The Democrats

RECORDS SET

I. Bill Clinton, The Last Democratic President

RECORDS SET:

-The only president ever impeached on grounds of personal malfeasance
- Most number of convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates
- Most number of cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation
- Most number of witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify
- Most number of witnesses to die suddenly
- Only president sued for sexual harassment.
- Second president accused of rape
- Only First Lady to come under criminal investigation
- Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case
- Only president to establish a legal defense fund.
- Only president to be held in contempt of court
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad
- Only president disbarred from the US Supreme Court and a state court

STARR-RAY INVESTIGATION:

- Number of Starr-Ray investigation convictions or guilty pleas (including one governor, one associate attorney general and two Clinton business partners, all Democrats): 14

- Number of Clinton Cabinet members who came under criminal investigation (Democrats): 5

CRIME STATS:

- Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes (all Democrats): 47
- Number of these convictions during Clinton's presidency: 33
- Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
- Number of congressional witnesses who have pleaded the Fifth Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed (all Democrats): 122

SMALTZ INVESTIGATION:

- Guilty pleas and convictions obtained by Donald Smaltz in cases involving charges of bribery and fraud against former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy (Democrat) and associated individuals (Democrats) and businesses: 15

*Acquitted or overturned cases (including Espy): 6

- Fines and penalties assessed: $11.5 million
- Amount Tyson Food paid in fines and court costs: $6 million

CAMPAIGN FINANCE INVESTIGATION:

- As of June 2000, the Justice Department listed 25 people indicted and 19 convicted (all Democrats) because of the 1996 Clinton-Gore fundraising scandals.
- According to the House Committee on Government Reform in September 2000, 79 House and Senate witnesses (all Democrats) asserted the Fifth Amendment in the course of investigations into Gore's last fundraising campaign.
-James Riady (Democrat) entered a plea agreement to pay an $8.5 million fine for campaign finance crimes. This was a record under campaign finance laws.

CLINTON MACHINE CRIMES FOR WHICH CONVICTIONS WERE OBTAINED (against Democrats):

Drug trafficking (3), racketeering, extortion, bribery (4), tax evasion, kickbacks, embezzlement (2), fraud (12), conspiracy (5), fraudulent loans, illegal gifts (1), illegal campaign contributions (5), money laundering (6), perjury, obstruction of justice.

OTHER MATTERS (by Democrats) INVESTIGATED BY SPECIAL PROSECUTORS AND CONGRESS, OR REPORTED IN THE MEDIA:

Bank and mail fraud, violations of campaign finance laws, illegal foreign campaign funding, improper exports of sensitive technology, physical violence and threats of violence, solicitation of perjury, intimidation of witnesses, bribery of witnesses, attempted intimidation of prosecutors, perjury before congressional committees, lying in statements to federal investigators and regulatory officials, flight of witnesses, obstruction of justice, bribery of cabinet members, real estate fraud, tax fraud, drug trafficking, failure to investigate drug trafficking, bribery of state officials, use of state police for personal purposes, exchange of promotions or benefits for sexual favors, using state police to provide false court testimony, laundering of drug money through a state agency, false reports by medical examiners and others investigating suspicious deaths, the firing of the RTC and FBI director when these agencies were investigating Clinton and his associates, failure to conduct autopsies in suspicious deaths, providing jobs in return for silence by witnesses, drug abuse, improper acquisition and use of 900 FBI files, improper futures trading, murder, sexual abuse of employees, false testimony before a federal judge, shredding of documents, withholding and concealment of subpoenaed documents, fabricated charges against (and improper firing of) White House employees, inviting drug traffickers, foreign agents and participants in organized crime to the White House.

ARKANSAS ALTZHEIMER'S:

Number of times that Clinton figures (Democrats) who testified in court or before Congress said that they didn't remember, didn't know, or something similar.

Bill Kennedy 116
Harold Ickes 148
Ricki Seidman 160
Bruce Lindsey 161
Bill Burton 191
Mark Gearan 221
Mack McLarty 233
Neil Egglseston 250
Hillary Clinton 250
John Podesta 264
Jennifer O'Connor 343
Dwight Holton 348
Patsy Thomasson 420
Jeff Eller 697

In the portions of President Clinton's Jan. 17 deposition that have been made public in the Paula Jones case, his memory failed him 267 times (this from a man who practically remembered his kindergarten teacher's maiden name in his self-glorifying bio My Life).

