Guess why we suddenly need voter ID laws
after President Obama got elected?
Steve Benen at MaddowBlog, in a post titled "How not to defend Voter Suppression", explains the obvious in a post written by Phyllis Schlafly, long time right wing crackpot who is clearly too stupid for subtlety. It isn't about integrity of the ballot box or voter fraud or other terms from the 1960s, it's clearly about making it harder for Obama voters to vote again.
. . . Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly, a prominent leader of the religious right movement for decades, has a new defense. In a WorldNetDaily column, the right-wing activist offered an unexpected explanation of why some of North Carolina's new restrictions are worthwhile.
The reduction in the number of days allowed for early voting is particularly important because early voting plays a major role in Obama's ground game. The Democrats carried most states that allow many days of early voting, and Obama's national field director admitted, shortly before last year's election, that "early voting is giving us a solid lead in the battleground states that will decide this election."
The Obama technocrats have developed an efficient system of identifying prospective Obama voters and then nagging them (some might say harassing them) until they actually vote. It may take several days to accomplish this, so early voting is an essential component of the Democrats' get-out-the-vote campaign.
~snip~
And then there's Phyllis Schlafly, writing a piece for publication effectively saying Democrats are entirely right -- North Carolina had to dramatically cut early voting because it's not good for Republicans.
Remember, Schlafly's piece wasn't intended as criticism; this is her defense of voter suppression in North Carolina. Proponents of voting rights are arguing, "This is a blatantly partisan scheme intended to rig elections," to which Schlafly is effectively responding, "I know, isn't it great?"
See, if we take away early voting than there will be huge lines like Florida had in 2012 and that will discourage people from voting for Democrats like Obama. Since the GOP can't win your vote they will instead make you jump hurdle after hurdle that was never needed before the black people started voting early and with ease, but now that Obama has been elected and re-elected as President of the United States suddenly we need all these new rules dreamed up by Republicans, rules designed to waste our time and dick us around in the hopes that we don't vote at all.
For the crime of voting early AND for President Obama there will be less early voting in North Carolina for everyone from now on. Instead of trying to appeal to these voters the GOP has decided fuck em, that'll show them to not vote for Mitt Romney! A party that is winning does not do this kind of thing, a party that is dying off and desperately clinging to power does this kind of thing.
A party that is out of ideas and dying, and deservedly so.
More below the fold . . .
A party that is winning doesn't pull this kind of bullshit. The GOP has decided it is way cheaper to suppress the minority vote than to win it and risk the anger of their nativist, racist friendly base, so now black people, poor people, minorities, the elderly pretty much everyone who isn't Art Pope is gonna have a harder time trying to vote because black people started using early voting the last few years and North Carolina Republicans thought that we can't be having any of that. The worst of it is that these voter suppression laws will hurt Republican voters too, but the big money guys don't give a shit, they are fine with shooting their own soldiers if it means they might hit a few of the democratic voters behind them, by their tally less voters is better for their unpopular agenda so the entire GOP is resigned to trying to win elections by addition through subtraction, thinking for every 2 dem votes and 1 GOP vote lost to voter suppression the GOP still comes out on top in that exchange.
And in the guise of voter fraud prevention and election integrity and all of the other mealy mouthed words cherry picked from from the anticivil rights opponents of the 1960s here comes daft Phyllis Schlafly, too stupid for subtlety and thinking WorldNutDaily a safe place to sell her wares in the open, forgets to even dress this assault in benign terms and instead openly admits that limiting access to the ballot box is bad for democratic voters and therefore good. Everything we have said the GOP led voter suppression agenda is becomes entirely confirmed by Schlafly's post at WND. This whole Voter ID/Voter Fraud nonsense invented by the FoxNewsiverse is a canard for punishing entire swaths of the electorate for not dutifully voting Republican in sufficient numbers.
"This is a blatantly partisan scheme intended to rig elections," to which Schlafly is effectively responding, "I know, isn't it great?"
So opines Steven Benen, and he speaks true. Where other conservatives have tried to paint this assault on voters rights and access to voting as a benevolent desire to prevent fraud should it occur, Schlafly just blurts out teh fraud is Democrats voting for Obama, as if that should now be against the law.
And now early voting has been cut because it was hurting the GOP. It doesn't matter. Republicans decided that what is best for the GOP is better than what is best for every voter in North Carolina, so fuck the voters, do what is best for the NC GOP. Country first? The NC GOP put the needs of their political ambitions over the ability for their own voters to access the ballot box, as if to say "I got elected, now just try to get rid of me, fuckers!" Republicans couldn't win with early voting and easy access to the ballot box without unnecessarily long lines and so it had to be taken away from North Carolina voters, who can remind themselves that when they are sitting on an eight hour line come 2014, the NC GOP can claim, "We built that" and for once be telling the truth.
Cokie Roberts called it "downright evil". I agree. Republicans can't sell America on the flaming dumpster fire that the post-Romney GOP has become. They think they can hang on to power in states that were already in Romney's losing electoral college column by making it harder for core Democratic constituencies to vote. 2014 is not 2010, in 2010 GOP hopes were high and for some reason those voter ID laws could wait, but without the wind in their sails the dumpster fire of the post-Romney GOP is trying to win not through outreach but through inreach, continuing to feed rabid teabaggers red meat while making it harder for minorities they can't win to vote. And that is Schlafly defense of why early voting had to go, it was too good for Democrats.
Every Dem who said this is a purely partisan assault on Dem voters is RIGHT according to Schlafly. Now the only problem with the GOP's brilliant plan is how to convince every growing demographic in America to move to North Carolina before the 2016 primaries.
Jim Crow 2.0 is the GOP's true rebranding.
11:37 AM PT: Updated to note that early voting has not been entirely done away with in North Caroline but cut by a full week. I am certain conservatives will scoff and say what's the problem, and my response is that any restriction of access to the ballot box is still a restriction to access to the ballot box that we should fight tooth and nail.
