Oath Keepers

Orders We Will Not Obey

“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army” -- Gen. George Washington, to his troops before the battle of Long Island

Such a time is near at hand again. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this Army -- and this Marine Corps, This Air Force, This Navy and the National Guard and police units of these sovereign states.
Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, reserves, National Guard, peace officers, fire-fighters, and veterans who swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic … and meant it. We won’t “just follow orders.”

Harry Reid vs. the Oath Keeper Wanna-Be

The Nevada Democrat's new opponent reaches out to a group preparing to resist federal tyranny.

By Dave Gilson | Tue Jun. 8, 2010 11:51 PM PDT

Oath Keepers, which recruits soldiers and police to resist federal "tyranny," has become a hub in the sprawling anti-Obama movement.

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Sharron Angle won yesterday's primary to become Nevada's Republican candidate for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's seat. She may have never advocated bartering for health care with chickens [1], as her opponent Sue Lowden did, but Angle already has some issues. Beyond embracing the Tea Party, she's also reached out to the Oath Keepers [2], the fringe patriot group whose core membership of cops and soldiers are gearing up to resist the Obama administration's anticipated slide toward outright tyranny.
Back in April, Angle told TPM's Evan McMorris-Santoro that she was a member of the Oath Keepers [3]. This Monday, Angle's husband Ted told TPM [4]'s McMorris-Santoro and Justin Elliott that "We support what the organization stands for" and that he and his wife "desire" to join it. Oath Keeper founder Steward Rhodes said that candidate Angle had paid a visit to the group's Southern Nevada chapter last fall.
For the full scoop on the Oath Keepers and what they stand for, check out the in-depth investigation [5] MoJo published about them this spring. In it, Justine Sharrock profiles Pvt. 1st Class Lee Pray, a young soldier who joined the group to prepare for the day when he might have to turn against his commander-in-chief to resist martial law and the mass detention of American citizens. Pray told Sharrock that he'd been recruiting buddies, running drills, and stashing weapons—just in case. Like all Oath Keepers, he's sworn to disobey any orders he considers unconstiutional or illegal.

Angle's not the group's only high-profile ally. Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, and conspiracy guru Alex Jones have praised it, and last year it helped organize the National Liberty Unity Summit [6], a Tea Party-type confab that drew Georigia Republicans Rep. Phil Gingrey and Rep. Paul Broun. Since she's not an active duty police officer or soldier, Angle can't actually become a full-on Oath Keeper. But she already seems to have the rhetoric down. As she told the Reno Gazette-Journal [7] last week, she's noticed that ammo seems to be flying off the shelves at sporting goods stores: "That tells me the nation is arming. What are they arming for if it isn't that they are so distrustful of their government? They're afraid they'll have to fight for their liberty in more Second Amendment kinds of ways?...If we don't win at the ballot box, what will be the next step?"

Glenn Beck loves them. Congressmen listen to them. How the Oath Keepers are mainstreaming the militia movement.

By | Mon Feb. 22, 2010 4:46 AM PST

The Tea Party's Military Wing

Oath Keepers, which recruits soldiers and police to resist federal "tyranny," has become a hub in the sprawling anti-Obama movement.

---

Continue to the Next Photo [1]

For our March/April 2010 issue [2], reporter Justine Sharrock [3] got up close and personal [4] with Oath Keepers [5], a fast-growing "patriot" group that recruits active-duty soldiers, police, and veterans to resist what its members consider an increasingly tyrannical government. Members reaffirm their service oath to uphold the Constitution and further vow to disobey any orders they deem illegal or unconstitutional. Unveiled last April, the group has already established itself as a hub within the larger anti-Obama movement [6], attracting a wide range of followers from politicians to Tea Partiers to militia enthusiasts—not to mention alienated soldiers like Private 1st Class Lee Pray, above. The group has also drawn praise from a who's who of right-wing cable hosts [7] including Glenn Beck. (Bill O'Reilly [8] proved a tougher audience.) In this slideshow, we look more closely at some of the group's connections.
 

U.S. Baptist Convicted in Haiti, but Free To Go May 17, 2010

• 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, May 17, 2010

• U.S. missionary Laura Silsby leaves a courthouse in Port-au-Prince, Monday, May 17, 2010.  (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
  

Missionary Laura Silsby Convicted of Trying to Take 33 Kids out of Haiti following Quake But Is Credited with Time Served

AP)  The last of 10 Americans detained while trying to take 33 children out of Haiti following the Jan. 12 earthquake was released Monday after a judge convicted her and sentenced her to the time she had already served in jail.

