind of Maryland voters is immigration. As the number of illegal immigrants continue to rise in Maryland and the economy further spirals downward, voters in Maryland face tough decisions.

Adding to the immigration debate is an organization that has caused outrage and controversy over its mission and programs. CASA de Maryland, also know as the Central American Solidarity Association deserves national attention for it’s programs that target day laborers in Montgomery County, Maryland.

The Background

From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

“CASA was founded in 1985 in the basement of the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church by concerned U.S. citizens and Central American immigrants. It has since expanded its scope. It is affiliate organization of the National Council of La Raza. It has received funding from a variety of sources, including a two-year grant funding operations in Baltimore from George Soros‘ Open Society Institute. CASA of Maryland is also a founding member of the National Capital Immigration Coalition (“NCIC”) which promotes “comprehensive immigration reform”.[5] Other funding sources include the Annie E. Casey Foundation and United Way. They are a member of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. CASA also has received $1.5 million from CITGO, the state-owned Venezuelan petroleum products corporation.

CASA operates five day labor centers throughout the state, with public and private funding, three in Montgomery County, where its efforts have been the center of controversy. There is both significant support, and significant opposition, to their efforts to provide central sites where contractors can pick up day-laborers….”

Judicial Watch has documents here on the day labor centers.

To be clear, a Soros, and Chavez funded organization with ties to the radical La Raza receives millions in taxpayer dollars while Maryland faces severe budget shortfalls,

“House Minority Leader Anthony J. O’Donnell, R-Calvert/St. Mary’s, offered an amendment Wednesday that would strip $200,000 allocated to Casa de Maryland Inc. from the state’s capital budget.

The amendment failed, 47-89.”

A Washington Examiner articles notes that Casa de Maryland recently formed a political organization called Casa in Action and currently receives a significant majority of its funding from the state.

“CASA will receive nearly $2.1 million this fiscal year from local governments, including $1.3 million from Montgomery County, and another $32,000 in federal money, according to Kim Propeack, the group’s director of community organizing and political action. CASA in Action has raised $45,000 thus far from members paying $9 annual dues, she added.”

While students languish in underfunded schools that are one step above a daycare or prison, Maryland’s Democrat Governor Martin O’Malley partnered with the group to open a multicultural center inside of a restored mansion.

“Governor Martin O’Malley recently joined CASA at the launching of a three-year $30 million campaign to restore the George Oakley Totten, Jr. designed historic Langley Park mansion in Langley Park, Maryland, to be converted into a multicultural center. The center will offer English lessons, legal assistance, job placement”

What other programs have suffered while Casa de Maryland enjoys the seemingly endless largess of state lawmakers? According to the Center for Budget and Policy:

In late 2007 and 2008, some ten states enacted tax increases, closed loopholes, restricted tax credits, or implemented other revenue-raising measures. Major packages were enacted in Maryland, Michigan,and New York.

Other states that have capped or reduced funding for programs that serve people who have disabilities or are elderly include California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia

Maryland cut professional development for principals and educators, as well as health clinics, gifted and talented summer centers, and math and science initiatives.

Some states, such as Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, have implemented cuts to localities, leading to local concerns about reductions in funding for policing, child care assistance, meals for the elderly, hospice care, services for veterans and seniors, and other services.

Other states cutting higher education operating funding and financial aid include Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland..

The Immigration debate

Casa de Maryland discourages local police enforcement of immigration laws and advocates for driver’s licenses for illegal aliens – contentious issues in the current political climate. Local point to the fact that crimes in Silver Spring, Maryland and gang activity are on the rise.

Wikipedia notes that tensions ran high in 2006 when “Gustavo Torres, the Executive Director of CASA, remarked to a reporter for the local Gazette newspaper that CASA was determined to track the leadership of a local unit of Minuteman Project, and take the following actions: ‘We are going to target the Minutemen in a specific way… we are going picket their houses, and the schools of their kids, and go to their work. If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are extremists, that they are anti-immigrant.”

The site Help Save Maryland warns citizens that Casa de Maryland encourages illegal immigration and provides links to a case study on the Langley Park mansion project and a disturbing pamphlet that instructs immigrants in what to do in case of immigration raids.

Did tax dollars pay for this document? The Department of Labor’s website shows that OSHA gave a grant of $200,000 to Casa de Maryland, and $225,000 to an affiliate group. The money was described as being for:

The grantee will provide training for high-risk Latino workers in the construction, building and grounds maintenance, agricultural, and warehouse industries in Maryland. Training will be offered through local community colleges and employment centers. Training will include a train-the-trainer module. The training and/or materials will be offered in English and Spanish. Click to enlarge.

The Obligatory ACORN Connection

Politics as Usual

Major players behind Casa de Maryland include Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Perez. Perez, a former member of Casa de Maryland’s board, worked on O’Malley’s 2006 campaign, Obama’s presidential campaign, and was a member of Obama’s transition team. Byron York describes Perez’s work with the DOJ:

“Of all the transformations that have taken place in the Obama administration, perhaps none is so radical as that within the Civil Rights Division. Under Perez, it is bigger, richer and more aggressive than ever, with a far more expansive view of its authority than at any time in recent history.

Perez is playing a leading role in the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Arizona’s new immigration law. He is promising a huge increase in prosecution of alleged hate crimes.”

Readers may remember that Perez was also actively involved in the dismissal of charges in the DOJ case again the New Black Panther Party and has been accused of lying under oath about the case.

It appears that Casa de Maryland has friends in high places.

As Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley prepares to face off with former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in the general election, one has to wonder what win for either side would mean for Casa de Maryland. If O’Malley is elected, the group should anticipate more funding but with two of Ehrlich’s former staff members on record supporting the group, one has to wonder if this will be yet another case of different party-same political corruption.

Cross-posted at Emerging Corruption.com.

An article posted at the site Texas GOP Vote highlights the close connection between Representative Kristin Thibuat and ACORN:

“The Republican Party of Texas today unveiled a new website, kristiworksforacorn.com. The site documents Democrat state Rep. Kristi Thibaut’s sordid past and her involvement with the notorious leftwing organization ACORN. Thibaut is the incumbent in House District 133.”

House District 133 encompasses Harris County, Texas the site of massive ACORN-like voter registration fraud and where a mysterious fire destroyed most of the voting machines in the county last week.

“Another blow has been dealt to voters in Harris County, Texas just days after the Harris County Voter Registrar Leo Vasquez released a 72 page PowerPoint on voting irregularities from a local group similar to the infamous ACORN.

‘The integrity of the voting rolls in Harris County, Texas, appears to be under an organized and systematic attack by the group operating under the name Houston Votes,” Vasquez said at a 2 p.m. press conference at his office, where he also released copies of applications in some of the most egregious cases.’

[Friday], voters are waking up with the news that the Harris County Election Technology Center was the site of a massive three-alarm fire early this morning.”

As the site kristiworksforacorn.com points out, Thibaut, actively worked for ACORN for a number of years, and was even a paid lobbyist for the group. Screen shot below. Click to enlarge.

By the way, yes, there was money flowing back and forth between Thibaut and ACORN.

A meeting was held yesterday in Harris County regarding purchasing new voting machines or other options regarding the upcoming elections.

Considering the current political climate and the impending sense of doom that most Democrats are experiencing, a situation is emerging it Harris County Texas and it reeks of corruption. Will voters have a chance to have their voices heard or are political players stacking the deck?

Cross-posted at my new site Emerging Corruption