Had your fill of Republican scandals? Here's another for you.

On Chris Matthews tonight, I heard a typical Republican mouthpiece (in this case, Katie O’Bierne) push the Party of Bush’s talking point: there was no crime committed in the firing of the eight U.S. Attorneys. As I have argued elsewhere, it is a crime to sack a U.S. Attorney in order to obstruct an investigation into corruption. But tonight, we find new evidence of an even more egregious crime.

First, the background. As you may recall, one of the stated purposes of firing some of the U.S. Attorneys was that they were not coming down hard enough on voter fraud. Problem is, as the New York Times pointed out, there is no voter fraud in the United States. Well, that is if you ignore Ann Coulter, and who wouldn’t want to do that?

Voter fraud is a code, understood by the Party of Bush loyalists, and it means voter suppression. And it is the next scandal.

One of the fired U.S. Attorneys is H.E. “Bud” Cummins of the Eastern District of Arkansas. He was sacked to make way for Rove protégé Tim Griffin. Tim Griffin’s main experience is reported to have been as an opposition researcher for the Republican National Committee. It turns out that there’s more.

On March 9, GregPalast.com reported that Tim Griffin was the hidden hand behind a scheme to wipe out the voting rights of 70,000 citizens prior to the 2004 election, according to BBC Television. How did he accomplish this anti-democratic treachery?

It’s called “caging” and it works like this. The RNC sent first-class letters to new voters in minority precincts marked, “Do not forward.” Lists of vulnerable voters were discovered, and they had many sheets. Several of these sheets contained nothing but soldiers, other sheets, homeless shelters. Targets included the Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida and that city’s State Street Rescue Mission. Another target, Edward Waters College, a school for African-Americans.

If these voters were not currently at their home voting address, they were tagged as “suspect” and their registration wiped out or their ballot challenged and not counted. Of course, these ‘cages’ captured thousands of students, the homeless and those in the military though they are legitimate voters.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 makes it a felony to challenge voters en masse where race is an element in the targeting. Why am I not surprised that a Rove protégé is a criminal operative?

My favorite part of the story, by the way, is how it came to light. BBC Television reports “Griffin made a wee mistake. Instead of sending the emails — potential evidence of a crime — to email addresses ending with the domain name “@GeorgeWBush.com” he sent them to “@GeorgeWBush.ORG.” A website run by prankster John Wooden who owns “GeorgeWBush.org.” When Wooden got the treasure trove of Rove-ian ravings, he sent them to us.”

The White House picked a felon to be a U.S. Attorney, and a he’s bumbler, too. Is it any wonder that he doesn’t want to have to stand for confirmation in the Senate?

“… and tell ’em Big Mitch sent ya!”