Laura Silsby, the organizer of the ill-fated effort to take the children to an orphanage being set up in the Dominican Republic, returned to her jail cell briefly to retrieve belongings before quickly heading to the Port-au-Prince airport.

"I'm praising God," Silsby told The Associated Press as she waited for a flight out of Haiti. She declined further questions.

The Idaho businesswoman had been in custody since Jan. 29. She was originally charged with kidnapping and criminal association. Those charges were dropped and she was convicted of arranging illegal travel under a 1980 statute restricting movement out of Haiti signed by then-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier.

Prosecutor Jean-Serge Joseph said she was convicted and sentenced to the 3 months and 8 days she has spent behind bars. Earlier, the prosecution had recommended a six-month sentence and she faced a maximum of three years on the charge.

"She is free," Joseph said.

The 40-year-old Silsby told the court earlier she thought the children were orphans whose homes were destroyed in the earthquake. But she lacked the proper papers to remove them from the country at a time when the government was restricting adoptions to prevent child trafficking in the chaos that followed the earthquake.

An AP investigation later revealed all the children had at least one living parent, who had turned their children over to the group in hopes of securing better lives for them.





PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, May 13, 2010

Jail Time Sought for U.S. Missionary in Haiti

Prosecutor Says Woman Charged in Effort to Smuggle 33 Children Out of Country Should Serve Six Months

• Laura Silsby of Meridian, Idaho, leader of the missionary group, is still being held in Haiti.  (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
  

(AP)  A U.S. missionary should spend six months in prison for her failed attempt to remove 33 children from Haiti following the Jan. 12 earthquake, a prosecutor said Thursday on the first day of her trial.

Prosecutor Sonel Jean-Francois told the court that Laura Silsby knew she was breaking the law by trying to take the children without proper documents to an orphanage she was starting in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

"Laura recognized she violated the law," Jean-Francois said as lawyers and a small group of spectators crowded into a a stiflingly hot tent in the parking lot of the quake-damaged courthouse.

He spoke after the Idaho woman testified. Silsby, who was leader of a group of Baptists detained by authorities, was the only person to testify on the first day of the trial. She spent much of the rest of the session reading the Bible.

The 40-year-old businesswoman told the court she thought the children were orphans whose homes were destroyed in the earthquake. As it turned out, all the children had at least one living parent, who had turned their children over to the group in hopes of securing better lives for them.

"One week after the earthquake I left my family and my home to help children that had been orphaned in the earthquake," Silsby said. "We came here with a heart to help."

Silsby was originally charged with kidnapping and criminal association. She now faces one count of arranging illegal travel under a 1980 statute restricting travel out of Haiti signed by then-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier.

A six-month sentence is the minimum jail time recommended under the law. She would receive credit for time served if convicted and sentenced to prison, prosecutors told The Associated Press.

Silsby has been in custody since Jan. 29, when she and nine other Americans were detained at the Dominican border. The other missionaries have all been released and charges against them dismissed.

A defense request for her to be released immediately was denied.

Prosecutors also asked for six months in prison for Jean Sainvil, an Atlanta-based pastor born in Haiti who allegedly helped find the children for the missionaries. He is not in Haiti and is being tried in absentia.

The next session of the trial is expected next week.

The Americans' arrest came as the Haitian government was trying to control adoptions to prevent the trafficking of children after the earthquake, which killed a government-estimated 230,000 to 300,000 people and left some 1.3 million homeless.

Silsby sat quietly through Thursday's proceedings, dressed in a black shirt and denim skirt, while her Haitian lawyers argued with the prosecution. Hers was the only foreign face in the room other than AP journalists. Three men arrested for other crimes sat behind her in handcuffs.

The argument came down to a simple point on both sides:

Prosecutors said she knowingly took children to the border without papers.

"If the United States had an earthquake, that would not give you the right to take children," Jean-Francois said.

The defense responded in an often rambling address that Silsby was trying to help earthquake survivors under societal breakdown, with bodies in the street and government ministries destroyed.

"Why take the chance away from Haitian kids to have an opportunity for a better life?" asked lawyer Jean-Rene Tesir.

Silsby's testimony came early in the trial, given as she stood beside the desk of Judge Denis Cyprien. She spoke calmly in a low voice, choking back tears when she talked about the children she tried to transport, as a clerk rang a tin bell for order.