This is a list of his answers and how many times he gave each one:

I don't remember - 71
I don't know - 62
I'm not sure - 17
I have no idea - 10
I don't believe so - 9
I don't recall - 8
I don't think so - 8
I don't have any specific recollection - 6
I have no recollection - 4
Not to my knowledge - 4
I just don't remember - 4
I don't believe - 4
I have no specific recollection - 3
I might have - 3
I don't have any recollection of that - 2 I don't have a specific memory - 2
I don't have any memory of that - 2
I just can't say - 2
I have no direct knowledge of that - 2
I don't have any idea - 2
Not that I recall - 2
I don't believe I did - 2
I can't remember - 2
I can't say - 2
I do not remember doing so - 2
Not that I remember - 2
I'm not aware - 1
I honestly don't know - 1
I don't believe that I did - 1
I'm fairly sure - 1
I have no other recollection - 1
I'm not positive - 1
I certainly don't think so - 1
I don't really remember - 1
I would have no way of remembering that - 1
That's what I believe happened - 1
To my knowledge, no - 1
To the best of my knowledge - 1
To the best of my memory - 1
I honestly don't recall - 1
I honestly don't remember - 1
That's all I know - 1
I don't have an independent recollection of that - 1
I don't actually have an independent memory of that - 1
As far as I know - 1
I don't believe I ever did that - 1
That's all I know about that - 1
I'm just not sure - 1
Nothing that I remember - 1
I simply don't know - 1
I would have no idea - 1
I don't know anything about that - 1
I don't have any direct knowledge of that - 1
I just don't know - 1
I really don't know - 1
I can't deny that, I just -- I have no memory of that at all - 1

ARKANSAS SUDDEN DEATH SYNDROME (weird s**t):

- Number of persons in the Clinton machine orbit who are alleged to have committed suicide: 9
- Number known to have been murdered: 12
- Number who died in plane crashes: 6
- Number who died in single car automobile accidents: 3
- Number of one-person sking fatalities: 1
- Number of key witnesses who have died of heart attacks while in federal custody under questionable circumstances: 1
- Number of unexplained deaths: 4
- Number of northern Mafia killings during peak years of 1968-78: 30
- Number of Dixie Mafia killings during same period: 156

THE MEDIA:

- Number of journalists covering Whitewater who have been fired, transferred off the beat, resigned or otherwise gotten into trouble because of their work on the scandals (Doug Frantz, Jim Wooten, Richard Behar, Christopher Ruddy, Michael Isikoff, David Eisenstadt, Yinh Chan, Jonathan Broder, James R. Norman, Zoh Hieronimus): 10

FRIENDS OF BILL (Democrats):

- Number of calls Huang made from Commerce Department to Lippo banks: 261
- Number of intelligence reports Huang read while at Commerce Department: 500
- Number of times John Huang took the 5th Amendment in answer to questions during a Judicial Watch deposition: 1,000
- Visits made to the White House by investigation subjects Johnny Chung, James Riady, John Huang, and Charlie Trie. 160
- Number of campaign contributors who got overnights at the White House in the two years before the 1996 election: 577
- Number of members of Thomas Boggs's law firm who have held top positions in the Clinton administration. 18

Let's Play Hardball:

- FBI files misappropriated by the White House: c. 900
- Estimated number of witnesses quoted in FBI files misappropriated by the White House: 18,000
- Number of witnesses who developed medical problems at critical points in Clinton scandals investigation (Tucker, Hale, both McDougals, Lindsey): 5
- Problem areas listed in a memo by Clinton's own lawyer in preparation for the president's defense: 40
- Number of witnesses and critics of Clinton subjected to IRS audit: 45
- Number of names placed in a White House secret database without the knowledge of those named: c. 200,000
- Number of women involved with Clinton who claim to have been physically threatened (Sally Perdue, Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey, Linda Tripp, Elizabeth Ward Gracen, Juantia Broaddrick): 6
- Number of men involved in the Clinton scandals who have been beaten up or claimed to have been intimidated: 10

