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Apparently the Republican Party does not want newly naturalized Hispanic citizens to be able to register to vote. I am sure there are all sorts of high-minded reasons for this. I await the flow of rationalizations. But I am curious why every single time issues of minority voting rights come up these days, it is the GOP that seems to be standing in the way. Of course it is not racism. Is it? My guess is that it is simply that rather than encourage as much participation as possible, the Republicans know that over the short term, large numbers of these voters will probably vote Democratic. Rather than woo them, apparently it is better simply to disfranchise them. This was once the party of Lincoln.
I'll try not "go off on half-cocked personal accusations." I know most of our readers think I attack you personally, and unfairly. Thanks for the tip on protecting my integrity.
Derek Charles Catsam -
9/24/2004
Yes, Steve, I never back off from assertions. Oh wait, not far below this, I was the first Rebunker both to acknowledge the CBS documents and then to engage in a mae culpa as to my being wrong on those documents. And my only mistake was believing that a news organization did its job. You are the only one who seems to be of the "my party right or wrong" school, as every single time I have criticized the GOP you seem to rise to their defense, no matter the sin. You might recall that I spent several hundred words both praising and burying democrats at our c0nvention. So don'ty go off on half-cocked personal accusations about who is willing to be critical of self, critical of party, as well as critical of others. It's called integrity Steve. Don't impugn mine when your assertion is demonstrably wrong. Otherwise the only integrity that comes to accounting is yours.
dc
Stephen Tootle -
9/24/2004
I did have a funny typo in my original comment though: "Throughs" instead of "throws." That is right up there with one in my dissertation where I claimed journalists had been "eating their breasts." Not quite as good though.
Stephen Tootle -
9/24/2004
I should admit to one mistake. Based on the original op-ed, I guessed that that some security concern had prompted authorities to stop the registration. That was not the case. (see the article linked in the comment above)
Stephen Tootle -
9/24/2004
Holy smokes! Was someone prevented from registering to vote?
As for my evidence and accusation, the Meyerson piece did not contain any information that was not in the Mi Familia Vota press release. If he did any independent investigation, there is no evidence of it. That is the extent of my accusation. The op-ed and press release are my evidence. Also, I did a quick search for other news stories on the incident in question. I couldn't find much that wasn't based directly on the Mi Familia Vota press release. Granted, I didn't devote an afternoon to it, but I also did not conclude that "the Republican Party does not want newly naturalized Hispanic citizens to be able to register to vote."
I think your assertion is more serious, and your evidence less convincing. I suppose readers can make their own conclusions. Your evidence was an op-ed piece.
If this columnist is right, the story is more complicated than the press release let on, and it is hardly evidence of a vast Republican conspiracy to keep minorities from voting, as you asserted in your original post. Since I know that in a million years you would never admit that you jumped the gun on the story or made a mistake, I leave it to our readers to draw their own conclusions.
Derek Charles Catsam -
9/23/2004
But as for a substantial response: No, Homeland Security did not simply not want them to block the doors. They spent thousands of dollars in tax payer money to go to court to prevent the whole registration effort. Why?
Is it a stretch to consider that the GOP is hostile to minority voting rights/?I don't know. Which party has consistently tried to prvent recontinuation of the Voting Rights Act since 1980? Which party opposes the full rights of citizenship and Congressional representation to the (mostly black) citizens of Washington, DC? Which party stripped hundreds, perhaps thousandsa, of innocent people from the voter rolls in 2000 simply because of sloppy accounting with regard to former felons? Speaking of former felons, which party has taken over the old Southern democrats support of disfranchising prisoners, disporoportionately black, who have served their sentences? Why, consistently, is it the republican party that stands in the way of increasing the voter rolls for both minorities and others?
You can guess all you want the Homeland Security was the main concern -- God forbid we be critical of anyone as long as they invokle, however cynically, homeland security, even as it prevents people from registering to vote. Preventing people from registering to vote prevents them from voting. that is disfranchisement.
Further, if you have some evidence that Harold Meyerson (this is an op-ed piece, and not an investigative story -- Meyerson is not exactly an obscure figure, and as someone whose dissertation is on pundits, you surely know this) has not been folllowing this story, and that all he used was the Mi Familia Vota press release, I'd say that is a pretty serious accusation, one for which at the least you ought to proffer evidence.
I guess I should not be surprised that you are providing apologia for doing whatever it takes to keep folks from voting. I guess I just do not understand why. But buck up -- the Voting Rights Act will soon be up for renewal.
dc
Derek Charles Catsam -
9/23/2004
My ears hurt from the shrill response. They have valium in Colorado, right?
dc
Stephen Keith Tootle -
9/23/2004
I read the article. It looks like Homeland Security told the group that they could not block the doors. A judge settled it. It is a stretch to conclude "every single time issues of minority voting rights come up these days, it is the GOP that seems to be standing in the way." Catsam continues: "Of course it is not racism. Is it?" Well, is it? Mr. Catsam throughs the word out there, then backs off and claims it is just short term political considerations motivating the Republicans. Fine. But then, he inexplicably concludes that the Republican Party is not wooing minority voters. In fact, they are attempting to "disfranchise" them. That is, the Republicans are trying to take away minority voting rights.
I am guessing that Homeland Security had some kind of "homeland security" concern. The Washington Post article, by the way, parrots the press release of the group "Mi Familia Vota." It doesn't look like they did any independent investigation or reporting. I guess this is a "rationalization." It is probably "high-minded" as well, since the thin air of Colorado has left me unable to think or read properly.
