Romney Lied About Obama's OH Lawsuit

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

These right-wing handjobs are such shameless liars...


Romney Smears Obama, Falsely Claims He Filed Lawsuit To Restrict Military Voting In Ohio (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/08/04/640491/romney-smears-obama-falsely-claims-he-filed-lawsuit-to-restrict-military-voting-in-ohio/)

By Judd Legum (http://thinkprogress.org/author/judd/) on Aug 4, 2012 at 4:15 pm
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Romney_CROP.jpg (http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Romney_CROP.jpg)
Today on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/mittromney/posts/10150981967501121), Mitt Romney claims that the Obama campaign is trying to “undermine” the ability of members of the military to vote in Ohio:
President Obama’s lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage. The brave men and women of our military make tremendous sacrifices to protect and defend our freedoms, and we should do everything we can to protect their fundamental right to vote. I stand with the fifteen military groups that are defending the rights of military voters, and if I’m entrusted to be the commander-in-chief, I’ll work to protect the voting rights of our military, not undermine them.
This certainly sounds outrageous, but it is not true. Since 2005, Ohio has had in person early-voting in the three days prior to the election. This year, however, the Republican legislature in Ohio eliminated early voting during this period, except for members of the military. The Obama lawsuit is attempting to restore voting rights for all Ohioans, not restrict them for the military or any other group. From the Obama lawsuit (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/ObamaforAmericavHustedcomplaint.pdf), filed in federal court:
Plaintiffs bring this lawsuit to restore in-person early voting for all Ohioans during the three days prior to Election Day – a right exercised by an estimated 93,000 Ohioans in the last presidential election. Ohio election law, as currently enacted by the State of Ohio and administered by Defendant Ohio Secretary of State, arbitrarily eliminates early voting during the three days prior to Election Day for most Ohio voters, a right previously available to all Ohio voters.

The Obama campaign’s request for a preliminary injunction (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/MotionforPreliminaryInjunction_001.pdf) does not seek to restrict military voting. Rather, it simply is asking that the full early voting period be open to all citizens, as it was under the law before this year.

Even Fox News acknowledges the purpose of the suit, noting “the lawsuit does not restrict the ability of military personnel to cast their ballots early (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/04/obama-campaign-sues-ohio-over-early-voting-law-for-military/#ixzz22bqw859E).”

Update

The Romney campaign is totally unable (http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/08/obama-camp-romneys-ohio-voting-claim-shameful-131098.html) to back up their candidate’s claim:

Romney’s spokesman, Ryan Williams, in an interview Saturday could point to no place in Obama’s lawsuit that seeks to restrict the rights of military voters…

Romney’s legal counsel, Katie Biber, said creating two separate classes of Ohio voters does not violate the 14th Amendment, though she also did not offer evidence that Obama’s lawsuit would make it tougher for members of the military to vote…

[peacepipe]

no surprise,his campaigns be it this one or previous ones have been run on one lie or another.

BTW this is negative campaigning.

[Rigs11]

Unlike mittens though Obama won't turn into a giant vagina and demand an apology.

[ant1999e]

