• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Obama Rewards Media Matters with a Political Nomination: Monitoring ELECTIONS

cpwill

DP Veteran
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Messages
75,485
Reaction score
39,816
Location
USofA
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Conservative
W..... T...... H......

With a quiet, almost unnoticed nomination just before Thanksgiving, President Barack Obama rewarded Media Matters for its help in attacking reporters and critics of the administration. At the same time, he virtually guaranteed that a federal agency that is supposed to improve the administration of elections will instead become a partisan battleground intended to help his political party.

On Nov. 19, the White House issued a press release announcing that it was withdrawing the nomination of Myrna Perez, a lawyer at the Brennan Center, to be a commissioner on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). It instead nominated Matthew S. Butler, the former CEO and president of the George Soros-funded left-wing advocacy group Media Matters, to replace her....

The common characteristic of its new commissioners — and past commissioners like Paul DeGregorio or Donetta Davidson — has been that most of them were experienced election administrators at the state and local level, or at least election lawyers familiar with the federal and state election laws that apply to the administration of elections. That is a necessity given the EAC’s responsibility for helping improve the election process....

He [Butler] has been a leader and organizer of the progressive movement, and the head of Media Matters when it was acting as an unofficial PR wing of the White House and the Justice Department. As first reported in 2012 by Matthew Boyle, the administration was working with Media Matters “in an attempt to quell news stories about scandals plaguing [Eric] Holder and America’s top law enforcement agency,” including using Media Matters “to attack reporters” at Townhall, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Fox News, and National Review....

The other three new commissioners on the EAC, in stark contrast to the former Media Matters CEO and president, actually have relevant election experience.

They include: Matthew Masterson, who worked for the Ohio secretary of State for three years and at the EAC for five years before that; Christy McCormick, a senior trial attorney in the Voting Section of the U.S. Department of Justice who also helped advise the Iraqi government on its new election system in 2009 and 2010; and Tom Hicks, the senior elections counsel for the Democratic minority at the House Administration Committee, the committee with jurisdiction over federal election laws.

.....making our election process more partisan weakens the public trust in our system of representative government and represents a direct threat to our form of government. That is why we should utterly smash any election official or candidate found to be manipulating the vote - to not only disincentive it in the future, but to restore trust in the system. This is an incredibly bad appointment.
 
W..... T...... H......



.....making our election process more partisan weakens the public trust in our system of representative government and represents a direct threat to our form of government. That is why we should utterly smash any election official or candidate found to be manipulating the vote - to not only disincentive it in the future, but to restore trust in the system. This is an incredibly bad appointment.


First off, Butler has been gone from Media Matters for almost 2 years. Nothing about this is a reward to Media Matters as he had moved on to a different job. Also, he does in fact have relevant experience, despite the claims of the article, having run a presidential campaign for Chris Dodd and being involved in a number of other campaigns. That is what you would call hands on experience from the user side.

But the one that is the most amusing is that you rail against partisanship on the committy, and yet one of the people listed in your source article as a positive example is in fact a registered republican(Davidson). In fact, trying to get some one who is not partisan to some level in a position like this would be for all intents and purposes impossible.
 
What's worse.....is that Butller left Media Matters back in April of 2013, so how this "rewards" Media Matters is beyond me, anymore than it rewards BTC, Friends of John Kerry or Chris Dodd.

The Obama admin picked a successful progressive administrator.....it is the END OF THE WORLD!

Oh wait, they earlier had picked a republican administrator who the article actually praises....Damn that Obama for appointing people from both sides of the political spectrum, DAMN HIM!
 
Is this another faux outrage?
 
Oh wait, they earlier had picked a republican administrator who the article actually praises....Damn that Obama for appointing people from both sides of the political spectrum, DAMN HIM!
Pjmedia....fair and balanced.
 
W..... T...... H......



.....making our election process more partisan weakens the public trust in our system of representative government and represents a direct threat to our form of government. That is why we should utterly smash any election official or candidate found to be manipulating the vote - to not only disincentive it in the future, but to restore trust in the system. This is an incredibly bad appointment.

Matt Butler is more than a qualified candidate to become a commissioner on the EAC. He is member of the CA bar graduating from a prestigious and tough private law school. He practiced as attorney for many years specializing in government and legal compliance issues as it relates to management. He started and ran his own political consulting firm and has been around and involved in elections almost his entire career. Did you even bother to look into his resume or did you just take some right wing hacks word for it that this a purely a political reward for media matters.

Again I assert that the right in this country is a joke. You don't even bother to take the time to see if your complaints and rants make any logical sense at all.
 
