<AnnRichardsSarcasticVoice>Thanks so much for caring about the feelings of the African American community of the United States, Mitt. Thanks for your sincere outrage at VP Joe Biden's "chains" comment. His comment obviously references the slavery of Africans, from a dark yet pivotal time in our nation's history. Joe Biden, as you said, was trying to stoke "division and attack and hatred." Yeah Mitt, I feel your concern.
So, why don't you just show us how much your care for the feelings of the African American community, by doing something to make it better, Mitt. There's definitely something we could use your help on, as the leader of the Republican party.
Minorities are being disproportionately disenfranchised by the voting laws passed exclusively by Republican state legislatures. These laws will prevent more African Americans from voting, by a margin of 2 to 1 over whites in Pennsylvaniafor example. Many of these African Americans are direct decendants of those who sailed in slave ships, and farmed the fields, and built the infrastructure in our nation's infancy. Their grandparents and great grandparents were given only a fraction of a vote or were disenfranchised by Jim Crow laws. Their parents and uncles and aunts and friends experienced the great strife of the civil rights fights of the 50's and 60's. And now, the African American voter of today gets to experience this onslaught of "voter protection" laws that seem designed to disenfranchise minorities and tip the vote in critical swing states.
Can you, Mittens, close your eyes (and your mouth) for one minute and just try to imagine what it would be like to be an African American, with all the struggle and pain and lives that were laid down to get them their voting rights. Can you imagine what it would feel like if states throughout the country suddenly come up with new voter laws that are disenfranchising your community again? Let me give you some hints.... You would be outraged, incensed, horrified, and depressed. And maybe you would be a little resigned to the fact that it's happening again, this time to you.
Mittens, if you are so outraged about Joe Biden's use of the word "chains", why don't you do something about his slap in the face of African American voters.
Why don't you put actions behind your words and join the Obama administration in asking Republican Governor Rick Scott to delay implementing the Voter ID requirement in Florida until after the 2012 elections?
Why don't you call up Ohio's Republican Secretary of State John Husted, thank him for correcting the discriminatory uneven early voting hours he masterminded. But tell him he needs to allow localities to provide weekend hours if they have the demand.
And while you're at it Mitt, file a friend of the court brief with the 3-3 split Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and ask them to stay the Voter ID law until after the election because it will be a slap in the face of the African American community unless it's done right, and you just couldn't stand for that possibility happening. Could you?
Well, Mitt. I'm glad we had this chat. I know you'll do the right thing. Just like I'm sure you'll follow your Daddy's shining example and release 12 years of tax returns.</AnnRichardsSarcasticVoice>
7:41 AM PT: Just a quick update to make one thing clear.... I do not believe Willard would intervene in any of these cases or show empathy as some in the comments have suggested he is incapable. But, asking him is not about getting him to do these things, it was designed to get him to shut up about Joe Biden's Chains comment because he won't help stop the voter suppression laws. So, no, I certainly don't envision him doing any of these things except for moving on to the next faux outrage that he and Faux News can manufacture. :)
Fri Aug 17, 2012 at 9:02 AM PT: This crap breaks my heart... the living example that puts a face onto this voter suppression effort, the woman who voted during the Jim Crow era and was just denied a photo ID: http://m.nashvillescene.com/...=[]