Below is a list of Obama’s documented lies so far with the most recent lies first. If you see we are missing a documented lie Submit the lie here.
Lies During Third Year
I will walk on that picket line with you, if workers are denied the right to bargain.
Youtube
In his 2012 State of the Union Address, President Obama said that American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years.
www.breitbart.com
I’ve done more for Israel’s security than any President ever
Obama aided Islamic Extremists take over of Egypt/ Libya – Weapons pour into Gaza
Virtually every Senate Republican voted against the tax cut last week
Examiner
“Every idea that we’ve put forward are ones that traditionally have been supported by Democrats and Republicans alike.”
Like Raising taxes?
Obama met highly qualified out of work teacher Robert Baroz
He wasn’t out of work and Obama never met him.
GOP Responsible for Obama Jobs Bill Not Passing
Dems Rejected Jobs Bill
You have 80 percent of the American people who support a balanced approach. Eighty percent of the American people support an approach that includes revenues and includes cuts. So the notion that somehow the American people aren’t sold is not the problem
Gallup Poll: Only 69%
These are obligations that the United States has taken on in the past. Congress has run up the credit card, and we now have an obligation to pay our bills.
Looks like it’s been incurred mostly in the years of Obama
Jobs Bill Paid for
Seems not so much Paid for
Then you’ve got their(GOP)which is dirtier air, dirtier water, less people with health insurance
Barack Obama, campaiging in Asheville, NC, 10/17/11
I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.
American.com
USA producing more oil than ever before
Petroleum Insights
Fence between US and Mexico is “Practically Complete”
Department of Homeland Security says 5%
Rich doesn’t pay their fair share.
National Taxpayers Union
Mitt Romney would deny gay people the right to adopt children.
Cnn Interview


Lies During Second Year
Obama claimed the SCOTUS decision in Citizens United v. FEC, “open[ed] the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections.
nationalreview.com
No signing statements to nullify or undermine congressional instructions as enacted into law
Obama Lies to Keep Czars
No “boots” on the ground Libya
Anyone that has worked with the AC-130 gunship can tell you, you need spotters to let aircraft know where the targets are. Usually it is Special Forces, Rangers etc trained for this mission. It’s CIA Agents in Libya on the ground
Reform will also rein in the abuse and excess that nearly brought down our financial system. It will finally bring transparency to the kinds of complex, risky transactions that helped trigger the financial crisis.
Obama Lies About Financial Reform Bill
All Americans WILL BE were, “surprised, disappointed and angry” about lockerbie bomber
Obama Memo
I will not rest until the BP Oil Spill stops
Obama’s Schedule
The health care bill will not increase the deficit by one dime.
Campaign and Presidency
If you like the health care plan you have you can keep it
TownHall
“Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”
U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., September 9, 2009.
ObamaCare Fee is not a new tax
Obama denies healthcare is a new tax on all Americans
We have run out of places in the US to drill for oil.
Obama’s oval office speech in June 2010
Now suddenly if you don’t have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you can be harassed, that’s something that could potentially happen.
Arizona Immigration Law
Doctors choose amputation because they get better compensation. Greedy Doctors taking out tonsils for more money.
Claims never documented

The Health Care Package will pay for itself
Time
Republicans don’t have a single idea that’s different from George Bush’s ideas — not one.
Hmm Immigration?

We shouldn’t Mandate the purchase of health care
Democratic Debate Lies
Obama says he’ll save average family $8,000 in gas
Video Proof
I am immediately instituting PayGo “Pay as you go”
Said during a speech immediately after the Trillion Dollar “Shovel Ready” bill.
I got the Message from Massachusetts
Daily Bail
Lies During First Year
We began by passing a Recovery Act that has already saved or created over 150,000 jobs.” – caught cooking the books and now changed to ‘jobs supported’ versus ‘created/saved’
AP fact Checker
Number one, we inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit. … That wasn’t me.” – Congress, under Democratic control in 2007 and 2008, controlled the purse strings that led to the deficit Obama inherited.Obama supported the emergency bailout package in Bush’s final months — a package Democratic leaders wanted to make bigger.
AP fact Checker
Collective salvation
Obama calls himself a Christian
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Obama Inauguration. 20 Jan 2009
Cut Deficit in Half by end of first term
Associated Press Video
Health Care deals will be covered on C-span
Obama Lies
As President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide
ABC

