Vote-Fraud in Nevada meant Voting other than Republican

Or so it seems, as the AG scandal unravels. But this isn't about the widespread corruption of the vote, as many might think, including the extremely dubious 2004 election results, results that seem to have been left to independent investigators to question when even quite blatant patterns of fraud benefited Republicans.

So we have a new and specifically Republican definition of "fraudulent votes." Those are votes that are not for Republican candidates. Failure to accept this newspeak redefinition of reality is grounds for dismissal.

Voter-Fraud Complaints by GOP Drove Dismissals - washingtonpost.com:

Last October, just weeks before the midterm elections, Rove's office sent a 26-page packet to Gonzales's office containing precinct-level voting data about Milwaukee. A Justice aide told congressional investigators that he quickly put the package aside, concerned that taking action would violate strict rules against investigations shortly before elections, according to statements disclosed this week.

That aide, senior counselor Matthew Friedrich, turned over notes to Congress that detailed a telephone conversation about voter fraud with another Justice official, Benton Campbell, chief of staff for the Criminal Division. Friedrich had asked Campbell for his assessment of Rove's complaints about problems in New Mexico, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, according to a congressional aide familiar with Friedrich's remarks.

The notes show that Campbell also identified Nevada as a problem district. Daniel G. Bogden of Las Vegas was among the nine U.S. attorneys known to have been removed from their jobs last year.

Rick Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School who runs an election law blog, said that 'there's no question that Karl Rove and other political operatives' urged Justice officials to apply pressure on U.S. attorneys to pursue voter-fraud allegations in parts of the country that were critical to the GOP.

Obviously - to ordinary ethical beings of all political views - fraud is fraud is fraud, and should be prioritized according to the seriousness of the crime - and not according to who the fraud may benefit.

But in the Republican universe, clearly fraudulent actors - Katherine Harris leaps to mind - are rewarded instead of prosecuted.

The article continues, making the reason for the odd differentials clearer:

Rick Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School who runs an election law blog, said that "there's no question that Karl Rove and other political operatives" urged Justice officials to apply pressure on U.S. attorneys to pursue voter-fraud allegations in parts of the country that were critical to the GOP.

So we now see the term "prosecutorial discretion" is seen to have an explicitly political dimension. For instance, I've found no evidence that the Sproul & Associates have been seriously investigated or prosecuted despite blatant registration frauds, including Nevada. Oddly, one of the fired prosecutors was from the las Vegas office.

Meanwhile, a Deputy AG has jumped ship, according to Wonkette:
Paul McNulty, who we think was also Philip Marlowe’s incompetent cop friend, is quitting the Justice Department to… wait, we don’t really understand his reason at all.

McNulty announced his plans to leave in a letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, citing the financial pressures of having children entering their college years, one official said.

Allow me to explain. As it would compromise future employment to be too direct about his reasons and he did not wish to cite "personal reasons," which is code for "I'm having to enter rehab" these days, he cites a socially inarguable reason that is going to cause twitters of disbelief.

He’s not making enough as a deputy attorney general? How many goddamn kids does he have? Is he married to Michele Bachmann?

Well, rich people might actually consider it plausible. And certainly if he wishes to send his kids to the Sorbonne to study Art History, he might just need the sort of job a man with his connections could get by picking up the phone and opening the bidding wars. However, it does put a crimp in his political - I mean, "public service" - career, and therefore, many will speculate as to the real reason.

And I presume that's his intent - to distance himself from this administration before it sends both private and public careers circling the john, sparing him the awkwardness of apologies, explainations and quite possibly supoenas down the line.