Voter Fraud

This is a followup to the voter ID story I mentioned in yesterday's odds and ends (link). Now, any proper cynic will tell you that these voter ID rules that the GOP has pushed in recent years-- because you know how concerned the party of Don Segretti, Katherine Harris, and the U.S. Attorney scandal is about election integrity-- are a giant scam, but the Republicans have worked hard to create a narrative of "fraud" that doesn't exist.

On last night's Real Time w/ Bill Maher, the issue of actual electoral fraud came up... that is, actual rigging of elections, hacked machines, that type of thing. Panelist Tony Snow chimes in to (randomly) suggest that the fix for their concerns is stronger voter ID laws. The discussion was so fast-paced that no one noticed Tony's sleight of hand, and the conversation continued. Remember that they were talking about vote counting fraud-- ie. the type of fraud that occurs after the fact. And yet Tony was proposing a solution to fraud that occurs before the fact, a completely different issue. And that is the tell.

(UPDATE: I found video on the segment in question.)

This is the scam. The Republicans have used legitimate concerns about voter fraud in recent years to create a system in which they commit a fraud of their own. Voter ID laws put the burden on poor and elderly voters, the two groups most likely not to have a driver's license or modern government ID. And also-- gosh!-- the two groups that most reliably vote for the donkey party. If the GOP was really concerned about voter fraud and electoral integrity, they'd be loudly supporting tamper-proof voting machines or fighting against campaign trickery that wrongly influences voters. But they don't. Their focus has always, and solely, been on one issue... voter ID laws. And that's very revealing.

[PS- And don't get me started on Tony 'I can't survive on $168,000' Snow's economy boasting]