II. LIST OF DEMOCRAT CRIMINALS (Incomplete)

(*indicates sex scandal, ** indicates sexual assault/rape/murder)

Rogues Gallery of Former and Current Current Office holders:

-Lee Alexander, Syracuse Mayor (D): Racketeering and tax evasion
-Christopher Dodd, US Sen., 2008 Presidential Primary Contender (D): $50,000 bagman for John Huang, blamed it on Don Fowler
-Robert Filner, US Rep, CA (D): Assault and battery on United Airlines employee at Dulles Intn'l
-Oscar Goodman, Las Vegas mayor (D): Bribes, telling fourth graders to bring gin if they are stuck on island
-Diane Gordon, New York City Council (D): Convicted of taking bribes
-Alcee Hastings (D): impeached and convicted judge/representative
-Kwame Kilpatrick, Detroit Mayor (D): Perjury, obstruction of justice, fired police chief for investigating his mayoral personage.
-Ray Nagin, New Orleans Mayor (D): Misappropriated $250,000,000 he received from the government Corps of Engineers meant to fix dike before Hurricane Katrina struck
-Gary Siplin FL State Senator (D): Grand theft convictionThomas Wright: NC house, six count indictment for fraud/obstructing justice, pending trial and removal from office.
-**Sen. Brock Adams (D): Rape
-Frank Ballance (D): Mail fraud, money laundering
-Rep. Marrio Biaggi (D): Wedtech. illegal use of minority no bid contracting, bribes
-DC Mayor Marion Barry (D): Busted for smoking crack cocaine
-Jim Black, NC Speaker of the house (D): Five years for accepting bribes
-Kathryn Bowers, State Sen. (D): Bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
-Daniel Baugh Brewster (D): Illegal gratuities
-Brian Burke (D): Felony and misdemeanor pleas
-Albert G. Bustamante (D): Racketeering, bribery
-Robert Byrd (D): KKK member
-John A. Celona (D): Racketeering, mail fraud
-Warren Christopher, Clinton Secretary of State (D): Fired James C. Woods for suggesting that $5,300,000 missing from AIT visa fund was spent on sexual favors and John Huang.
-Chuck Chvala, Wisconson Senate Majority Leader (D): Using state employees to do political work and to illegally funneling money to a state Senate campaign.
-*Henry Cisneros (D): Lying to FBI about $250,000 hush money to mistress
-William Lacy Clay, Sr. (D): Ethics charges, house banking scandal
-Tony Coelho (D): Bond market and stock market defrauder
-Jerry Cosentino, State Treasurer (D): Bank fraud
-William Cotton, County Committeeman (D): Bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
-**Gary Condit, CA Congressman (D): Was having an adulterous affair with Chondra Levy when the latter disappeared (she was found murdered)
-George Crockett, Jr. (D): Contempt of court for defending communist on trial for advocating the overthrow of the government
-Ward Crutchfield, State Sen. (D): Bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
-Gloria Davis, Bronx Assembly (D): Bribery
-Charles Coles Diggs, Jr. (D): Mail fraud
-Roscoe Dixon, State Sen. (D): Bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
-Thomas Joseph Dodd (D): $116,000 in campaign funds diverted for personal use
-Edwin Edwards, Governor LA (D): $400,000 extortion
-Angelo Errichetti, Camden Mayor (D): Abscam
-Daniel Flood (D): Payoffs
-John N. Ford, State Sen. (D): Bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
-Cornelius Edward Gallagher (D): Tax evasion, conspiracy, perjury
-Rep. Robert Garcia (D): Wedtech
-**David Giles (D): Child rape
-**Neil Goldschmidt, Oregon Governor (D): Confessed child molester
-James C. Green, NC State Rep. (D): Tax evasion
-Roger L. Green, Brooklyn Assembly (D): Phony travel reimbursements