Recovery Act will save or create jobs
ABC News
Unemployment rate will be 8.5% without stimulus.
Obama Lies
No Earmarks in the $787 Billion Stimulus
CNN
I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care plan
Specator.Org
We have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and refinance their mortgages.
Obama Lies
I am not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage.
NPR
Guantanamo bay to be closed within a year
Council on Foreign Relations.
Won’t Raise taxes on those making less than 250,000 per year.
Businessweek: Obama Agnostic on taxes
List of Tax Promise Violations
2008 Campaign Lies
I will walk the picket line with you, if workers are denied the right to bargain
Youtube
No more wiretapping of citizens
Youtube
Mr. Ayers as “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” but “not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.
News Busters
I had a uncle who was one of the, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Obama campaign would accept public funding
ABC
Minimum Wage will increase to $9.50/hr
A Socialist
Ann Dunham spent the months before her death in 1995 fighting with insurance companies that sought to deny her the coverage she needed to pay for treatment.
Mounting Heath Care Lies
Didn’t know Jeremiah Wright was Radical
Dreams of My Father – A radical Socialist.
Would have the most transparent administration in History
Cato Institute
We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way.
Boston Globe
I have visited all 57 states.
Snopes
I’ll get rid of earmarks
Source: Any bill passed during presidency
When a bill lands on my Desk, The American people will have 5 days to review it before I sign it.
Campaign Speech
My father served in World War II.
The Videos and the Facts
Have troops out of Iraq by March 31, 2009
News Video
Seniors Making less than 50,000 will not have to pay taxes
YouTube
Would not vote for any bill supporting troop funding without a firm withdrawal commitment from the Bush Administration.
He has done nothing but continue the Bush admins strategy and to explain how the “surges total failure” has now become his greatest achievement.
Present Votes Are Common In Illinois
NPR
I Won Michigan
Huffington Post
I won Nevada
The Nation
I don’t Have Lobbyists
US News
My Campaign Had Nothing To Do With The 1984 Ad
Crooks and Liars
I Have Always Been Against Iraq
Washington Post
My Wife Didn’t Mean What She Said About Pride In Country
CNN
Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.
Obama Campaign Video
I Barely Know Rezko
Sun Times
My Church Is Like Any Other Christian Church
ABC News

[peacepipe]

Below is a list of Obama’s documented lies so far with the most recent lies first. If you see we are missing a documented lie Submit the lie here.
Lies During Third Year
I will walk on that picket line with you, if workers are denied the right to bargain.
Youtube
In his 2012 State of the Union Address, President Obama said that American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years.
www.breitbart.com
I’ve done more for Israel’s security than any President ever
Obama aided Islamic Extremists take over of Egypt/ Libya – Weapons pour into Gaza
Virtually every Senate Republican voted against the tax cut last week
Examiner
“Every idea that we’ve put forward are ones that traditionally have been supported by Democrats and Republicans alike.”
Like Raising taxes?
Obama met highly qualified out of work teacher Robert Baroz
He wasn’t out of work and Obama never met him.
GOP Responsible for Obama Jobs Bill Not Passing
Dems Rejected Jobs Bill
You have 80 percent of the American people who support a balanced approach. Eighty percent of the American people support an approach that includes revenues and includes cuts. So the notion that somehow the American people aren’t sold is not the problem
Gallup Poll: Only 69%
These are obligations that the United States has taken on in the past. Congress has run up the credit card, and we now have an obligation to pay our bills.
Looks like it’s been incurred mostly in the years of Obama
Jobs Bill Paid for
Seems not so much Paid for
Then you’ve got their(GOP)which is dirtier air, dirtier water, less people with health insurance
Barack Obama, campaiging in Asheville, NC, 10/17/11
I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.
American.com
USA producing more oil than ever before
Petroleum Insights
Fence between US and Mexico is “Practically Complete”
Department of Homeland Security says 5%
Rich doesn’t pay their fair share.
National Taxpayers Union
Mitt Romney would deny gay people the right to adopt children.
Cnn Interview


