"I don't think we have racial bias in Texas anymore."

[NoPasaran]

So says John Carter of Round Rock in this article from the Houston Chronicle about how Texas Rethugs are holding up renewal of the Voting Rights Act.

The actions of Texas Republicans are unlikely to cause them problems at the polls, said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University.

"Republicans in Texas recognize that they get elected on Anglo votes, a few Hispanic votes, and almost no black votes," he said.

[WestHoustonDem]

1. They've moved beyond hypocrisy to arrogance and hubris

:banghead:

[redqueen]

4. Seems to me they did that a while back,

and as time passes they get less and less hesitant to show that arrogance and hubris publicly.

[sonias]

2. So Carter is essentially saying we don't need them

All they have to do is continue to ignore the majority of Hispanic voters and all African-American voters and they still win. How about that? :mad:

Carter is an ass.

Sonia

[acmejack]

3. What they are saying is such a small % of these folks actually vote

that they don't matter! We need to make them rue the day they ever dared open their bigoted mouths. We need to do some really serious GOTV work this year in the districts that have been showing up with 1%-2% participation. We know which districts they are and they are solidly OUR districts if they choose to participate in the process, if-and it's a big if-we can get those voters interested in the process, registered & to the polls on election day.

[sonias]

5. good article from TomPaine.com

TomPaine.com article
Jim Crow GOP
What’s a bigger problem with American elections: disenfranchisement of minority voters or new electronic voting machines stealing votes?

Most people on the political left will answer electronic machines. But on Wednesday, House Republicans showed America exactly why old-school election thuggery is a far more pressing problem. In fact, it was Jim Crow tactics, not computer hacking, which gave George W. Bush his Ohio victory in 2004. And such tactics are exactly what a handful of southern GOP congressmen defended on Wednesday when they derailed renewing the National Voting Rights Act, complaining it does not end federal oversight of elections in their states and requires multilingual ballots.

These Republicans want elections in their states to return to the good old days, when mostly white people voted—just substitute registered Republicans in 2006—and ballots were only in English—no Español, por favor. Their grassroots rebellion reveals a dirty secret about elections that liberals and Democrats still haven’t learned from the 2004 presidential race: The GOP wins elections by targeting likely Democrats, especially minorities and new voters, by creating barriers in voter registration and obstacles to voting itself and ballot counting.

What’s the biggest mistake made by the political left when considering whether the 2004 presidential election was stolen? Democrats need to understand that if they don’t want a replay of swing states like Ohio tilting the outcome in 2008, they can't think that electronically hacking into vote-counting computers alone delivered George W. Bush his victory. A Republican do-everything-dirty strategy tilting the electoral process was the real culprit—targeting every phase from voter registration to vote counting. Perhaps Wednesday’s racist display by the House GOP will change minds. Perhaps we will realize that we need to expand the Voting Rights Act to ensure protections in every state, not just the South.

So it's not just the machines, but a full GOP thuggery on all fronts. :mad:

Sonia

[acmejack]

6. Perhaps we can get someone like Charlie Baird to give us a seminar

on "Challenging the challengers" and we can have our own Poll Watchers to counter the GOP pressure at the polls. I really do hate to get confrontational (choke) but if that's the way it's gotta be...

[sonias]

7. Quote of the Week - Austin Chronicle 6/22

Naked City Column
"Black Americans were not only the founders but also the backbone and strength of the Texas Republican Party. … Texas Republicans have a rich heritage of diversity, and that diversity continues today."
– A Juneteenth statement from the Texas GOP, showing mastery of the party's Reconstruction-era history but some fuzziness on more recent events.

And that fuzziness would of course include derailing the Voting Rights Act renewal just this week by the southern republican confederacy. :nuke:

Sonia

[rucky]

8. "...so we may as well act against civil rights protections."

:puke:

[IndyOp]

9. So said the white middle-to-upper class male. (nt)

[unblock]

10. yeah, racism's only a problem for blacks & hispanics and they don't count

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[roguevalley]

11. Just when you thought they couldn't be worse, this happens. I am

beyond the pale.

[sonias]

12. TDP Press Release

Democrats Call on Republicans to End Their
Attack on the Voting Rights Act
TDP Chair Joins African American and Hispanic Leaders to Call for
Immediate VRA Renewal

In their desperate and cynical attempt to preserve a partisan Republican majority in Washington and Austin, Texas Republican Members of Congress are once again using their most recent wedge issue - immigration - to hold up and gut the extension of the Voting Rights Act. According to reports in today's Dallas Morning News, "a unified Texas Republican delegation" is working to stall renewal of the Voting Rights Act.

"Yesterday's action by Texas Republicans makes it clear that nothing is sacred in their thirst for power, including the most precious right in our democracy - the right to vote," said Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie.