-David Hall (D): Extortion and conspiracy
-Richard T. Hanna (D): Accepted bribes from South Korean government
-John Doug Hays, KY senate (D): Mail fraud
-*Rep. Wayne Hays (D): Traded secretary job for oral sex
-Alan G. Hevesi, Comptroller NY (D): $172,000 use of state police to drive his wife around
-*Dario Herrera, Clark County NV Commisioner, congressional candidate (D): Bribes, G string trial, lap dances, oral sex for votes
-*Allan Turner Howe (D): Soliciting prostitution
-Carroll Hubbard, Jr.(D): Conspiracy to defraud FEC, theft of government property
-Webster Hubbell, AK Supreme Court Chief Justice (D): Mail fraud, tax evasion
-*Ralph Inzunza, San Diego Council (D): G string trial, bribes for changing the city strip club laws
-Harry P. Jannotti, Philadelphia City Council (D): Abscam
-Rep. John Jenrette (D): Abscam
-Bolley Johnson, FL Speaker of the House (D): Tax evasion
-Louis C. Johanson, Philadelphia City Council (D): Abscam
-Guy Hamilton Jones, Sr., AK State Senate (D): IRS charges
-*Erin Kenny, Clark County NV Commisioner, Candidate for Lt. Gov. (D): G string trial, cash bribes
-*Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, Clark County NV Commisioner (D): G string trial, campaign $$$
-Joseph Kolter (D): embezzlement
-**David Lanier, Judge (D): Eight counts of sexual assault
-Raymond Lederer (D): Abscam
-Nicholas Mavroules (D): Plead guilty to 15 corruption counts
-*Lance Malone, Clark County NV Commisioner (D): G string trial, cash bribes, wire fraud, extortion
-William McCuen, AK Secretary of State (D): Kickbacks, tax evasion, embezzling
-Jim McDermott (D): "willfull and knowing misconduct" that "rises to the level of malice"
-Cynthia McKinney (D): Assault & Battery on US Capitol Police officer at security check
-Edward Mezvinsky (D): 56 federal fraud charges
-John Michael Murphy (D): Abscam
-Michael Myers (D): Abscam
-Mary Rose Oakar (D): House Banking Scandal, pled to campaign violations
-Otto Ernest Passman (D): Accepted bribes from South Korean government (prosecution declined due to age)
-Carl Christopher Perkins (D): House Banking Scandal, overdrawn $300,000
-**Mel Reynolds (D): Child rapist (pardoned by Clinton)
-**Fred Richmond (D): Soliciting sex from a 16 year old
-George Rogers, MA State Sen. (D): Bribery
-Dan Rostenkowski, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee (D): House Post -Office Scandal
-Bobby Lee Rush, Black Panther (D): Weapons charges
-**Gus Savage (D): Fondling Peace Corps volunteer
-George X. Schwartz, Philadelphia City Council (D): Abscam
-Don Siegleman, Alabama Governor (D): Bribes
-Lawrence Jack Smith (D): Tax evasion
-*Eliot Spitzer, New York Governor (D): Soliciting prostitution, Mann Act
-*Jerry Springer (D): Soliciting prostitution
-Herman Talmadge (D): Bribery, overcoat full of cash
-Frank Thompson (D): Abscam
-James Traficant (D): Bribes, racketeering, use of staff for personal benefit
-James Guy Tucker, Jr. (D): Fraud, Whitewater
-Walter Rayford Tucker (D): Extortion, tax evasion
-*Joseph Waggonner Jr. (D): Soliciting prostition
-David Lee Walters, OK Governor (D): Election law violations
-Maxine Waters (D): ~$1,000,000 in nepotism
-**Daniel James White, San Francisco Supervisor (D): Murder
-Sen. Harrison A. Williams (D): Abscam
-Calvin Williams, County Administrator (D): Bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
-Jim Wright, Speaker of the House (D): $145,000 'gift'
-*John Young (D): sexual harrassment of staffer
-*Michael Zucchet, San Diego Council, interim Mayor (D): G string trial, bribes for changing the strip club laws