Lies During Second Year
Obama claimed the SCOTUS decision in Citizens United v. FEC, “open[ed] the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections.
nationalreview.com
No signing statements to nullify or undermine congressional instructions as enacted into law
Obama Lies to Keep Czars
No “boots” on the ground Libya
Anyone that has worked with the AC-130 gunship can tell you, you need spotters to let aircraft know where the targets are. Usually it is Special Forces, Rangers etc trained for this mission. It’s CIA Agents in Libya on the ground
Reform will also rein in the abuse and excess that nearly brought down our financial system. It will finally bring transparency to the kinds of complex, risky transactions that helped trigger the financial crisis.
Obama Lies About Financial Reform Bill
All Americans WILL BE were, “surprised, disappointed and angry” about lockerbie bomber
Obama Memo
I will not rest until the BP Oil Spill stops
Obama’s Schedule
The health care bill will not increase the deficit by one dime.
Campaign and Presidency
If you like the health care plan you have you can keep it
TownHall
“Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”
U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., September 9, 2009.
ObamaCare Fee is not a new tax
Obama denies healthcare is a new tax on all Americans
We have run out of places in the US to drill for oil.
Obama’s oval office speech in June 2010
Now suddenly if you don’t have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you can be harassed, that’s something that could potentially happen.
Arizona Immigration Law
Doctors choose amputation because they get better compensation. Greedy Doctors taking out tonsils for more money.
Claims never documented

The Health Care Package will pay for itself
Time
Republicans don’t have a single idea that’s different from George Bush’s ideas — not one.
Hmm Immigration?

We shouldn’t Mandate the purchase of health care
Democratic Debate Lies
Obama says he’ll save average family $8,000 in gas
Video Proof
I am immediately instituting PayGo “Pay as you go”
Said during a speech immediately after the Trillion Dollar “Shovel Ready” bill.
I got the Message from Massachusetts
Daily Bail
Lies During First Year
We began by passing a Recovery Act that has already saved or created over 150,000 jobs.” – caught cooking the books and now changed to ‘jobs supported’ versus ‘created/saved’
AP fact Checker
Number one, we inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit. … That wasn’t me.” – Congress, under Democratic control in 2007 and 2008, controlled the purse strings that led to the deficit Obama inherited.Obama supported the emergency bailout package in Bush’s final months — a package Democratic leaders wanted to make bigger.
AP fact Checker
Collective salvation
Obama calls himself a Christian
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Obama Inauguration. 20 Jan 2009
Cut Deficit in Half by end of first term
Associated Press Video
Health Care deals will be covered on C-span
Obama Lies
As President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide
ABC

Recovery Act will save or create jobs
ABC News
Unemployment rate will be 8.5% without stimulus.
Obama Lies
No Earmarks in the $787 Billion Stimulus
CNN
I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care plan
Specator.Org
We have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and refinance their mortgages.
Obama Lies
I am not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage.
NPR
Guantanamo bay to be closed within a year
Council on Foreign Relations.
Won’t Raise taxes on those making less than 250,000 per year.
Businessweek: Obama Agnostic on taxes
List of Tax Promise Violations
2008 Campaign Lies
I will walk the picket line with you, if workers are denied the right to bargain
Youtube
No more wiretapping of citizens
Youtube
Mr. Ayers as “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” but “not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.
News Busters
I had a uncle who was one of the, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Obama campaign would accept public funding
ABC
Minimum Wage will increase to $9.50/hr
A Socialist
Ann Dunham spent the months before her death in 1995 fighting with insurance companies that sought to deny her the coverage she needed to pay for treatment.
Mounting Heath Care Lies
Didn’t know Jeremiah Wright was Radical
Dreams of My Father – A radical Socialist.
Would have the most transparent administration in History
Cato Institute
We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way.
Boston Globe
I have visited all 57 states.
Snopes
I’ll get rid of earmarks
Source: Any bill passed during presidency
When a bill lands on my Desk, The American people will have 5 days to review it before I sign it.
Campaign Speech
My father served in World War II.
The Videos and the Facts
Have troops out of Iraq by March 31, 2009
News Video
Seniors Making less than 50,000 will not have to pay taxes
YouTube
Would not vote for any bill supporting troop funding without a firm withdrawal commitment from the Bush Administration.
He has done nothing but continue the Bush admins strategy and to explain how the “surges total failure” has now become his greatest achievement.
Present Votes Are Common In Illinois
NPR
I Won Michigan
Huffington Post
I won Nevada
The Nation
I don’t Have Lobbyists
US News
My Campaign Had Nothing To Do With The 1984 Ad
Crooks and Liars
I Have Always Been Against Iraq
Washington Post
My Wife Didn’t Mean What She Said About Pride In Country
CNN
Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.
Obama Campaign Video
I Barely Know Rezko
Sun Times
My Church Is Like Any Other Christian Church
ABC News