What's worse.....is that Butller left Media Matters back in April of 2013, so how this "rewards" Media Matters is beyond me, anymore than it rewards BTC, Friends of John Kerry or Chris Dodd.

The Obama admin picked a successful progressive administrator.....it is the END OF THE WORLD!

Well given the rarity of such a thing, you can see where some might see it as a sign of the end of the world. :2razz:
 
Well given the rarity of such a thing, you can see where some might see it as a sign of the end of the world. :2razz:
Since the nomination has to be approved by Congressional action, and given that the other 3 seats (which by law can only have 2 members of the same party) are unfilled....as is the Chairmanship....in an organization that was created by the GOP post 2000 Florida POTUS fiasco, I have a hard time seeing how this in any sense is the end of the world. But then again, I think it is more of a sign that some ex military posters have way too much time on their hands and really ought to put their time into more productive use.
 
The Divider in Chief awarding a partisan media organization for attacking his enemies to yet further political divide and angst? I'm surprised he didn't offer them the Medal of Freedom or nominate them for the Nobel Peace prize as well.
 
The Divider in Chief awarding a partisan media organization for attacking his enemies to yet further political divide and angst? I'm surprised he didn't offer them the Medal of Freedom or nominate them for the Nobel Peace prize as well.

How exactly did Obama reward Media Matters? Did he reward republicans when he nominated a republican for the position?
 
In this country's discourse, anything that isn't an overt endorsement of the far right is considered hyperpartisan and biased towards the left.
 
W..... T...... H......



.....making our election process more partisan weakens the public trust in our system of representative government and represents a direct threat to our form of government. That is why we should utterly smash any election official or candidate found to be manipulating the vote - to not only disincentive it in the future, but to restore trust in the system. This is an incredibly bad appointment.

Looks like another branch of government has been politicized by the Obama administration.

What part of government that hasn't been politicized yet in the past six years ?

There's going to have to be a massive house cleaning to be conducted in 2017.

A lot of forced resignations, pink slips and long lines at the unemployment offices.
 
W..... T...... H......



.....making our election process more partisan weakens the public trust in our system of representative government and represents a direct threat to our form of government. That is why we should utterly smash any election official or candidate found to be manipulating the vote - to not only disincentive it in the future, but to restore trust in the system. This is an incredibly bad appointment.

nice source:
PJ Media

[/sarcasm]
 
The Divider in Chief awarding a partisan media organization for attacking his enemies to yet further political divide and angst? I'm surprised he didn't offer them the Medal of Freedom or nominate them for the Nobel Peace prize as well.

:funny
 
W..... T...... H......



.....making our election process more partisan weakens the public trust in our system of representative government and represents a direct threat to our form of government. That is why we should utterly smash any election official or candidate found to be manipulating the vote - to not only disincentive it in the future, but to restore trust in the system. This is an incredibly bad appointment.

Not to worry there citizens - this is part of the fundamental transformation of America that we were promised. ;)
 
W..... T...... H......



.....making our election process more partisan weakens the public trust in our system of representative government and represents a direct threat to our form of government. That is why we should utterly smash any election official or candidate found to be manipulating the vote - to not only disincentive it in the future, but to restore trust in the system. This is an incredibly bad appointment.

The dude who wrote this garbage apparently doesn't know David Brock was the founder and CEO for all of its existence.
 
Is any one else amused at those who continue the narrative from the OP, despite it being disproven repeatedly in the thread? You can even guess who will do it...
 
First off, Butler has been gone from Media Matters for almost 2 years.

Irrelevant. If Anne Coulter leaves FOX, 24 months later she shouldn't be put over monitoring elections.

Also, he does in fact have relevant experience, despite the claims of the article, having run a presidential campaign for Chris Dodd and being involved in a number of other campaigns. That is what you would call hands on experience from the user side.

....no. Having been a partisan who ran campaigns is not experience monitoring campaigns. That's like arguing that because Nick Saban has a lot of experience coaching Alabama, he should be a referee in the Iron Bowl.

But the one that is the most amusing is that you rail against partisanship on the committy, and yet one of the people listed in your source article as a positive example is in fact a registered republican(Davidson). In fact, trying to get some one who is not partisan to some level in a position like this would be for all intents and purposes impossible.

You are conflating membership in a party (which is required for the board) with being defined by partisanship.
 
Last edited:
The dude who wrote this garbage apparently doesn't know David Brock was the founder and CEO for all of its existence.

For all of MM's existence?
 
How exactly did Obama reward Media Matters? Did he reward republicans when he nominated a republican for the position?

Agreed that the concern isn't the reward to MM - OP's are constrained by forum rules to repeat the headline. The concern is what this does to the credibility of our election oversight process.
 
Back
Top Bottom