MISCELLANEOUS CRIMINALS (Democrats):

-Bruce Babbitt, Interior Secretary: Lied to congress about Indian casino bribes
-Sandy Berger: Clinton aide, theft and destruction of classified and incriminating documents
-*Natale Bellochi: $5,300,000 goes missing from the US operated American Institute in Taiwan. James C. Woods is fired for claiming that it was spent on sexual favors and John Huang.
-Ron Brown: Fraud, conspiracy
-David Chang: Illegal fundraising
-Golan Cipel: Made NJ Homeland Security advisor because of gay affair with Jim McGreevy, possible Israeli spy
-**Brian Doyle, Democratic activist: Child molester
-**Ira Einhorn: Rape and murder
-**John Wayne Gacy, Democrat fundraiser: Rapist, murderer
-*Michael Galardi: G string trial "fund raiser" handed out "$100,000's" of bribes, as well as wire fraud and oral sex, in order to get San Diego and las Vegas strip club laws changed. Harry Reid "rebuked" John Ashcroft for using the Patriot Act to catch these people
-**Abraham J. Hirschfeld: Tampering with witness (Paula Jones), murder
-Maria Hsia: Illegal fundraising
-Mark B. Jimenez - Democrat fund raiser - tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud the United States, election financing offenses
-Bert Lance, OMB Director: Misuse of government funds
-James Lanier, power broker, TN: Corruption
-Edward Fretwell Prichard, Jr., DNC delegate: Stuffing the ballot box
-Richard Silberman, various CA offices: Laundering drug cartel money, stock fraud
-**Michael Skakel (a "Kennedy Kid"): Convicted of murder
**William Kennedy Smith (a "Kennedy Kid"): Tried for rape
-Lafayette Thomas, Sheriff, TN: 54 counts abuse of power, mail fraud, tax fraud
-Paul Ziffren: Capone connection to Chicago and California democrat committees


III. THE LAST TIME AROUND ('04 Election)

As reported:

York County, Pennsylvania

Cleanup will soon be under way at the Bush-Cheney Victory Center in York County for the fifth time this election season.

Vandals spray painted anti-Bush messages and "Vote Kerry" on the building and on the rented sign out front Wednesday night.

They also stole the letters from the sign out front which had been advertising a veterans event for this weekend.

"I just don't understand the mentality we're dealing with here. I mean, what are they proving? Because it's really, it's degrading to the other party to have this kind of vandalism going on," said Darwin Doll, headquarters coordinator.

The vandals hit other businesses and a barn along Route 74 just outside of Dallastown Wednesday night.

Doll said the Victory Center will now be equipped with security cameras.

Mercer Island, Washington

According to two Mercer Island men, signs supporting President Bush are an endangered species. Within days of going up in the affluent neighborhood, the signs disappear. So there the men were this week, camped in the dark woods with lawn chairs and a video camera, waiting for the thieves to strike. It only took three hours. At about 10 p.m. Tuesday, a 25-year-old Mercer Island man walked to a grassy area along the 6700 block of Island Crest Way and began to pull up Bush signs installed by the two men, police said.

The amateur detectives burst out of the woods and confronted the man, who was apologetic. The men detained him until police arrived.

One of the men, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals by Kerry supporters, said the anti-Bush sentiment in the neighborhood is extreme and angry. "They're entirely within their rights to protect their investment and make sure their views are protected," said Ross Marzolf, executive director of the King County Republican Party, which gave the men new signs.

Akron, Ohio

Two men who tore down a Bush-Cheney sign and urinated on it were caught on videotape by Summit County Republican officials early Friday morning.

The videotape shows the men sneaking into the yard of a West Market Street home and bending the sign to the ground. The men struggled to rip the sign out of the ground by shaking it and pulling it but couldn't get it off the posts, so they knocked it down. Sounds heard on the tape suggest the men urinated on the sign.

The homeowner, Steve Kotsatos, who is also assistant to the director of the Summit County Board of Elections, called Akron police dispatchers at 10:38 a.m. Friday and told them about how his campaign sign was vandalized.

He said he caught the vandals on a night-vision camera he had installed the day before.

"A couple of days ago my neighbor's sign was set on fire with a blowtorch so I figured I might be next,'' Kotsatos said. "This is not only criminal damaging but a safety hazard.''

The large 4-by-8-foot, red, white and blue sign was tipped over in Kotsatos' yard about 1 a.m. Friday.

John Kerry's name was scrawled across Bush's name in black marker on one side of the sign -- the work of previous vandals, Kotsatos said.

