New Orleans     Steve Bachmann, erstwhile counsel to ACORN and the legions for three decades sent a wide ranging email that he thought needed to be posted far and wide. He had obviously been spending a pleasant Sunday afternoon nestled against the Indiana winter in front of the fire reading the latest issue of Harper’s Magazine when instead of reading the excoriation of Schlesinger’s diaries or the debate about whether or not America and the world could survive without growth, he went lining a heat seeking missile right to an essay by Scott Horton entitled “Vote Machine: How Republicans Hacked the Justice Department.”

First, Steve pointed out the “confession” by Royal Masset the former political director of the Texas Republican Party who “actually told the Houston Chronicle in 2007 that it is an ‘article of religious faith that voter fraud is causing us to lose elections,’ but then acknowledged that such faith is unfounded. What he did believe, according to the Chronicle’s paraphrase, was that ‘requiring photo IDs could cause enough of a drop-off in legitimate Democratic voting to add 3 percent to the Republic vote.'” Needless to say, in close races such voter suppression could be the margin for potential victory for the Republicans making it an effort worth the lift for them, we assume.

Of course, Steve did not miss the part of the piece that zeroed in on ACORN and our own experiences in New Mexico with the activity and firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias for refusing to manufacture indictments against our voter registration efforts. Steve wanted this quote to be known:

“New Mexico is one of the dozen states in which national elections are decided. In 2000 the state went for Gore. In 2004 it went for Bush. In both elections the margin was paper-thin and highly disputed. And Iglesias, like other U.S. attorneys, was expected to push aggressively against ‘voter fraud.’ Iglesias did so and was recognized for his efforts. In 2004 he reacted to Republican complaints about a highly effective voter-registration program run by a grassroots activist organization, ACORN, by creating a special task force of FBI agents and prosecutors to fully investigate the allegations.”

Steve’s point in making sure that everyone knows about all of this is basically that you cannot be too careful. Sometimes paranoia is justified! Batten down the hatches and full speed ahead.

Seems hard to dispute.