I was chatting with a friend of mine last night who works in Democratic politics, and looking ahead, he was feeling pretty optimistic about the 2012 elections. As he sees it, the pieces are largely in place -- President Obama has weathered the attacks and remains in the lead; Mitt Romney is not well liked; and Paul Ryan's radicalism only further tips the scales.
The recent economic data is pointing in the right direction; the post-Ryan bump was even smaller than expected; and Medicare is suddenly topic #1. Why shouldn't Dems be happy?
What my friend couldn't explain is how Democrats expect to succeed if Republicans rig the electoral process. Did everyone see Rachel's lead story last night on Pennsylvania?
We talked a bit about the state court ruling on voter-ID yesterday, but Rachel's explanation is worth keeping in mind:
"Seriously, the judge's reasoning was that hundreds of thousands of people in Pennsylvania who do not have this kind of ID will be provided it by the state of Pennsylvania before the election. This of course requires that the state can handle that influx of work, requires that all of those hundreds of thousands of people in Pennsylvania are going to have the documentation they need in order to get the new IDs. It requires that all of those hundreds of thousands of people are going to have transportation and access to the Department of Transportation offices in Philadelphia where you can get these new IDs.
"I should perhaps note here that Pennsylvania has the lowest proportion of government workers to state population of any state in the country. I should note that 13 of the state's transportation offices where you can get these IDs are open only one day a week. Nine Pennsylvania counties don't even have one of these offices at all.
"And perhaps most pressingly, this whole rationale for the judge keeping the law in place requires that the hundreds of thousands of legal voter Pennsylvania residents will know in advance that they have to do all of this in time to get it done before the election. They've got to complete the paperwork, have their ID issued to them in time to vote."
There is a voter-education effort underway in Pennsylvania, but it's been contracted out to a private lobbying firm run by the former executive director of the state Republican Party -- who also happens to be a generous Romney donor.
And the developments go well beyond Pennsylvania.
In Ohio, the Republican Secretary of State is still making it easier for residents to vote in Republican counties than Democratic counties; in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott's (R) pre-election voter purge appears poised to intensify; and there are additional new reports of GOP voter-suppression tactics in Iowa and New Mexico.
I understand why Democrats may feel some optimism about the larger trajectory, but even if President Obama can overcome the lies, the public discontent over the economy, and the extremely well-funded smear campaigns, his re-election task remains incredibly challenging if many of his supporters in key swing state are blocked from casting ballots.
Of course, it also raises a related question: if Obama has been such an awful failure, why do so many Republicans feel the need to rig the elections process in the GOP's favor? Shouldn't they consider it easy to defeat the president in a fair fight?
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I love how the party who panders to illegal immigrants, people LIVING (not receiving help) off other peoples hard earned money are against having a valid I.D to vote...
You need an I.D to drive a car, go to a bar, buy alcohol, smoke cigarettes, fly, and "oh so much more". But demo-Rats want people to be able to vote the a leader of the free world and not use anything?
You Acorn Loving frauds had this coming and I hope it happens in every state. LEGAL VOTING PEOPLE should and will vote if they want to. If acorn didnt try and register mickey mouse as a voter or provide food for peoples votes (buying votes) then people wouldnt care about I.D requirements.
You reap what you sow. I'll burrow a line from someone those most of you think is probably a swell guy.
"Your chickens, have come home to roost"
We are not talking about people voting "without anything." We are talking about people voting with their voter registration card. They sign their name and it has to match the signature in the registration book. Same as it has been for every other election in the past.
I will guarantee you there are plenty of folks who buy cigarettes and alcohol without showing ID--they "look" old enough. If you can't afford a car, you don't need a driver's license. And if you are too poor to own a car, you probably don't fly either.
No one says it is impossible to get a photo ID to vote. But it is a new hurdle, put up by a Republican state legislature, whose leader openly brags that this will "allow Romney to win PA."