Tampa, Florida

Labor activists stormed President Bush's campaign headquarters in Tampa on Tuesday, part of an orchestrated event nationwide involving thousands of people protesting his policies on overtime pay.

No one was injured or arrested in Tampa, police said. Miami and Orlando also were among the 17 cities in swing- voting states where the AFL-CIO organized such events.

Protesters, including construction and hospital workers, were armed with postcards and petitions expressing their disapproval of Bush's overtime policies. Some held signs reading: ``Don't Take Away Our Overtime.'

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

More than 50 demonstrators supporting Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry stormed a Republican campaign office in West Allis at mid-day today, trespassing, creating a disturbance through the use of a bullhorn in the office and then refusing to leave when asked.

Graber called the latest incident part of a disturbing trend of criminal conduct by anti-Bush forces in Wisconsin, pointing to an incident in Madison last week in which Bush-Cheney yard signs were stolen from the yards of three homes. The vandals then used chemicals to burn swastikas into the lawns of the homes, which were within a two-block radius of one another.

In addition, reports of stolen, defaced and damaged Bush-Cheney campaign signs are surfacing throughout Wisconsin.

“Our volunteers, from children to the elderly, have every right to feel safe when they are working on behalf of a cause and candidates they believe in,” Graber commented. “This type of thuggish, intimidating conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is time for John Kerry, the Wisconsin Democrat party, and Kerry’s campaign leaders, including Gov. James E. Doyle, to put a stop to this shameful behavior."

Orlando, Florida

A group of protestors stormed and then ransacked a Bush-Cheney headquarters building in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, according to Local 6 News.
Local 6 News reported that several people from the group of 100 Orlando protestors face possible assault charges after the group forced their way inside the Republican headquarters office.

While in the building, some of the protestors drew horns and a mustache on a poster of President George W. Bush and poured piles of letters in the office, according to the report.

Knoxville, Tennessee

An unknown suspect fired several shots into the Bearden office of the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign Tuesday morning.

The headquarters are located at 4618 Kingston Pike, next to Noveau Classics and in the same shopping plaza as Long's Drugstore.

According to Knoxville Police Department (KPD) officers on the scene Tuesday, it is believed that the two separate shots were fired from a car sometime between 6:30 am and 7:15 am.

One shot shattered the glass in the front door and the other cracked the glass in another of the front doors.

Volunteers and staffers at the campaign office say they have no clues as to who might have committed the crime. However, they add that the shooting makes them even more enthusiastic and energized about working for their candidates.

"If I have to sleep here (at the campaign office) now, that's what I'll do," says volunteer Suzanne Dewar.

Bellevue, Washington

Three computers loaded with confidential campaign plans were reported stolen early yesterday in a burglary at President Bush's Washington state campaign headquarters.

Someone threw a rock through a window of the campaign's office in a suburban business park, taking laptops belonging to key campaign workers from the desk of the Bush campaign's state director, Bellevue police and Republican Party officials said.

The Bush campaign and local Republican officials say they're convinced the break-in was politically motivated. They say it appeared to be a targeted burglary and was suspiciously similar to a break-in four years ago at Bush's Bellevue offices.

Madison, Wisconsin

Someone burned an 8-foot-by-8-foot Nazi swastika on a home's lawn near where Bush-Cheney signs were posted. The vandals used grass killer to spray the symbol.

"I just cannot believe that someone would take the liberty to do this," said homeowner Rob Schaeffer. "We're appalled that someone would choose to destroy our property because they don't believe in our political views. My signs are going right back in the yard. This is my property. We live here. We have rights."

Police are investigating the criminal damage and told the homeowner it will be investigated as a hate crime, which carries stiffer penalties.

Avon, Colorado

Enough of the burning Bush and enough of the Avon chain saw massacre.

Vandals trespassing on his property to chainsaw the middle out of Republican campaign signs spurred landowner Magnus Lindholm Wednesday to offer a $5,000 reward for information leading the arrest of those responsible.

Earlier this week, somebody chain-sawed the middle out of two Bush signs on his property in Avon at the William Post Boulevard exit on Interstate 70. A “Bush/Cheney ’04” campaign sign was burned in Wolcott.

