Brad Takes on the Unapologetic Democracy-Hater on Tavis Smiley's Radio Show

PLUS: Taking on John Fund, Another GOP 'Voter Fraud' Scammer, on the Radio, the Following Day...

Brad Friedman Byon 10/7/2008, 1:11pm PT

Late last week I had the "pleasure" of appearing on Tavis Smiley's public radio show, along with GOP "voter fraud" zealot and propagandist Hans von Spakovsky, about whom we've written quite a bit here over the years. The show was pre-taped last Thursday, ran over the weekend, and will continue to be available at Smiley's website throughout the week.

The audio discussion, which became rather heated at times, is posted at the end of this article.

In his introduction, Smiley credits von Spakovsky as being "from the Heritage Foundation." But in addition to being funded by those unapologetic Republicanists, it goes unnoted that vS, a former chair of the FEC, recess-appointed by Bush, then blocked by the Democrats in the Senate when his appointment came up again, was formerly embedded in the Bush DoJ's wholly-politicized Civil Rights Division voting section.

At the DoJ, he helped to deconstruct the beloved Voting Rights Act of 1965 by, among other things, pushing through polling place Photo ID restrictions in places such as Georgia, against the advice of just about every career employee in the division. (The law was later found to be an "unconstitutional day poll tax" by the courts, but ultimately allowed by a higher court, and still under challenge by Democrats in the state.) He was also instrumental in bringing phony "voter fraud" charges, such as those against ACORN workers in Missouri, filed just days before the razor-thin 2006 Senate election, in violation of the DoJ's own written rules against bringing such indictments just prior to elections where they are likely to affect the race.

Perhaps even more noteworthy, but unmentioned by Smiley, is that even with all of that, the disgraced von Spakovsky has been secretly hired, at tax-payer expense, as a consultant for Bush's similarly compromised, and now ironically-named, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, to help monitor the job that the DoJ will (or won't) be doing to monitor the 2008 general election.

In any case, vS remains an unapologetic democracy hater, hell-bent on keeping Democratic-leaning voters away from the polls and, as you'll note during the interview, a liar.

Normally, however, he's not faced with anybody who can actually call him on his bullshit. That wasn't the case this time, as I was there, and was able to do exactly that...

Just one of the lies he was called on during the interview was his claim that a recent Michigan Messenger article, detailing the Macomb County, MI, GOP party chair's claim that they plan to use home foreclosure lists to challenge voters at the polls, was retracted by the paper.

"Michigan Messenger, who made that claim, has now issued a retraction," and said that "apparently they got the story wrong," von Spakovsky baldly prevaricated during the show.

Fortunately, both I and Barbara Arnwine of the National Lawyers Committee (sponsors of the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline), were there to call him on that lie. That usually doesn't happen on public radio.

For the record, the story was most definitely not retracted. And just to make certain I hadn't missed something, I checked yesterday with Michigan Messenger's national editor Jefferson Morley who confirmed via email: "No, we did not retract anything in the article. We stand by the reporting in the published story 100 percent."

vS goes on to try and offer more BS, and the 25-minute conversation continues to get more and more heated as it moves forward, particularly in the second segment. Enjoy...

Tavis Smiley Show, recorded 10/2/08, featuring Brad Friedman, Hans von Spakovsky & Barbara Arnwine. (Appx 26 mins) MP3 Download. Or listen online here...



P.S.... The BRAD BLOG's tireless comment hostess, "Agent 99" even approved of my appearance with vS, for a change, noting at her own blog: "Brad Friedman blew him off the airwaves. It was beautiful! I stood up and cheered and ran around my living room pumping my fist!"

P.P.S....On Friday, by the way, the day after my recorded appearance with vS, I took on yet another unapologetic GOP "voter fraud" scammer/liar --- the Wall Street Journal's John Fund --- on the radio. I'll try to write a bit more about that later, but if you'd like to listen to that aborted adventure (he hung up after the first commercial break, also apparently unused to facing anybody able to call him on his bullshit, and too cowardly to stick around to continue to try and make his phony case), from last week's Peter B. Collins Show, it follows below...

Peter B. Collins Show, broadcast live 10/3/08, featuring Brad Friedman & John Fund. (Appx 40 mins, Fund hangs up after about 15) MP3 Download. Or listen online here...





