“This doesn’t have to do with the Black Panthers; this has to do with their fantasies about how they could use this issue to topple the [Obama] administration...My fellow conservatives on the commission had this wild notion they could bring Eric Holder down and really damage the president.
It's yet another example of Republicans building a strawman and conservatives being so eager to believe ill about liberals (and minorities) that they engage in no fact-checking whatsoever.
As in elections before, the "voter fraud" and "voter intimidation" meme foisted on us by the Republicans/Tea Party is a strawman of epic scale. There might be a handful of individual voters who do so (like Ann Coulter), but there is no evidence whatsoever that there is ANY organized effort by the Democrats or anyone on the left to commit voting fraud! NO evidence at all!
But there's a wealth of evidence of deliberate voter suppression by the Right. And why do they do this?
It's right here, complete with a link to a 40-second video, where Heritage Foundation founder Paul Weyrich gave a speech in 1980 to fifteen thousand Baptist preachers in Dallas. The audience included Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell. During that speech, he says:
"I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
Last I recall, we should encourage everyone to vote. But the Republicans/Tea Party don't see it that way. They want to stop us from voting...and at the same time spread fear among their faithful with blatantly false accusations about Democratic voting fraud.
I wish that the author to whom I referred at the beginning of this article would learn to differentiate between accusations and evidence. His article—as with nearly all the Republican accusations about Democratic voting fraud—contains accusations (and even adds to those accusations) but contains NO evidence. He, like most of the rest of the Right, will ignore the fact that there is no evidence to support their accusations...because they like to hear such accusations against those the Republicans oppose, and as a result those accusations are all they need to hear, as long as the accusations support their preconceived notions about the Democratic party and liberals in general.
Article comments
1 - Joseph Cotto
I never imagined stumbling across a four page article and finding absolutely nothing to read.
There is a first time for everything, I suppose.
2 - Glenn Contrarian
Mr. Cotto -
I never imagined stumbling across a four page article and finding absolutely nothing to read.
Ah, yes, I forgot - when the Republicans are caught in voter fraud/intimidation/suppression, the patriotic response is "okay, move along, nothing to see here".
But Real Republicans never forget to RAISE HELL like the rest of the Right whenever anyone accuses the Left of voter fraud...even when there is NO EVIDENCE of it at all.
Such profound hypocrisy!
3 - Arch Conservative
Do you hear that Glenn? It's the sound of Chopin's Funeral March being cued all around the country at Democrat candidate headquarters.
There's not a damn thing you, your Obamessiah, or the union thugs you've thrown in with can do about it.
Have a nice week!
4 - Arch ConscienceStain
There's not a damn thing you, your Obamessiah, or
I do believe that grinning at the early start to Republican over-reaching will do quite well. Enjoy your short-lived political hard on captain weak-assed cliche man.
5 - Glenn Contrarian
Arch -
Tuesday looks to be a triumph for the low-information voter and the corporatists who lead them by the nose.
But in the end I'm not that worried. Why?
- Because the average Fox viewer is 65 years old and white.
- Because the attendance at GOP and Tea Party functions is almost lily-white.
- Because the GOP and the Tea Party are still largely homophobic and Islamophobic and anybody-who's-different-from-us-phobic.
- Because the VAST majority of the under-30 crowd has (unlike the GOP/Tea Party) NO problem with racial/social/cultural/religious/sexual diversity.
- Because no matter what they think, the GOP/Tea Party are not an immovable object that can ever hope to stand in the way of the irresistible force of the liberalization of mankind as a whole...because look how much more liberal the world is (including America) than we were even just a generation ago.
The march of history is irresistible. It's happening...and there is absolutely squat you can do about it. Enjoy your time in power, for it won't last.
Oh, and one more thing - if you knew anything about American political history, you'd know that the party that holds the presidency nearly ALWAYS loses seats in the midterm...and the more so in a bad economy.
That means that if the GOP takes the House but fails to take the Senate, then - historically speaking - this midterm will effectively be an example of the overall weakening of conservative politics. That's not spin, Arch - that's the concrete history of American politics.
6 - handyguy
In a perfect world, there would be neither vote fraud or vote suppression. Both are deplorable, but how common are they really? We get exaggerated claims from both sides. Try to discuss it on here, and invariably get yelled at and spat upon, figuratively speaking.
7 - handyguy
You would think Arch had never been through an election cycle before. Democrats with long memories are accustomed to disappointment -- at the presidential level in the 70s and 80s [and the exasperating 'tie' of 2000], and in congressional cycles periodically since 1994 [the Senate doesn't tend to swing so widely and wildly].
So if we lose the house, we'll take it in stride. The fact that voters don't actually like Republicans better that Democrats -- somewhat less, even -- could be seen as comforting, or as ominous: what will disappointed, unhappy voters do next time, if they still dislike both parties? Elect Jesse Ventura?
8 - Arch Conservative
Whatever you need to tell yourself to feel better about tomorrow Glenn..........
You're right handy I'm voting straight GOP and I really can't even stand any of the bastards. I hate them less, much less than the Dems but hate them none the less. My joy comes not in seeing the GOP gain power but the leftist moonbats lose it.
The balance of power will most assuredly swing back to the Dems sooner or later. I'm just glad that for now they won't be allowed to push us into the abyss.
9 - Jordan Richardson
Arch is taking the "crash diet" approach to voting, I see. Good luck with that.
10 - Arch ConscienceStain
My joy comes not in seeing the GOP gain power but the leftist moonbats lose it
You actually have joy? Aside from calling women cunts? I guess you do learn something new every day.
The democrats actually had power? That's news to me too.
Man, you're a fuckin' genius.
11 - Arch Conservative
Glenn...do you have it in you to give us a "yes we can," before you lay your head on your pillow tonight?
For old time sake?
C'mon............
12 - Glenn Contrarian
Arch -
Reread what I said about the irresistible march of history - it's all there for those with eyes to see. America - and the world - is FAR more liberal than we were a generation ago, and even America's Jim Crow era was much more liberal than a few generations before that!
And you know what, Arch? This isn't anything new - I've been saying the SAME doggone thing ever since before Obama got elected in the first place. So yes, the GOP and the Tea Party will have a measure of power for a while...but in the long view of history they're becoming less of a rock of stability and more of a speed bump in the progress of human civilization.
And one more thing - bear all this in mind and thirty years hence think back to this conversation 'tween thee and me...and (bar massive worldwide disaster like runaway global warming or some kind of far right dictatorial coup in America), you will see precisely what I meant -
- and you'll probably hate me for it.