LOL you idiot. right back with the discredited brietbart.com. damn you're dense.

[ant1999e]

LOL you idiot. right back with the discredited brietbart.com. damn you're dense.

http://obamalies.net/list-of-lies

[ant1999e]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UErR7i2onW0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[peacepipe]

http://obamalies.net/list-of-lies

and this site is any more credible?

[ant1999e]

and this site is any more credible?

Maybe you should make a list of approved sites for us.

[peacepipe]

Maybe you should make a list of approved sites for us.

my main thing is sites like brietbart,WND, & this one, it's hard to take them seriously.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

LOL you idiot. right back with the discredited brietbart.com. damn you're dense.

This thread discredits the BS he just posted from brietbart.com, so what does he do?

Come back with more BS from the same site.

Talk about stuck on stupid! Ha!

[cutthemdown]

Obama said if economy didn't do well under his ideas he would be a one term President. Sure hope he wasn't lying about that.

[cutthemdown]

Oh and the ideas Obama has that repubs are blocking, would ruin the economy. But if repubs go along with them they are just as guilty. Raising taxes right now would be a big big mistake.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Obama said if economy didn't do well under his ideas he would be a one term President. Sure hope he wasn't lying about that.

Because Dog on Roof would be so much better... Hilarious!

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

People who aren't drinking the far-right Kool-Aid (read: the majority of Americans) realize it will take more than one term to repair the damage it took the Bush Crime Family eight years to wreak.

[DenverBrit]

People who aren't drinking the far-right Kool-Aid (read: the majority of Americans) realize it will take more than one term to repair the damage it took the Bush Crime Family eight years to wreak.

It will take bipartisan action, not the party first childish infighting that has become the hallmark of this Congress.

[DenverBrit]

Oh and the ideas Obama has that repubs are blocking, would ruin the economy. But if repubs go along with them they are just as guilty. Raising taxes right now would be a big big mistake.

Taxes are the lowest since 1950, corporations and banks are sitting on trillions in cash, the market is doing well considering the economic climate and uncertainty.

Balancing the budget cannot be done simply by cutting state and federal jobs. Without additional revenue, a Euro recovery, China growing faster and more countries working their way out of this quagmire, the economy will remain stagnant.

Romney has shown he knows how to use offshore tax shelters and keep the details hidden, but what exactly has he proposed that gives us hope he would make any difference?

Bipartisan action is needed, not more stubborn infighting.

[orinjkrush]

Obama has had NO accomplishments. EVER. nice try, talks great.

Romney is the Anti Christ. Will lie cheat or steal anything anywhere with anyone to get to the Oval Office.

Where the hell do we come up with these lowest common denominators?

[baja]

'if only we could get the right person to be elected president why then everything will be just swell...."

[cutthemdown]

Because Dog on Roof would be so much better... Hilarious!

What has he done that didn't work out well? His life is full of accomplishment while Obama is an atty who never tried a case in front of a jury. 3000 billable hours, that is his career.

[cutthemdown]

Obama has had NO accomplishments. EVER. nice try, talks great.

Romney is the Anti Christ. Will lie cheat or steal anything anywhere with anyone to get to the Oval Office.

Where the hell do we come up with these lowest common denominators?