She identified her occupation as "manager of an orphanage," referring to the institution she had hoped to create in the northern Dominican Republic. There are no kids there; the children she tried to transport have been returned to their parents.

Sometimes Silsby spoke so quietly that the translator couldn't hear her. After she muttered her address twice, he shrugged and said in Creole to the clerk transcribing proceedings by hand, "somewhere in the United States."

In another strange moment he translated a judge's question as "Did you appreciate being arrested?"

The missionary told the judge that she met the children for the first time in front of a flattened building and described being turned away from closed government ministries in her attempt to get them documents.

"They said there was nobody there to help me," Silsby said.

Jack Abramoff has left prison

By: Timothy P. Carney
Examiner Columnist
06/08/10 2:00 PM EDT

Former Washington lobbyist, Jack Abramoff (L), walks to a court building with his attorney, Abbe Lowell (C), after his sentencing at the Miami Federal Court House March 29, 2006 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Getty Images)

A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirms for me that former lobbyist and fundraiser Jack Abramoff, federal prisoner 27593-112, is officially “In Transit.”
That means that he has been moved from the Federal Correctional Institution at Cumberland (Md.), and as I write this, he is in an Federal Bureau of Prisons car, van, or bus. According to the National Journal, he’s headed to a halfway house in Baltimore to serve out the remainder of his sentence, which ends December 4.

U.N. Approves New Sanctions Against Iran

 UNITED NATIONS, June 9, 2010

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Calls Fourth Round of Sanctions Against Country Toughest Ever

• President Obama makes a statement about Iran June 9, 2010, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.  (AP Photo)
  

The U.N. Security Council has approved new sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear program that target the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard, ballistic missiles, and nuclear-related investments.

President Obama welcomed the new sanctions, saying it sends an "unmistakable message" to Tehran.

Mr. Obama called them the toughest sanctions ever faced by the Iranian government, even though the final version was not as tough as what his administration initially proposed.

Speaking at the White House shortly after the U.N. vote, Mr. Obama said that Iranian leaders continue to "hide behind outlandish rhetoric" while moving ahead with "deeply troubling" steps on a path toward nuclear weapons.

With Middle East tension high and Iran at the center of the storm, the Obama administration successfully got China and Russia to back the new sanctions resolution, the U.N.'s fourth since 2006, CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk reports.

“Iran is high on President Obama's agenda for good reasons: Iran's Red Crescent Society announced this week that a 3,000 ton vessel is heading soon for Gaza; International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors reported that Iran has enough nuclear fuel, if enriched, for two nuclear weapons, and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in London, said the U.S. has not lost the ability to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but the clock is ticking,” Falk said.

The resolution imposing the latest sanctions against Iran was approved Wednesday with 12 "yes" votes, two "no" votes from Brazil and Turkey, and one abstention from Lebanon.

Before the vote, Turkey and Brazil, both non-permanent council members, brokered a fuel-swap agreement with Iran which they hoped would address concerns Tehran may be enriching uranium for nuclear weapons and avoid new sanctions.

Diplomats said the United States, Russia and France rejected that agreement hours before approving the new sanctions.

Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee defended the country's right to produce nuclear energy and accused the United States, Britain and their allies of abusing the Security Council to attack Iran.

"No amount of pressure and mischief will be able to break our nation's determination to pursue and defend its legal and inalienable rights," Khazaee said. "Iran is one of the most powerful and stable countries in the region and never bowed - and will never bow - to the hostile actions and pressures by these few powers and will continue to defend its rights."

"These sanctions are as tough as they are smart and precise," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said after the vote, dismissing Khazaee's statement as "ridiculous" and "reprehensible."

"Today the Security Council has responded decisively to the grave threat to international peace and security posed by Iran's failure to live up to its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Rice said after the vote, CBS Radio News reports.

In Tehran, one man told CBS Radio News the sanctions won't make a difference.

"We have been sanctioned for the last 30 years, and it had not had an effect on Iran and it will not have any effect on Iran in the future," the man said. "We are determined to become the eighth nation in the world for peaceful energy activities, and therefore it makes us more determined to follow our goal."

Immediately after the Security Council vote, the White House released a statement saying, "The United States remains open to dialogue, but Iran must live up to its obligations and clearly demonstrate to the international community the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities."

Mr. Obama said the United States "will ensure that these sanctions are vigorously enforced."

"These sanctions show the united view of the international community that a nuclear arms race in the Middle East is in nobody's interest," Mr. Obama said at the White House. "The Iranian government must understand that true security will not come through the pursuit of nuclear weapons. True security will come through adherence to international law and demonstration of peaceful intent."