Some positives from the PA Dem website (just one excerpt---more on their website):
"Pennsylvania Democrats are committed to protecting Pennsylvanians’ right to vote, and we will continue to educate voters about the new ID requirements and the process to acquire an appropriate ID to ensure that all eligible voters can get to the polls and exercise their right to vote in November. For months, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party has implemented programs designed to ensure Pennsylvanians have the proper identification and we will continue our work as the legal process unfolds.” Democrat Chairman Jim Burn
Anyone who wants to help the democratic party in PA in their efforts to ensure that everyone gets the proper documentation can sign up on line at http://www.padems.com
Anger and frustration are the first step to action. If this infuriates you, do something. PA dems through their local offices can mobilize and help get the word out; those outside the state can communicate to their own public officials that voter suppression laws that are enacted solely and deliberately to give one party an advantage won't be tolerated by the citizens of this country.
Q: How desperate is the GOP that they have to put a strangle-hold on the most vulnerable of our citizens to exercise their right to vote? Pretty damn desperate, apparently. Hope the Supreme Court comes through for all my relatives who live in PA.
what's the solution to stopping voter suppression from happening in any state, for every election?
Maybe every July 4th, all of the Constitutional amendments dealing with voting rights can be read by these elected nutjobs so they are on record.
My comment is not intended to add to this discussion. I've thought this for awhile and just have to say it. Gov. Corbett strikes me as being REALLY GOOFY.
I have one objection to the way Rachel Maddow has reported this issue. In a clip on todays show she showed a Republican lawmaker "admitting" that the voter ID law would give Romney an unfair advantage and the crowd cheering his admission. I believe this was deliberately taken out of context.
From what I can tell the republican base supports the Voter ID drive because they sincerely believe that President Obama stole his election. That his supporters cheated and these laws will prevent this from happening in November. (better results for republicans in states which have these laws will be seen as evidence that they were right)
Of course, the best available evidence shows this is simply not true, but conservatives generally put little value on empirical evidence when compared to the opinions of their authority figures. Fox 'n' Friends tells them that Obama cheated and they believe it because the lie fits their biases. Obama cheating is more plausible then the majority of voters actually preferring Obama.
So when the state house republican leader says the law will "allow" Romney to win the state, he is alluding to (and being applauded for) this perception that the law will stop Democrats from cheating again. Not, as Maddow implies, that the law will suppress legitimate democratic voters. If there is any doubt that all of this is true, Maddow should hunt down one of the attendees of that conference and ask them why they cheered. I think it would make for an interesting segment.
With the assumption that this is true, I'm disappointed that Maddow would misrepresent the scene, and I believe she hurts her own cause and her reporting of this issue by mostly ignoring their base's reasons for supporting these laws. While it's almost certain that many republican strategists and lawmakers know that the voter fraud justification is a deception, it is not certain that the house leader or his supporters know this. Either way, showing that republicans are ignorant is just as damaging to their credibility as showing that they are deceptive.
Thank you Rachel, Rev. Al, Lawrence & Ed for making voter suppression a centerpiece. Historically and currently it is the centerpiece and crux of what is going to determine the outcome of this election. A friend, who was also on the frontlines for voter's rights in the '60s, had a very good suggestion. Why doesn't the DNC take some of those funds raised, hire buses to get people to where they need to go to acquire the b.s. ID's, and even help pay for those who can ill afford this expense? Let's please remain vigilent, and continue to fight back at every turn with this draconian attack by the Repubs. on our basic rights.
There is a reason Pennsylvania is known as the Mississippi of the Northeast, in my lifetime I have seen Republicans use every trick in the book to deny the vote to anyone they suspect of leaning Democratic. One thing about Republicans they have no sense of shame for doing what they are doing, in order to feel shame one must have moral values...something Republicans have been found lacking for the past 50 years.
The problem is, everyone thinks Obama has failed, but how can anything he have promissed get done when Congress will not sign off on anything. Republican's will love to see him fail, so they feel if he looks bad, than there is no chance of him running again.
I feel if u have to cheat, ONCE AGAIN to get in office, then your plan when you enter the door is nothing but to make everyone's life a living nightmare.