No signs promoting Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry or Senate hopeful Ken Salazar have been reported damaged.

Cars owned by Eagle County resident Gunther Schmidt and his daughter, which carried Bush/Cheney bumper stickers, have also been targeted. While the damage was light — the bumper stickers were scratched off and the cars scratched — Schmidt said it’s not the extent, but the principle of free speech that matters.

“If you are for the Republican party, it seems to me that the Democrats take all kinds of measures to destroy your signs,” said Schmidt. “I thought we lived in a free country where you could express your opinion in a non-violent way, without being punished for it.”

Oxford, Mississippi

Oxford police are investigating a break-in over the weekend at the Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters in Oxford.

Andrew George, North Mississippi Field Coordinator for the Mississippi Republican Party, said he was heading to church in Oxford Sunday morning and noticed that something wasn’t right at the store-front headquarters on Van Buren Avenue at South 11th Street.

“They came in and broke out the window on the front door. They broke out another of the front windows,” he said.

George said it was an act of vandalism, not theft. Vandalism is a felony in Mississippi.

Huntington, West Virginia

Republican supporters in Huntington were watching their candidate accept the party's nomination when a gunshot rang out right in the middle of George W. Bush's speech.

"We heard a small snap, and felt glass come sliding by us. We looked up and saw a hole in our window and realized somebody was shooting at us", said Paula Stewart.

Witnesses tell police that someone fired a shot at the Republican Headquarters office at 1402 4th Avenue around 10:30pm Thursday night.

Twenty five people were inside facing the window, watching the speech on TV, when the shot was fire.

The bullet went over their heads.

IV. BARACK H. OBAMA

TONY REZKO:

Barack Obama has been friends with Antoin ("Tony") Rezko since at least 1990.

Rezko is a political fundraiser, restaurateur, and real estate developer in Chicago, Illinois, and has been involved in fundraising for local Illinois politicians since the 1980s.

He focused primarily on Chicago-area Democrats, and was one of Obama's first financial contributors, raising at least $150,000 for Obama's campaigns.

In return, Barack arranged an internship in 2005 for John Aramanda, the son of a Rezko business associate (Joseph Aramanda, who himself gave Barack $11,500.)

In June, 2005, Obama bought a house in Chicago for $1.65 million ($300,000 below the asking price). The same day, Rezko bought (in his wife's name) the vacant lot next door for $625,000, the full price asked. Seven months later, Rezko sold Barack a slice (1/6th) of his lot so the Obamas could have a bigger yard.

This year, 2008, Rezko was convicted on several counts of fraud and bribery.

Among other problems, Rezko is on trial in a federal government corruption case for demanding kickbacks from companies wanting to do business with Illinois Governor Blagojevich, another politician that Rezko has befriended and donated to.

Joseph Aramanda--who Obamas arranged an internship for-- is an unindicted co-conspirator in one of the kickback cases.


VICE PRESIDENT SELECTION TEAM:

One of the three members of the team that Barack Obama has assigned to search for a vice-president is Eric Holder .

While he served as Bill Clinton's Deputy Attorney General, Holder (Democrat) was the "key person who made the pardon of Marc Rich possible in the final hours of the Clinton presidency," writes Dick Morris.

Rich, a financier (and Democrat), was indicted for evading more than $48 million in taxes, and accused of more than four dozen counts of tax fraud. He also was accused of running illegal oil deals with Iran during the 1979-1980 time period when Americans were held hostage in Iran.

He fled the country and lived as a fugitive in Switzerland.

Another on the three-man team is long-time Democratic insider
Jim Johnson.

Johnson stands accused of, among other things, getting a seven million dollar below-market rate home loan from Countrywide Financial through an informal program set up for friends of the embattled mortgage company's CEO.

Obama has, in the past, used strong language in railing against Countrywide and other subprime lenders, making his association with Johnson--and Johnson's with the lender--awkward.

So far, Obama has yet to dismiss Johnson with his trademark "this is not the Jim Johnson I know" waiver.

The buffoonish situation now of "vetting the vetters" is not a promising start for a politician representing himself as an agent of "Change."

Instead, he's sounding more and more like just another Democrat (see above).