Selling Suppression

When someone lies habitually, you come to expect more of the same.  So when the Republicans gibber about concerns over "voter fraud" as the primary reason the eight US attorneys were dismissed, it's easy to laugh.  Since when has this administration, or Republicans in general, been interested in stopping voter fraud?  It's as if the pope had come out against silly hats.  
 
Only in this case, the Republicans are quite serious.  Voter fraud really is at the heart of the matter.  But this is a different kind of voter fraud story.  It has nothing to do with anything you might recognize by that name.  What first stirred Karl Rove to wake up Bush, and then drove Bush to grouse to Gonzo, and finally ended up earning the attorneys steaming brown phone calls from Republican senators, congressmen, and staffers, is something that goes right to the core of both parties.  

Democrats share more than just the first seven letters of their name with the word "democracy."  They've worked to see equal access to polling stations.  They've supported civil rights legislation, and everything from the Voting Rights Act to "Motor Voter" that makes it easier for people to have their voices heard.  Democrats have fought against instances of people being unfairly stricken from voter rolls, and struggled against all manner of obstacles placed between minorities and the ballot.  Though Republicans want to paint Democrats as "elitists," it's the Democratic Party that is comfortable listening to the voice of all the people.

Republicans have always been at the other end of this fight.  Republicans fear that, if Americans find it too easy to vote, Americans might... vote.  They're especially concerned that minorities might vote.  Having unequal access to polling stations is good for Republicans.  Forcing people to make multiple trips and obtain new IDs to vote is good for Republicans.   Anything that restricts voting in areas that lean toward Democrats is good for Republicans.  In fact, with a Republican Party that's built around a collection of issues meant to appeal to the most radical on the right, every obstacle is a good thing.  If Republicans could, they'd surround every polling station with a moat.  And alligators.

Voter suppression is a lynch pin of the Republican strategy.  They look on every "get out the vote" campaign among the general public, no matter how nonpartisan, as a direct threat.  And well they should, since Democrats hold the edge not only in overall numbers, but in their position on issue after issue.

Still, Republicans don't want to be seen as nakedly anti-voter. So they have to construct a narrative for their suppression, some straw man to justify their actions.  The core of that narrative goes back into the same mythology that Republicans have used at least since Kennedy vs. Nixon.  When Republicans speak about "voter fraud," it's not because they're concerned that someone got duped out of their right to vote.  It's certainly not because they're worried that some voting machine maker might be shoving extra votes in the blue column. In Republican-speak, voter fraud is code for "the wrong sort of people might have pulled a lever."

To counter the Democratic Party's openness to new voters, the Republican narrative is that there are millions of evil people out there, all of them just dying to cast a ballot and spoil elections.  That's why they're so eager to seize on any story of registration irregularities, no matter how minor.  They have to have something to support their contention that making it easier for people to vote is a bad thing, and the only story they have is one concocted out of one part good old fashioned racism, and two parts fear of immigrants.

When Bush wanted Gonzales to go after Iglesias, it was because the US attorney wouldn't support the narrative.  

White House officials are now conceding that complaints by top New Mexico Republicans about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, including his refusal to pursue voter fraud charges in 2004 and his handling of corruption cases, played a part in his dismissal.

When McKay got his ear chewed off in Washington state, the issue was the same.

A few weeks after the election, McKay receives a call from Ed Cassidy, the chief of staff for Republican U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington state, inquiring about possible voter fraud. He tells Cassidy the call is improper and also mentions the call to his top staffers.

In both cases, the attorneys found no merit in the accusations of fraud.  They didn't understand that it doesn't matter if there's good evidence -- it's keeping the fear level high that counts.  In Utah, charges of "massive" fraud led to an investigation which found thousands... make that hundreds... um, possibly as many as 14 people who may have -- may have -- voted improperly.  But that was still enough to make "a study that found fraud in Utah" part of the standard Republican speech kit.

Republicans feel they need to suppress minority voters to win.  To sustain that suppression, they spin a story of immigrants run amok, swarthy felons, and the ghost of Mayor Daley -- all of them impatient to get into the voting booth and render your precious vote irrelevant. That's the narrative they were counting on the US attorneys to support, that's why Karl Rove was involved, and that's why Rove insisted on putting his old pals -- people sure to dream up more such charges -- in the place of the attorneys who were fired.

For the Republicans, "voter fraud" is one very convenient fiction.