A big thanks to Brad Blog for this one. If you are not familiar with Brad Blog, it provides excellent coverage on voter issues, particular being a watchdog on those public officials and companies that are working against the voters through an assault on even their most basic voting rights.

In a recent post, they cover a talk given by US Attorney John Tanner, who is — get this — the Chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. This means that he is supposed to be insuring the rights of voters of color. Instead, he is actively working against them.

While addressing the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles, he offers an amazing rationale for requiring voter ID (which is likely a violation of the Voting Rights Act). According to Tanner, those most likely to be adversely affected by this requirement are elderly voters but, since minority voters don’t live that long, this wouldn’t be an issue for them. So, according to Tanner, this should work in favor of minorities.

No, I am not twisting his words, he actually stated this. To be precise, he stated the following:

“I think it’s probably true that among those who don’t, it’s primarily elderly persons. And that’s a shame…You know, creating problems for elderly persons just is not good under any circumstance.

Of course, that also ties in with a racial aspect, because our society is such that minorities don’t become elderly…the way that white people do. They die first.”

Well, you can hear/see it for yourself…

Popularity: 32% [?]

A few weeks back, I posted about U.S. Attorney John D.R. Atchison, who was arrested in a sting in which he tried, via the internet, to solicit sex with a 5-year-old girl from a detective posing as a mother. Atchison was arrested in Detroit Metropolitan Airport after flying from Pensacola, FL to meet up with the girl.

Today, it is being reported that Atchison has committed suicide. He had been in federal custody since the bust where he tried, once before, to kill himself.

Eerily enough, Atchison was a married father of three who coached girls’ softball and basketball. Transcipts of his conversations with the undercover detective indicate that this would not have been his first sexual encounter with underaged girls.

Popularity: 31% [?]

What would Republicans say if they heard this?:

“For them, the proposal to change the way California’s electoral college votes are awarded is more than a political strategy to retain the presidency. In important ways, it reflects the struggle of a muzzled political minority trying desperately to regain a voice and assert itself on such issues as immigration, gay rights, taxes, regulation and spending.”

If they weren’t careful, they might end up saying something bad about their own.

For longer than I care to remember, Republicans have mocked the notion of voter disenfranchisement when it came to poor and minority voters. Now, in one of the rare cases where they find themselves in the role of the voiceless, they cry foul.

Right now, in that state, a Republican measure to change how the state grants electoral votes, is on life support. As you are aware, if a presidential candidate wins a state’s popular votes, all electoral votes for that state go to the candidate. However, a measure has been proposed to break away from this method and to award electoral votes based on the winner of each congressional district.

So, why the push for the change? According to Republicans, they want the change because it’s not “fair” to them. Just check this out:

“If you want to talk about disenfranchised, the disenfranchised in California are Republicans,” said Ken Khachigian, longtime Republican strategist who’s worked the campaigns of eight GOP presidential candidates and was Ronald Reagan’s chief speechwriter. He doesn’t support the measure but he understands the frustration driving it.

“We don’t get to pass laws or stop bad regulations.” The Electoral College measure is one way to gain some clout and also undermine the opposition. And Republican activists immediately vowed to find new support and keep it alive - a testament to just how important the idea is to conservatives.

“Whether it takes this election or some future election,” said Ray Haynes, a former GOP assemblyman who first introduced the initiative in 2000, “it is a good idea. So if we don’t get it in 2008, it doesn’t matter. We’ll get it in 2012 or 2016.”

So, they are upset because they feel like they “don’t get a say”? Well, how about black folks in Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, etc. who also “don’t get a say” about who their states give their electoral votes to? Should they also push for similar measures? How much Republican opposition would occur in those states?

The fact is that they are trying to find a way, once again, to dilute minority votes. The Republican party faces a quandary of its own making. How does it retain power as a party for white males in the face of America’s demographic changes and a desire of many to steer away from bad policy the emanates from this group?

It’s as ironic as being locked away in the jail you built. If you, as a party, are “disenfranchised”, it’s because you and your policies drove the people away.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Here’s an ad playing on the Larry Craig scandal. It drives its point home with clarity (and it’s funny, too).

Popularity: 25% [?]