Brazil and Turkey delayed the sanctions vote by an hour because the representatives for both countries were waiting for word from their foreign ministries on whether to vote for or against, Falk reports.

Brazil and Turkey, in voting against sanctions, complained that the proposal for Iran to export low-grade uranium was not given its due and that the sanctions resolution was negotiated behind closed doors, Falk reports.

Brazil's U.N. Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti said sanctions would lead to "suffering" by the Iranian people, delay dialogue on the country's nuclear program, and run contrary to Brazil and Turkey's efforts to engage Tehran.

The Security Council imposed limited sanctions in December 2006 and has been ratcheting them up in hopes of pressuring Iran to suspend enrichment and start negotiations on its nuclear program. The first two resolutions were adopted unanimously and the third by a vote of 14-0 with Indonesia abstaining.

Iran has repeatedly defied the demand and has stepped up its activities, enriching uranium to 20 percent and announcing plans to build new nuclear facilities. Tehran insists its program is purely peaceful, aimed at producing nuclear energy.

The U.S. and its allies believe Iran's real aim is to produce nuclear weapons and want Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and start negotiations on it nuclear program.

The new resolution bans Iran from pursuing "any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons," bars Iranian investment in activities such as uranium mining, and prohibits Iran from buying several categories of heavy weapons including attack helicopters and missiles.

It imposes new sanctions on 40 Iranian companies and organizations - 15 linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, 22 involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities and three linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. That more than doubles the 35 entities now subject to an asset freeze.

The resolution also adds one individual to the previous list of 40 Iranians subject to an asset freeze - Javad Rahiqi who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran's Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center. Under its provisions, all 41 individuals are now also subject to a travel ban.

The resolution also calls on all countries to cooperate in cargo inspections - which must receive the consent of the ship's flag state - if there are "reasonable grounds" to believe the cargo could contribute to Iranian nuclear program.

On the financial side, it calls on - but does not require - countries to block financial transactions, including insurance and reinsurance, and to ban the licensing of Iranian banks if they have information that provides "reasonable grounds" to believe these activities could contribute to Iranian nuclear activities.

China and Russia have strong economic ties with Iran and last week Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying in Beijing that the resolution would protect the economic interests of both countries.

China's U.N. Ambassador Zhang Yesui said after the vote that the sanctions were aimed at curbing nonproliferation and would not affect "the normal life of the Iranian people" nor deter their normal trade activity.

The new resolution was hammered out during several months of difficult negotiations by the five veto-wielding permanent council members - the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France - and nonmember Germany who have been trying for several years to get Iran into serious discussions on its nuclear ambitions.

The five permanent council members, in a statement after the vote, stressed that the resolution "keeps the door open for early engagement" with Iran. It welcomed and commended "all diplomatic efforts, especially those by Brazil and Turkey."

But in Vienna, three diplomats said the U.S., Russia and France dismissed Iran's proposal to swap some of its enriched uranium for fuel for a research reactor in Tehran which was brokered by Brazil and Turkey.

The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the replies were private, said they contain a series of questions that in effect stall any negotiations on the issue and present Tehran with indirect demands that it is not ready to meet.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed receipt of the three-nation response and said it would be passed on to Tehran.

The U.S., Russia and France have said that - unlike the original plan drawn up eight months ago - the swap proposal would leave Iran with enough material to make a nuclear weapon.

A European Union statement also criticized Iran for stonewalling attempts to probe its nuclear activities and refusing to heed U.N. Security Council demands for a freeze on enrichment, which can make both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material.

But his Iranian counterpart, Ali Asghar Soltanieh told the meeting that "illegal resolutions" by the council will not stop his country from exercising its "legitimate right to develop its nuclear program."

U.N. Hits Iran with New Sanctions over Nuclear Program

CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk filed this post from the United Nations Headquarters in New York.


