This is the very essence of what a Repiglican is: their entire 'reality' is based on lies, deceit, deceptions, slight of hand, manipulations, and utterly unable to accept the responsibility in their own actions. They are dependent on being victims so that they can create scapegoats so they never, ever , have to look at themselves. And then using God as their justification of everything. What a sick bunch of putrid pigs they really are. Their 'souls' have been replaced by nothing more than a rancid abscess.

gee, stormskies, i think they just got a little carried away, s'all...

naaah... they're all of satan, every one of them...

Wow, imagine that, Repigs lying and cheating. Who wudda EVER thunk it?! Long-hand letters written by constituents in ink are probably the best way to go, as has always been the case. If this is not investigated and prosecuted and stopped, then our Democracy is rotting from the inside out, compliments of the repigs. Way to go piggies.

Setting aside outrage for a moment, it's useful to remember that publicly traded fossil-fuel concerns bear a fiduciary responsibility to protect their shareholders and maximize profits if possible.

When push comes to shove, it's reasonable for fossil-fuel outfits to conclude they're -required- to deceive us if they believe their shareholders are threatened by legislation. Not because they're evil, only because that's part of the job description.

I'm not saying this excuses them or makes deception acceptable. Rather, by understanding the motivation to practice deceit it is actually becomes more plausible to accept that we're being lied to on an industrial scale.

Fiduciary responsibility to shareholders does not extend to breaking the law. Falsely representing a communication as coming from an organization when it does not is fraud, and is against the law.

I would argue Doug that that very motivation itself is evil. Lying and deceiving others for one's own needs or 'profits' is , to me, evil.

If they didn't have lies and fear, what would they have? "We are greedy bastards who are afraid of brown people and uppidy women."

Well, what crimes did the lobbyists commit? Conspiracy to commit mail fraud? Making false statements to government agency (§ 1001)? Any other ideas? One would hope the Justice Department was looking into this.

I agree with David in NY. I would hope that the US DoJ is already on this. Or would that not be "bipartisan."

I'd lay odds that the forgery mailer is/was a member of the young Republicans and his idol is Karl Rove.

Mithrandir, stormskies I agree with you.

Yet we end up needing to build a case to take to the public to help them understand why, how and even more importantly -if- they're being lied to.

I believe it's easier for many if not most people to understand and accept that they're being deceived not in pursuit of abstract "evil" or "greed" but instead individual decision makers applying overzealous and ultimately unscrupulous methods in operating a business.

His idol may be Karl Rove, but this actually sounds more like a Richard Nixon tactic.

And yes, I hope they can pin mail fraud on this a$$hole.

This is GOP SOB's SOP, like fake bulletins in black neighborhoods about voting the wrong day, etc. Isn't there a way to do real criminal prosecution on this? Write the ripp-ees and ask them to press charges and/or sue.

Rove worked for Nixon it'where he learned his craft.

"Members of Congress are already very skeptical of constituent communications." But they're not skeptical of generous donations.
This defines the complete corruption of Congress; the nod-and-wink bribery that accompanies the 'message' that lobbyists sell. The ability of vested interests to stall meaningful legislation such as health care or constructive energy policies is merely complimented by this kind of fraud.
The oligarchs are winning.

The guy who wrote the letters idolized Richard Nixon, the guy that told him to write the letters (leaving no evidence of the directive) idolized Karl Rove.

Criminal in so many ways. Bust the punks and roll up the conspiracy.

Tim Fernholz added a good point: "Members of Congress are already very skeptical of constituent communications in this day of Internet-organized communications blitzes; the possibility that they may take these messages even less seriously due to fraud is a very disheartening one."

But, for organizations that lobby directly and participate in forgery, its win-win. Either the communications are taken seriously, and they win, or the forgery is revealed, and mail from organizations not backed by direct, in-person, lobbying is discounted generally, and the lobbyists still win.

Mail fraud. Wire fraud. Jail time.

It is well known that republicans think cheating is perfectly acceptable since the only goal is winning at all costs. It is wide spread and fits right in with the party of hypocrisy, the obstructionist party...whose hypocrisy is apparent in its slogan "Country First" when they clearly demonstrate the most important thing to them is "Party First".

They would sell the entire nation down the drain for political gain (hey, that rhymes).

I recommend looking for ties between Bonner & Associates and Virgil Goode (who was unseated by Perriello) and/or Eric Cantor (Republican whip) for starters. Or try Massey Energy, Dominion Virginia Power and every rich guy in the Shenandoah Valley.

Mail fraud. Wire Fraud. Criminal Conspiracy. (That is to say, everyone at the lobbying firm who knew about the plan, and everyone at the client ditto.)

Oh, and identity theft and whatever the tort is that involves unlawfully damaging someone's reputation by claiming to be them. Once again with John Does as the defendants until discovery has disclosed all the names of those who knew of the unlawful plan.

I am seriously so fucking sick of this bullshit. Can we PLEASE start the re-education camps soon? I want a job as a political officer.

(shhhh, don't tell the Reprobaticans I'm joking. I'm hoping a couple have aneurisms.)

What is even worse is that these @sshats were forging letters from MINORITY advocacy groups that were formed, in large part, to counteract the historic disenfranchisement of their members.

"Members of Congress are already very skeptical of constituent communications."

That's the point. To muddy the waters and lessen the impact of any grassroots organizing actions. They are traitors out to destroy democracy.

I agree with that, political ways they're using someone just to make them a good to people's eyes, but deep inside, They are not what they show us.