Link.

Everyone has one, the South Carolina Representative says. This would make a real good t-shirt.

Latest at PJ Media Rule of Law:


Governor Bob McDonnell’s signing of the Virginia Voter ID bill yields a valuable lesson for Republicans working on voter integrity measures in the future: compromise cannot purchase peace from voter fraud deniers. McDonnell signed an extraordinarily timid Voter ID bill last week and then ordered the state board of elections to mail voter cards to every voter.

The cards, which do NOT contain photo identification, can be used in the polls instead of a photo ID. In other words, anyone who obtains one of the cards can still vote in the name of a dead voter. Consider the actions of Lafayette Keaton in Oregon for an example how this could work. Keaton is not the only person to have voted in the name of the dead. But mailing of the cards eliminates the argument that some voters will not have ID to use on election day, except it really doesn’t.

See, rational people presume mailing new cards to every voter solves the problem. But voter fraud deniers aren’t rational people. They fear that irresponsible voters will lose their card, that the disorganized and marginal will misplace their cards and be disenfranchised on election day. The voter fraud deniers use the lowest common denominator voter to argue that any given election integrity measure disenfranchises voters.

Most Republicans, rarely exposed to the deniers and activist groups like Project Vote, never encounter these extremist arguments. In other words, they underestimate the enemy. Like day follows night, McDonnell is now being criticized for signing the Voter ID bill.

Critics of the legislation expressed disappointment with McDonnell’s decision and took issue with the potential costs associated. “This bill will cost significant resources in training and administration for election officials,” said Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico. “In this economy, as we have too few dollars for education, public safety and transportation, we should not be wasting valued monies to suppress voting. This is now a costly boondoggle and an affront to Virginians and the Constitution.” Anna Scholl, executive director of ProgressVA, said Virginians’ constitutional rights “have been caught between Bob McDonnell’s allegiance to his right-wing allies and his vice presidential aspirations.”

Never mind that Donald McEachin led the charge to force Virginia into expensive special sessions just to redistribute committee chairmanships and is one of the biggest spenders in Richmond. He just doesn’t like spending money on election integrity. Wonder why? Scholl goes full-kook, calling the law a “voter suppression” measure. Make no mistake, the voter fraud deniers and election integrity opponents aren’t interested in compromise. They seek only victory. Victory means stopping every single proposal that involves ensuring lawful elections. No amount of compromise will ever satisfy them. They will still resort to attacks against proponents of election integrity who just finished compromising with them. Of course the formerly important NAACP is one of the groups fighting hard against election integrity. I detail their descent into racialist irrelevance in my book Injustice. I heard that the Governor feared an NAACP rally against him on the steps of the statehouse. These days, given how far the NAACP has fallen, Republicans couldn’t ask for better press. Nearly eighty percent of Americans agree with Voter ID and election integrity. It’s time the GOP start enthusiastically riding that tailwind. The next question is whether Virginia will now repeat the mistakes of Texas and South Carolina and offer up a sacrifice to Eric Holder’s DOJ instead of going straight to federal court for approval under the Voting Rights Act. Will Virginia Republicans underestimate their enemies and assume that no rational person would be against the Virginia law? Will Virginia Republicans underestimate the potential for mischief and lawlessless of the United States Department of Justice. Stay tuned.

The
Alabama House split along party lines Monday in approving new House
districts supported by a Republican majority aiming to increase its grip
on the Legislature.

“It’s almost like they are trying
to create a white GOP and a black Democratic Party,” Senate Minority
Leader Roger Bedford of Russellville said.

In the House, one black
Democrat, Rep. Barbara Boyd of Anniston, accused Republicans of “making
black districts blacker in order to get rid of white Democrats.”

“If you want this to go away,” says Corley — who doesn’t? — “you prosecute; you make some examples.”  Link to full story.

 Washington Times.

My latest at Breitbart.com about dead voters on the rolls and inaction by the DOJ.

Retired U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon gave a speech full of hyperbole and misstatements about the Voting Rights Act and the Supreme Court.  Birmingham News.

The Voting Rights Act, Clemon said, “has almost been interpreted out of existence.
“With the rise of the Rehnquist court, our wall against the flood became the flood itself. We have seen, in the past quarter century, civil rights on the scaffold.”

“Clemon also criticized the “racist laws” passed by Arizona and Alabama that target illegal i
immigration and the “rank and unprotected discrimination” that homosexuals are subject to.

After his remarks, Clemon, who stepped down in 2009 to pursue a private law practice with the firm White Arnold & Dowd, joked that he was happy to have his First Amendment Freedom of Speech back.

The ideological direction of the court contributed to his decision to step down, and the liberation that has come with it, to speak publicly and advocate for change, has made him feel joyful “like a newly-freed slave,” he said.

This is nonsense and Clemon needs to be called out.  Firstly, the Voting Rights Act has not even come close to being “interpreted out of existence.”  The jurisprudence surrounding Section 2, for example, is spot on and robust.  Section 5 of the Act is aggressive as it ever has been based on the 2006 reauthorization.  Section 4(e) remedies are being imposed where they probably shouldn’t.  I could go on and on. 

Federal Judges, even if retired, have an obligation to be measured and credible, not kooky and racially inciting.  U.W. Clemon fails the test and deserves national attention for this nonsense.

A wild Sunday.  The Drudge Report has linked to my PJ Media story on the Florida Voter rolls with this smiling face: