Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign’s Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement

**flipper** · 10-10-2008, 09:52 PM

Quote:

JEFFERSON CITY - Gov. Matt Blunt today issued the following statement on news reports that have exposed plans by U.S. Senator Barack Obama to use Missouri law enforcement to threaten and intimidate his critics.

“St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.

“What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.

http://governor.mo.gov/cgi-bin/coran...VFulkpOzXqGMaj

**sobeit** · 10-10-2008, 10:23 PM

However obama has the right to put a stop to downright lies - which is slander. Looks more like the Governor of Missouri is abusing the power of his office to try intimidate Obama's campaign.

**Drew1369** · 10-11-2008, 10:21 AM

Ahhh... but the "slander" they are trying to stop is his Ayers connection... you know, Obama starting his campaign in his living room... but its like rev. Wright... sitting in the pew for 20 years means you relly didn't know right?

Or his connection to the fannie mae debacle... or his affiliation with ACORN...

Thats what Obama is trying to stop... not really downright lies my friend

**simpswr** · 10-11-2008, 11:55 AM

I was wondering how long it woul take Carl Rove to find a statement with Obama and "Public Trust" in the same paragraph . . . good job on his part

**Chode** · 10-11-2008, 05:40 PM

gosh flipper. that is a compelling argument from governor blunt. wow. imagine; barack hussein obama's political machine reaches out its mighty arms. backed by the tremendous executive power that obama wields as a senator from illinois his minions enter missouri, and he totally undermines law and order. not only that; he insults thomas jefferson.

Flipper, I appreciate comedy relief as much as the next forum member, but is it too much to ask that say, 1 in 4 of your posts rise above the level of something most of us would prefer to scrape off our shoes?

mommabear · 10-12-2008, 08:11 AM

This came up at another forum I go to and this is what I posted there.

Quote:

It seems to me that the local TV news channel sparked this 'controversy' with their lead in.

http://www.kmov.com/video/index.html?nvid=285793&shu=1
(** see my additional note about the KMOV video below.)

I saw nothing in the video report stating that these citizens (who happen to be in law enforcement) are doing anything wrong. The people said that if they heard someone spreading lies, then they would try to correct that mis-information on the spot. ie, explain that Obama IS a Christian, not Muslim. Nobody said they'd be in uniform. Nobody said anything about using intimidation.

These people volunteered.

Quote:

Democrats: It's a manufactured controversy

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Gov. Matt Blunt and Republicans are accusing Barack Obama’s campaign of assembling a “truth squad” with law enforcement officials to intimidate Obama critics from speaking out against the Democratic presidential candidate.

Yet a top Republican National Committee official admits the Democratic prosecutors from across Missouri “haven’t specifically said” they would use their prosecutorial powers on Obama’s behalf.

Using his taxpayer-funded press office to level a political attack, Blunt issued a statement Saturday to denounce the unproven allegations ...

On Wednesday, Obama’s Missouri campaign announced U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill would lead a group of Democratic lawmakers, prosecutors and one sheriff “who will be proactive in letting voters in the Show-Me State know the truth in the face of the distortions by the McCain campaign,” according to a news release.

The group includes prosecutors from St. Louis, Dunklin, Lafayette, Cass, Clay, Ripley, Audrain and Jackson counties volunteering to be surrogates for Obama on their own time.

The Missouri Truth Squad will “respond quickly, forcefully, and aggressively when John McCain or his allies launch inaccurate claims or character attacks about Barack Obama, or when they distort Barack Obama’s record or plans.” ...

Despite having law enforcement officials on the truth squad, none of them have publicly said they will invoke their official powers to enforce facts about Obama’s record. ...

They never said they would invoke their powers, but Republicans say just attaching their law enforcement titles to their names for political reasons gives off a perception of a police state. ...

Frank Donatelli, deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, held a conference call with reporters Saturday morning while touring the state’s offices for GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

In a telephone interview with the News-Leader, Donatelli admitted the Democratic prosecutors “haven’t specifically said” they would use their prosecutorial powers on Obama’s behalf. ...

Donatelli said prosecutors don’t normally join campaign truth squads because their mere presence as a campaign attack dog “has a chilling affect on people’s rights of free speech.”

But a review of McCain’s own truth squads shows he has a district attorney from New Mexico and the South Carolina attorney general ready to respond to misleading ads from Obama and Democrats in their respective states.

Democrats maintain the GOP has twisted the context of a news report to manufacture this controversy. ...

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs...OGS09/80927018

Some schlep in the local newsroom wrote the opening copy for that video and what he wrote was misleading. And now that I've reviewed the video several times and transcribed most of it, it also suggests some creative video editing back at the TV station, along with some more provocative statements by the TV anchor at the beginning of the report. (Which I did not bother to transcribe.)

Quote:

Video:
John Mills: "...They also say they plan to respond immediately to any ads and statements that might violate Mo Ethics Laws."

(Now it cuts to the video of the two volunteers.)

Jennifer Joyce: "We want to keep this campaign focused on issues, don't want people to get distracted...the Missourians don't want to be distracted by these divisive character attacks. So we're here to respond to any character attacks to set the record straight."

Bob McCullouch: "Whether it is directly attributed to the campaign or to one of the soft money operations, if they're not gonna tell the truth, then somebody's gotta step up and say, 'Wait a minute. That's not true. This is the truth.'"

You don't see the reporter asking either of them about MO Ethics Laws.
And you don't hear the two people mention enforcing any MO laws.

The only thing there is to see in this "story" is very sloppy reporting by KMOV, Channel 4 News.

There is no truth in Blunt's allegations.

** NOTE: When I posted all this at the other forum when the story came out, the text at the right of the KMOV video said:

Quote:

The Barack Obama campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading TV ad during the presidential campaign.

Now it says:

Quote:

Obama campaign gets help correcting misleading TV ads
September 23rd, 2008

The Barack Obama campaign is getting help from local prosecutors, both Democrats, to clarify TV ads the campaign believes are misleading.

Another thing. From what I've read, there are laws against "false advertising" (for want of a better phrase) that can be enforced/and or brought suit upon networks, etc. But those laws can apply to either Party and be used if appropriate. That has nothing to do with this issue, because those voluteers are only trying to debunk lies and misinformation with individuals.

10-10-2008, 10:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
sobeit TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: NEAR Posts: 7,433 OS: windows/linux	Re: Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign’s Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement However obama has the right to put a stop to downright lies - which is slander. Looks more like the Governor of Missouri is abusing the power of his office to try intimidate Obama's campaign. __________________ there's been global warming since the ice age

10-11-2008, 10:21 AM	#3 (permalink)
Drew1369 Moderator Relaxation Room Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Seattle, WA, USA Posts: 3,425 OS: Win7 Ultimate	Re: Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign’s Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement Ahhh... but the "slander" they are trying to stop is his Ayers connection... you know, Obama starting his campaign in his living room... but its like rev. Wright... sitting in the pew for 20 years means you relly didn't know right? Or his connection to the fannie mae debacle... or his affiliation with ACORN... Thats what Obama is trying to stop... not really downright lies my friend __________________ We humans have a primal urge to kill because, thanks to natural selection, all the homo sapiens who didn't have a primal urge to kill, were themselves killed. http://obamaclock.org/

10-11-2008, 11:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 12,226 OS: XP, Vista, Win 7	Re: Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign’s Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement I was wondering how long it woul take Carl Rove to find a statement with Obama and "Public Trust" in the same paragraph . . . good job on his part __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help How to post a Screen Shot \| PC running slow?

10-11-2008, 05:40 PM	#5 (permalink)
Chode TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,280 OS: Windows XP Pro	Re: Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign’s Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement gosh flipper. that is a compelling argument from governor blunt. wow. imagine; barack hussein obama's political machine reaches out its mighty arms. backed by the tremendous executive power that obama wields as a senator from illinois his minions enter missouri, and he totally undermines law and order. not only that; he insults thomas jefferson. Flipper, I appreciate comedy relief as much as the next forum member, but is it too much to ask that say, 1 in 4 of your posts rise above the level of something most of us would prefer to scrape off our shoes? __________________ Sweet!