The No. 2 Republican in the Senate, John Cornyn of Texas, assured journalist
Meredith Shiner in an interview that no one should doubt the GOP's "commitment" to healing racial divisions even as he said there was no need for Congress to revisit the Voting Rights Act.
Well, I think the Voting Rights Act was a seminal victory for our country and a great healing moment. But there are some who want to continue to drive divisions and create phony narratives.
Right. All those phony narratives about
Voter ID laws being passed mostly by Republican lawmakers in
more than 30 states:
As of February 2015, 31 states enforced voter identification requirements. A total of 16 states required voters to present photo identification while 15 accepted other forms of identification.
But forget about all that—this is just a brilliant marketing ploy by the Obama administration, says Cornyn.
I think Eric Holder and this administration have trumped up and created an issue where there really isn’t one. For example, the attorney general sued my state for requiring a voter ID, saying somehow that suppressed minority votes, when you can get one for free. And the Supreme Court has passed, in an opinion by John Paul Stevens, who is not exactly a conservative, that this is a reasonable way of protecting the integrity of the ballot and it doesn’t unduly burden the ability of minority voters to cast a ballot. [Editor's note: Justice Stevens has said his judgment was specific to the case and “should not be taken as authority that voter ID laws are always OK.”].
So a lot of this is, I think, theatrics, to try to create division where there isn’t [any].
That's unfortunate, says Cornyn, who goes on to blame the nation's racial divisions on Obama and his team.
That, to me, is one of the shames of … the first African-American president of the United States. You would think this would be a great time of national pride and great national healing, but unfortunately, this president has tried to use his bully pulpit and his presidency to try to cause division, and that’s a shame.
Wait a minute, a second ago there wasn't an issue. But now there is … and it's Obama's fault!
So should Congress fix the Voting Rights Act?
No.
Oh, okay. The Voting Rights Act is perfect just the way it is after
the Supreme Court gutted it last year. The problem is just with President Obama and Attorney General Holder, except for when there isn't a problem (i.e. any time that would require Congress to act).