My dad always said the really smart people go into the private sector. The ones who pick politics just are not the best of the best.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

My dad always said the really smart people go into the private sector. The ones who pick politics just are not the best of the best.

Does this mean you admit Reagan was a dumbass?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

What has he done that didn't work out well?

Well, for starters, there's this whole running for president thing....


His life is full of accomplishment while Obama is an atty who never tried a case in front of a jury.

What difference does that make?

Not everyone who studies law becomes a trial lawyer.

You're really grasping at straws....again.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

What has he (Willard) done that didn't work out well? .

"Work out well" for whom?

Let's put it this way: Everything Mittens has done has "worked out well" for himself and "not so well" for all the people he screwed in the process.

But that's why you admire him.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Ant1999e: Right-wing misleader of the week...


The Truth-O-Meter Says:
http://static.politifact.com.s3.amazonaws.com:80/mugs%2Fmug-mittromney.jpg President Obama’s lawsuit claims it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period.

Mitt Romney (http://www.politifact.com/personalities/mitt-romney/) on Saturday, August 4th, 2012 in a press statement

Mitt Romney says a lawsuit filed by President Obama's campaign challenges voting privileges for the military

http://static.politifact.com.s3.amazonaws.com:80/rulings%2Ftom-false.gif


After some Ohio voters faced hours-long lines (http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2004-11-17-early-voting_x.htm) at polling places during the 2004 presidential election, the state adopted reforms designed to prevent similar problems in the future. Those reforms included allowing voters to cast ballots at county boards of elections for an extended period before elections. In 2008, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign used those new laws to its advantage. The campaign made particular use of voting the Sunday before elections in Ohio and other states as African-American churches organized "Souls to the Polls" events that took congregants to vote after religious services.

Republicans who control Ohio’s state government passed a law last year that would have reduced the time frame for early voting from five weeks to three, eliminated most weekend voting hours and dropped a requirement that poll workers redirect voters to the correct precinct if they show up at the wrong one in a location that hosts multiple precincts. Ohio legislators repealed that law (http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/05/ohio_house_votes_to_repeal_con.html)when it became clear it would face a referendum this year, though its ban on early voting on the weekend before elections remained in place because it was part of a separate law. Democrats including U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (http://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/following-senate-hearing-in-cleveland-sens-brown-durbin-rep-fudge-take-a-stand-against-infringements-on-voting-rights-) say Republicans wanted to eliminate that weekend’s early voting to cut turnout among African-Americans who vote after church, a demographic likely to vote for Obama. Brown said that in 2008, up to 19 percent of Ohio voters cast their ballots during the weekend before the election.

Last month, President Obama’s re-election campaign filed a lawsuit (http://ww.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/07/obama_campaign_sues_ohio_secre.html)against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to demand that in-person voting be allowed during the three-day weekend before elections. It noted that approximately 93,000 Ohioans voted in the three days before the 2008 presidential election. The lawsuit argues that all Ohio voters should be permitted to cast ballots that weekend, as members of the U.S. military are permitted to do. The complaint alleged that Ohio’s legislature failed to justify the disparate treatment between military and nonmilitary voters, and contended the "unequal burden on the fundamental right to vote violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution."

That assertion by the Obama campaign riled more than a dozen military groups - including AmVets and the Military Officers Association of America. On Aug. 1, they filed a motion to intervene (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/407308-briefs-from-military-groups.html) in the Obama campaign’s lawsuit. It said they want to "defend the fundamental constitutional right to vote of members of the U.S. Armed Forces, which includes the right to receive special accommodations, flexibility and extra time to facilitate their voting, whether absentee or in-person." Their legal filing said the means the Obama campaign was using to request an overall extension of Ohio’s early voting period - "a ruling that it is arbitrary and unconstitutional to grant extra time for early voting solely to military voters and overseas citizens - is both legally inappropriate and squarely contrary to the legal interests and constitutional rights" of members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

On the same day as the military groups filed their briefs, attorneys for the state of Ohio filed their own response (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/407310-ohio-response-on-aug-1.html) to the Obama campaign’s complaint. It said that special laws were enacted to help uniformed and overseas citizens cast absentee ballots because they are often not present in the areas where they vote, and that the state of Ohio doesn’t have to treat other voters the way it treats those uniformed and overseas citizens.