The U.N. Security Council Wednesday voted -- although not unanimously -- for a tough new resolution to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran because of its defiance of international demands to freeze its nuclear program, with Brazil and Turkey voting against it and Lebanon abstaining.
With Middle East tension high and Iran at the center of the storm, the Obama administration successfully got China and Russia to back a new U.N. Security Council resolution, which increases the cost to Iran of purchasing banned weapons.
Iran is high on President Obama's agenda for good reasons: Iran's Red Crescent Society announced this week that a 3,000 ton vessel is heading soon for Gaza; International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors reported that Iran has enough nuclear fuel, if enriched, for two nuclear weapons, and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in London, said the U.S. has not lost the ability to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but the clock is ticking.
U.N. Approves New Sanctions Against Iran
Iran U.N. Sanctions Push: Timing is Everything
Delayed by an hour by Brazil and Turkey waiting for word from their foreign ministries on whether to vote for or against, both countries in voting against the resolution complained that the so-called Tehran proposal for Iran to export low-grade uranium was not given its due and that the resolution was negotiated behind closed doors.
U.K. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said Wednesday's sanctions resolution was passed because of Iran's defiance and its refusal to respond to its international obligations.
The new sanctions -- which U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said will be the toughest ever adopted -- was passed with 12 votes in favor with Brazil and Turkey against and Lebanon abstaining.
Prior to the vote, Iran threatened to withdraw the offer to export some of its uranium under a deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey because the new resolution proposes tough new enforceable sanctions, including financial restrictions on Iranian banks, Iranian businesses and on individual members of the powerful military force, the Revolutionary Guard, and it bans Iranian purchase of certain missiles, combat aircraft and warships.

Marines Honor the Fallen on Memorial Day

I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd)
Photo by Sgt. Heidi Agostini

Date: 05.31.2010
Posted: 05.31.2010 12:04
Photo ID: 284806
VIRIN: 100531-M-0944A-005
Location: Camp Leatherneck, AF

The bell rings in honor of the fallen May 31 at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. The I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd) held a Memorial Day ceremony to remember all war dead, to include the 15 Marines and one Sailor who have died since the transfer of authority. Associated News: Marines Honor the Fallen on Memorial Day

 Date: 05.31.2010
Posted: 05.31.2010 12:04
Photo ID: 284807
VIRIN: 100531-M-0944A-010
Location: Camp Leatherneck, AF

 Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, commanding general, I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd), pays respect to fallen Marines and Sailors following the Camp Leatherneck Memorial Day ceremony May 31. Fifteen Marines and one Sailor have been killed in Afghanistan since the transfer of authority early April. 

Date: 05.31.2010
Posted: 05.31.2010 12:05
Photo ID: 284808
VIRIN: 100531-M-0944A-013
Location: Camp Leatherneck, AF

 Col. Lori Reynolds, I Marine Headquarters Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd), pays respects to fallen Marines and Sailors following the Camp Leatherneck Memorial Day ceremony, May 31.

Date: 05.31.2010
Posted: 05.31.2010 12:05
Photo ID: 284809
VIRIN: 100531-M-0944A-006
Location: Camp Leatherneck, AF

The firing detail fires off rounds in honor of the fallen May 31 at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. The I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd) held a Memorial Day ceremony to remember all war dead, to include the 15 Marines and one Sailor who have died since the transfer of authority.

 Date: 05.31.2010
Posted: 05.31.2010 12:05
Photo ID: 284810
VIRIN: 100531-M-0944A-012
Location: Camp Leatherneck, AF

Marines pay tribute to fallen Sailors and Marines following the I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd) Memorial Day ceremony at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, May 31. Fifteen Marines and one Sailor have died since the I MEF (Fwd) transfer of authority.

 Date: 05.31.2010
Posted: 05.31.2010 12:05
Photo ID: 284814
VIRIN: 100531-M-0944A-009
Location: Camp Leatherneck, AF

Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, commanding general, I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd), pays respects to fallen Marines and Sailors following a Memorial Day ceremony at Camp Leatherneck, May 31. 

Date: 05.31.2010
Posted: 05.31.2010 12:05
Photo ID: 284815
VIRIN: 100531-M-0944A-001
Location: Camp Leatherneck, AF

Sgt. Seah Donohoe, I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd) prepares to hoist the colors May 31 at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.

Obama to make fourth Gulf trip next week with two-day visit

By Ben Geman - 06/08/10 05:40 PM ET

President Barack Obama will next week make his fourth visit to the Gulf Coast since the massive BP oil spill began in April, the White House said.

Obama was in Louisiana last week, where he warned oil giant BP against “nickel and diming” Gulf Coast residents when it comes to paying out damages claims.

Obama has been to Louisiana three times since the spill. But next week’s two-day visit — on Monday, June 14 and Tuesday, June 15 — will take the him to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to “further assess the latest efforts to counter the BP oil spill,” the White House said.

Who Is Alvin Greene?

MoJo talks to the candidate who came from nowhere—with no website, no signs, and no campaign funds—to win the Democratic Senate primary in South Carolina.

