I don’t have time today to thoroughly debunk all the reprehensible, anti-democratic, anti-American horseshit hurled by this FL State Rep. Dennis Baxley — the original sponsor of Florida’s new voter suppression laws, limiting early voting hours and imposing new big government regulations and huge fines against voter registration workers — as seen in the following interview on Al Sharpton’s Politics Nation show on MSNBC this week.
Fortunately, most readers of The BRAD BLOG will be able to smell the bullshit of the smirking, democracy-hating Baxley a mile away even without my point-by-point rebuttal. So I’ll just run the video here for now without much comment, as it needs to be seen to be believed.
Near the front of the interview, Baxley admits that there’s been no voter fraud problem in FL, and by the end he’s charging (without a stitch of evidence, naturally) that the non-partisan League of Women Voters, who have been registering voters in the Sunshine State for some 72 years — but who have now canceled their registration program for 2012 thanks to the onerous new GOP restrictions and fines on registration workers — is actually a partisan Democratic organization! Who knew?
My loathing towards those who knowingly undermine American democracy is difficult to contain. So consider my restraint today an undeserved favor to you this afternoon, Mr. Baxley.
Oh, and for good measure, here’s some info on some Florida school teachers recently arrested and/or charged for registering students to vote in apparent violation of Baxley’s new anti-voting laws!
One thing I’m happy to see this year at least: MSNBC has been covering the GOP War on Voting — at least the front-end war, the part in which Republicans are trying to keep millions of legal voters from being able to cast their legal vote at all — very well this cycle, on many of their shows. Hopefully they’ll soon begin covering concerns about the accuracy and transparency of the vote count itself, at least the vote counts of those who find themselves able to cast a vote in 2012, in any case.
If you’d like more details on the above…Earlier on the same show, Deirdre Macnab, President of the non-partisan LWV Florida, explained to Sharpton why they’ve been forced to stop their registration program in Florida after 72 years. As they note on their web page where the interview is posted…
That much shorter interview follows below…
Saw this great quote in an excellent commondreams article the other day that applies here–
“I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.” –Mark Twain
John Nichols connects Kochs with ALEC, which probably isn’t news here. But I must ask him about the big push Democrats gave ACORN in throwing it under the bus and wonder how complicit they are in promoting ALEC’s goals.
Re Karlof1 @2:
See, Video Exposes Koch Brothers’ Role In Spate of GOP Voter Suppression Laws.
Dems were not the source of the ACORN smear, but they displayed the spinelessness that typifies the corporate sector of the Democratic Party whenever faced with the hard-right noise machine. They were complicit in throwing ACORN under the bus.
However, ALEC appears to be exclusively the product of right-wing billionaire sociopaths and their GOP lap dogs.
There have been a few cases in which Dems have fallen for the “Big Lie” (voter fraud), resulting in passage of polling place photo ID restrictions, but, in the main, the responsibility for the spate of voter suppression laws is to be found with the GOP.
Brad – your spam filters hate me, I guess. It was no big thing. Keep up the fine work!
Did you receive my note from a different email address? (I sent in reply to your above comment, and to your purchase of ImaginePolitik.)
please do a point by point rebuttal. Id really like to read that.
I know Marion County, FL well. It is quite a repressive place on many levels. It is statistically one of the highest counties in Florida for domestic violence and suicide. There are those, however, who are working to make it a better place.
Addendum: Baxley is from Ocala/Marion County.
We’ve got to keep up the fight against these crazy GOTEA bags!!!
I watched Baxley’s interview on Rev. Al’s “Politics Nation” the other night.
One thing that really got me, (and I’m surprised Al missed it) was when Baxley said, “We want to make sure the results come out right.”
Now what exactly do you think that means?
Brad A.
The Baxley mind is infested with the toxins of power that are spreading.
After viewing the videos above with the Rev. Al Sharpton, I am alarmed to realize that a photo ID, required to cast a ballot to vote, that costs money is equivalent to a poll tax!!!!