"From the beginning of our Republic, military voters have had special problems in obtaining ballots and casting them," the state of Ohio’s legal filing says. "Ohio’s laws, allowing UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act) voters the ability to cast an absentee ballot after the time during which non-military and domestic voters may do so has closed, rationally recognizes the unique circumstances that military voters may face."

The state of Ohio filed a brief that backed intervention by the military groups. So did the Obama campaign.

"Plaintiffs seek to restore for all voters access to early voting through the Monday before Election Day," the Obama campaign’s brief (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/407309-obama-response-on-aug-3.html) said. "Neither the substance of its Equal Protection claim, nor the relief requested, challenges the legislature’s authority to make appropriate accommodation, including early voting during the period in question, for military voters, their spouses or dependents. The question before the Court is whether, in the circumstances of this case, the State of Ohio may arbitrarily and without justification withdraw from all other Ohio eligible voters the same right they previously had to vote the weekend and Monday before election day."

It didn’t take long for these dry legal exchanges to erupt into a political bonfire. Toward the end of last week, websites began to make the misleading claim (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/02/obama-campaign-sues-to-restrict-military-voting) that the Obama campaign was suing the state of Ohio to restrict military voting, when the lawsuit actually sought to permit all Ohio voters to vote the weekend before elections, as military voters can do. On Saturday, GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney issued a statement that accused Obama of trying to undermine the rights of military voters.

"President Obama’s lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage," Romney’s statement said.

In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod disputed the way that Romney and others were characterizing the lawsuit.

"What that lawsuit calls for is not to deprive the military of the right to vote on the final weekend ," Axelrod told host Chris Wallace. "Of course, they should have that right. That suit is about whether the rest of Ohio should have the same right. And I think it’s shameful that Governor Romney would hide behind our servicemen and women to try and win a lawsuit to deprive other Ohioans. . . of the right to vote."

Democrats lined up their own military members to protest how some were describing the lawsuit.

Former Democratic congressman John Boccieri of Alliance, a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, issued a statement (http://ohiodems.org/news/boccieri-restore-equal-fair-access-to-early-voting/)that accused Republicans of distortion.

"This is about restoring equal and fair access to early voting and in no way asks for restrictions to voting," Boccieri said. "Anything said otherwise is completely false. Period. And as a member of the American Legion and a lifetime member of the AMVETS, I find these claims outrageous."

Indeed, Obama’s lawsuit clearly states that it seeks to permit all Ohioans - not just members of the U.S. military - to vote during the three days before the election, as was the case in 2008. The suit in no way suggests restricting early voting by members of the military.

It is simply dishonest for Romney and his backers to claim that Obama’s effort to extend early voting privileges to everyone in Ohio constitutes an attack on military voters’ ability to cast ballots on the weekend before elections.

We rate the claim False.

[cutthemdown]

Obama just never had a real job. He taught a little bit, did 3000 billable hours of legal work, and thats it. Maybe 2-3 yrs worth of real work his whole friggin life. Dude is a poster child for just working for the govt and community think tanks. Living off those tax dollars.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Obama just never had a real job.

This from a Bush apologist?

You're a comedy goldmine. Ha!

[peacepipe]

This from a Bush apologist?

You're a comedy goldmine. Ha!

LOL exactly! how can anyone take a GWB apologist seriously.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

LOL exactly! how can anyone take a GWB apologist seriously.

If these people wanted to rehab their image, then they would have just shut up for about a year after Bush jumped the shark.

But that's the problem: They think their image is just fine.

(Now watch them claim I'm trying to deprive them of their First Amendment rights...)