By Suzy Khimm | Tue Jun. 8, 2010 7:59 PM PDT

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An unemployed 32-year-old black Army veteran with no campaign funds, no signs, and no website shocked South Carolina on Tuesday night by winning [1] the Democratic Senate primary to oppose Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). Alvin Greene, who currently lives in his family's home, defeated Vic Rawl, a former judge and state legislator who had a $186,000 campaign warchest and had already planned his next fundraising event. Despite the odds, Greene, who has been unemployed for the past nine months, said that he wasn't surprised by his victory. "I wasn’t surprised, but not really. I mean, just a little, but not much. I knew I was on top of my campaign, and just stayed on top of everything, I just—I wasn't surprised that much, just a little. I knew that I worked hard and did," Greene said in an interview.
Greene insists that he paid the $10,400 filing fee and all other campaign expenses from his own personal funds. "It was 100 percent out of my pocket. I’m self-managed. It’s hard work, and just getting my message to supporters. I funded my campaign 100 percent out of my pocket and self-managed," said Greene, who sounded anxious and unprepared to speak to the public. But despite his lack of election funds, Greene claims to have criss-crossed the state during his campaign—though he declined to specify any of the towns or places he visited or say how much money he spent while on the road.
"It wasn’t much, I mean, just, it was—it wasn’t much. Not much, I mean, it wasn’t much," he said, when asked how much of his own money he spent in the primary. Greene frequently spoke in rapid-fire, fragmentary sentences, repeating certain phrases or interrupting himself multiple times during the same sentence while he searched for the right words. But he was emphatic about certain aspects of his candidacy, insisting that details about his campaign organization, for instance, weren't relevant. "I'm not concentrating on how I was elected—it's history. I’m the Democratic nominee—we need to get talking about America back to work, what's going on, in America."
The oddity of Greene’s candidacy has already prompted speculation from local media [2] about whether he might be a Republican plant. But Greene denies that Republicans or anyone else had approached him about running. "No, no—no one approached me. This is my decision," he said. A 13-year military veteran, he says he had originally gotten the idea in 2008 when he was serving in Korea. "I just saw the country was in bad shape two years ago…the country was declining," he says. "I wanted to make sure we continue to go up on the right track." But when asked whether there was a specific person or circumstance that precipitated his decision to jump into politics, Greene simply replied: "nothing in particular...it's just, uh, nothing in particular." South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler speculated [1] that Greene won because his name appeared first on the ballot, and voters unfamiliar with both candidates chose alphabetically.
Greene has yet to speak to any Democratic officials, either. After filing to run, his campaign went dark. According to this report, [2] he didn’t show up to the South Carolina Democratic Party convention in April and didn't file any of the required paperwork for candidates with the state or Federal Election Commission. When I spoke to him, the state’s Democrats had yet to contact him after his victory was announced.
Greene insists that he's planning to work with state and national officials to ramp up his campaign and raise money "as soon as I can." And he plans on putting his unemployment at the center of his campaign. "I’m currently one of the many unemployed in the state and this country. South Carolina has more unemployed now than at any other time," Greene says. "My campaign slogan: Let's get South Carolina back to work." He adds that he would like to see "one Korea under a democracy."
Sen. DeMint, a Tea Party darling and leader of the GOP's far-right flank, wasn't expecting a competitive challenge this election cycle. But conservative activists are already thrilled to see the Democrats' hand-picked candidate go down in flames. “Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha,” tweeted [3] Tea Party activist and Redstate blogger Erick Erickson after finding out about Greene’s victory.
Greene offered no volleys against DeMint, and he seemed to have more questions than attack lines when it came to the Tea Party. "What's the Tea Party’s position on wars in the Middle East? …I want to know the Tea Party's position on the wars in the Middle East?" he asked. But Greene says that he's excited about the prospect of taking on DeMint in the public arena: "I'm looking forward to the debate this September." DeMint and his supporters are no doubt looking forward to it too.
Update:  Via the AP [4], Greene is facing a felony charge for allegedly showing obscene photos to a University of South Carolina student.

AP: Alvin Greene Facing Felony Charge

By Daniel Schulman | Wed Jun. 9, 2010 12:13 PM PDT

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First, Alvin Greene (who MoJo's Suzy Khimm interviewed [1] last night), shocked political observers by seemingly coming out of nowhere to win South Carolina's Democratic Senate primary. Now the unemployed vet has another surprise in store. Turns out, he's presently facing a felony rap for an incident that involved Internet porn and a University of South Carolina co-ed. Via the AP [2]:
Court records show 32-year-old Alvin Greene was arrested in November and charged with showing obscene Internet photos to a University of South Carolina student. The felony charge carries up to five years in prison.
Greene said he had no comment when asked about the charge Wednesday and hung up on a reporter. The unemployed veteran posted bond after his arrest. He has yet to enter a plea or be indicted.
Records indicate Greene showed photos to a woman and talked about going to her room at a university dorm.

Lincoln's Surprise Win—And the Tough Road Ahead

The Arkansas incumbent knocks off the Left's darling—but faces a battle heading into this fall.

By Andy Kroll | Tue Jun. 8, 2010 8:27 PM PDT

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Despite a barrage of attack ads from labor unions, opposition from the left, and dwindling momentum in recent weeks, Sen. Blanche Lincoln bucked the year’s anti-incumbent mood and won Arkansas' Democratic US Senate run-off election Tuesday night. She claimed 51 percent of votes, while her opponent, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, fell just short with 48 percent, according to an Associated Press projection. The odds were tilted in Halter’s favor, with Lincoln trailing by 4 points in a recent R2000/Daily Kos poll before tonight’s run-off.
So what’s behind Lincoln’s surprising win? For starters, scoring the endorsement of Bill Clinton, the rock star of Arkansas politics, turned out to be a big boost for Lincoln. It also stands as a reminder of how valuable the Clinton touch remains when it comes to election season.
Lincoln was also helped by her anti-Wall Street, populist blitz on financial reform. The Arkansas senator shocked many experts, colleagues, and the banking community by producing a last-minute, surprisingly tough proposal to crack down on derivatives, the tricky financial products that helped explode the economy—and which are a cash cow for big banks. Her measures to rein in derivatives trading and force the likes of JPMorgan Chase and Bank of American to break off their lucrative derivatives trading operations have faced attacks from all sides—Republicans, fellow Democrats, the White House, banks—yet those proposals might still make it into the final bill that lands on Obama’s desk, especially now that she’s prevailed in her primary race.
Halter wasn't the only loser in this contest—labor unions threw serious campaign muscle behind him. Indeed, as our own Suzy Khimm reported [1], labor took full advantage of slackened campaign finance laws, thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, to rally behind Halter. Unions deployed "express advocacy" ads—which urge viewers to vote specifically for or against a certain candidate—using their own general funds, something they couldn’t do a year ago. And even then, they couldn’t push their man over the top. As a senior White House official told Politico's Ben Smith on Tuesday night, "Organized labor just flushed $10 million of their members' money down the toiled on a pointless exercise...If even half that total had been well-targeted and applied in key House races across this country, that could have made a real difference in November."
Not that the road ahead for Lincoln is easy. Her likely opponent this fall, Republican Rep. John Boozman, commands a 20-point lead in the latest poll by R2000/Daily Kos. Other polling has put Boozman ahead of Lincoln in a hypothetical fall matchup by anywhere from 17 points to 38 points. Which is to say, Lincoln’s got her work cut out for her in the next five months to translate her surprise victory tonight into reelection.

Fiorina Wins: Will She Remain a Far-Right Tea Party Corporate Insider?

The ex-HP chief rebranded herself as a conservative outsider to win the primary. Will she have to rebrand again for November?

By David Corn | Tue Jun. 8, 2010 9:15 PM PDT

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With the BP oil spill, the nation is currently witnessing one of the worst acts of corporate negligence—or crime—in history. This eco-nightmare is occurring during a time of economic trouble triggered by brazen corporate malfeasance in the financial sector. So it might not be a good moment for a politician to be a CEO. Yet in California, Republican voters on Tuesday flocked to two self-financing ex-corporate honchos, selecting ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman to be the party’s gubernatorial candidate (to face onetime Democratic governor and current state Attorney General Jerry Brown) and picking ex-Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina to be the party’s senatorial candidate (to take on Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer). Whitman might make some sense as a candidate, given that she left the corporate world with a solid reputation, having presided over massive growth that brought eBay from a company of 30 employees to one of 15,000 workers (though she engaged in controversial "spinning" [1] while a member of the board of Goldman Sachs.) Yet Carly Fiorina had a controversial, if not troubled [2] tenure, at HP. Which raises the question: what are Californian GOPers (and Sarah Palin) thinking?
Fiorina, a marketing and sales expert, took over HP in 1999, as the tech boom was ending. Her solution to the company's many problems at the time was engineering a $19 billion acquisition of Compaq—a move opposed by many HP stockholders and that ultimately was not widely regarded as a slam-dunk. On her watch, HP downsized and canned almost 18,000 employees—as Fiorina joined with other corporate execs to defend outsourcing and oppose measures that would limit this practice. After six years in the job, she was pushed out, but her departure was eased by a $21 million severance package. On the day she was dumped, the company's stock price went up 7 percent. CBS News technology analyst Larry Magin noted [3],

There is plenty to criticize about Fiorina's tenure at HP. At this point, the changes that Fiorina made didn't turn out so well for the thousands of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq employees that were laid off and the millions of HP stockholders who lost equity since she took over. HP stock is worth less today than it was in 1999. Dell and IBM stock has increased in value.

Fiorina ended up symbolizing not one but three excesses of the corporate elite: mergers-and-acquisition mania, outsourcing, and golden parachutes. Yet during the Republican Senate campaign, this former corporate insider re-marketed [4] herself as an anti-establishment Tea Partier, even though one of her foes in the primary contest, Assemblyman Chuck Devore [5], had a stronger claim on the Tea Party label. (Fiorina was helped in the who’s-the-Tea-Partiest-of-them-all competition when Palin endorsed her.)

It is possible that by aligning herself so closely with the Tea Partiers—as she spent large sums of her own money to win the nomination—Fiorina has diminished her chances of clearing out Boxer. Fiorina has campaigned as a diehard conservative, but in the Golden State, far-right GOPers often do not win statewide contests. (Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a national voice for climate change action; Fiorina recently released a demagogic ad [6] blasting Boxer’s concern about climate change, comparing it to worrying about the weather.) Fiorina has so far played according to the basic rule of politics: in the primary, cater to the base, then in the general election move toward the center. But having veered so far to the right—she ran as a pro-lifer—she has plenty of ground to cover to reach the middle. Boxer, always a feisty campaigner, will spend much time and money in the coming months to remind California voters of Fiorina's Tea Party stylings. Also, this Senate primary suggests that the Tea Party may not be so potent in California. Were it so, DeVore, the genuine Tea Partier, could have better surfed the movement's anger, a la Rand Paul in Kentucky.
Moreover, a Washington Post/ABC poll [7] released this week shows that a growing number of Americans are not fans of the Tea Party. In March, 39 percent said they had an unfavorable impression of the Tea Party. Now, it's 50 percent. The percentage of people with no opinion of the Tea Party fell from 20 percent to 14 percent. This indicates that the more people learn about the Tea Party, the less they like it. That's no surprise. As Tea Party-fueled Republicans receive more attention—especially on issues other than President Barack Obama’s controversial health care reform initiaitve—the brew doesn’t seem so tasty. After all, Rand Paul noted he didn't support the entire 1964 Civil Rights Act and griped about Obama being too tough on BP (whining that this was un-American). Sharron Angle, the Tea Party favorite in the Nevada GOP Senate primary, called for [8] shutting down the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. (While there’s an oil spill of historic proportion?) Other Tea Partiers are urging repeal of the 17th Amendment (which mandates the direct election of senators).
Come November, the Tea Party tag might not be a winner—and a former but failed corporate titan who wrapped herself tight in its banner might not be seen by voters as the most compelling choice, even in a year of anti-incumbent fervor. Perhaps Fiorina, that onetime marketing wiz, will have to fire up one more rebranding campaign.

Is Tim Scott the Next Black Republican Congressman?

An African-American conservative is headed to a runoff in the Republican primary for a South Carolina congressional seat.

By Nick Baumann | Tue Jun. 8, 2010 8:54 PM PDT

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Before adultery charges were leveled against South Carolina's GOP gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley, the Republican primary in the first congressional district was probably the state's most exciting race. Nine candidates were duking it out for the GOP nod in this deep red district, including legendary Sen. Strom Thurmond's son, Paul. But it was State Rep. Tim Scott, not Thurmond, who dominated the Republican field on Tuesday night, winning 32 percent of the vote. Since the winner of the GOP primary will stand a good chance of becoming the first district's next representative in Congress, Scott could very well become the first black Republican in either chamber since former Rep. J.C. Watts retired in 2003.
Scott will still have to face Thurmond, who finished second with 16 percent, in a June 22 runoff. But Scott's strict conservatism earned him the endorsement of the far-right Club for Growth, and that support could help carry him through the runoff as well.