In today's Houston Chronicle (6-22-06) , Congressman John Carter (R-Round Rock), said: "I simply believe you should be able to read, write and speak English to be a voter in the United States," Carter said. "I don't think we have racial bias in Texas anymore."

"In 2006, a majority of Texans are people of color who pay taxes and raise families in every Texas community, yet when a Member of Congress makes a comment that sounds like a call for a literacy test, one has to wonder if the days of Jim Crow and the segregated South are really over," said State Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston).

The Democratic leaders noted that many Texas voters require assistance to read voting instructions and understand and new voting systems, adding that their Voting Rights protections should not be held hostage to an extreme immigration agenda that has nothing to do with the right of citizens to vote.

"Spanish is the first language for thousands of Texas veterans who fought for and served our country as valiantly as any Republican congressman," observed State Rep. Richard Raymond (D-Laredo). "These Spanish speaking Texans have worked hard, raised families and paid taxes all their lives, and we will not allow Congressman John Carter, who never fought for our country, to threaten the right of any citizen to vote."

"We understand the Republicans' desire to distract attention from their record of corruption and failure, but it is disgraceful to see a political party use the politics of fear and hatred to advance an agenda that would deny any citizen's right to vote," Richie said. "We call on the Republican leadership to renew the Voting Rights Act, with full protections, immediately."


June 16, 2006

The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert- Speaker
The Honorable John Boehner - Majority Leader

Dear Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Boehner:

I write to express my strong support of H.R. 9, The Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 and to urge that this legislation be brought to the House floor for a vote expeditiously without harmful amendments.

The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is considered by many to be our nation's most effective civil rights law. In the 41 years since its initial passage, the VRA has enfranchised millions of racial, ethnic and language minority citizens by breaking down barriers to their political participation. Undoubtedly, our nation has come a long way since the Act's original enactment in 1965 and since its most recent major reauthorization in 1982. However, the evidence is clear that covered jurisdictions continue to attempt to implement discriminatory electoral procedures on matters such as methods of election, annexations, and polling place changes.

One recent example illustrating the continuing need for the VRA comes from Waller County, Texas. In 2004, the criminal district attorney threatened the predominantly African American Prairie View A&M student body with felony prosecution for illegal voting if students voted in the upcoming election. Almost five weeks before election day, the university chapter of the NAACP and five students sued the district attorney for violating the VRA. The district attorney shortly thereafter backed down.

However, the issue did not end there. Less than one week after the lawsuit was filed, and a month before the election, the Waller County Commissioner's Court voted to reduce the availability of early voting at the polling place closest to campus, from 17 hours over two days to six hours in one day. This was particularly significant because the students would be on spring break on the day of the primary election. A VRA Section 5 enforcement action was filed by the student NAACP chapter to prevent Waller County from implementing this change without Section 5 preclearance. Subsequently, county officials abandoned the change and restored the additional eleven hours of early voting.

In August 2003, weeks before a September election, Bexar County, Texas, attempted to eliminate five early polling places that serve predominantly Latino neighborhoods. Without the VRA, this act would have left many Latino voters without convenient access to the polls.

Prairie View and Bexar County are not isolated examples. A recent study by the National Commission on the Voting Rights Act reports that exclusionary tactics continue to be employed with the same frequency as they were before 1982. In fact, the Department of Justice has interposed more objections to voting changes since 1982 (606) than it did in the years between 1965 and 1982 (475).

Despite the ongoing discrimination minority voters face, some members of Congress want to weaken or get rid of the VRA's most important provisions, making it easier to silence the voices of minority voters. This unfair assault on the right of citizens to vote is both undemocratic and un-American. We must not let the voices of indifference turn back the clock on the progress we have made.

Congress must renew all of the expiring sections of the VRA and restore the law's original intent without making changes that would weaken or compromise the effectiveness of the Act. This is the only way to ensure that all Americans are able to have their voices heard and their votes counted. Again, I urge you to use your leadership positions to bring H.R. 9 to the House floor as soon as possible and to ensure that H.R. 9 passes without amendment.


Sincerely,
Rodney Ellis
(TX State Senator)

[sonias]

13. Carter's embarrassing tirade

Carter's embarrassing tirade helps stop an important law
Austin American Statesman - EDITORIAL BOARD
Monday, June 26, 2006

Texas Republican congressional leaders should take a closer look at their state and history. If they did, they might not blurt out embarrassing comments like those uttered in Congress last week.

The historically illiterate griping stopped cold a vote to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act for another 25 years. That's unfortunate on a number of fronts, but especially considering that the bill enjoyed support of the Democratic and Republican leadership, as well as the White House. Both parties understood that voting rights are fundamental to our democracy. That law guarantees those rights are protected.

The bill had passed a key GOP-controlled House committee, 33 to 1. It was clear sailing until John Carter, R-Round Rock, and some other GOP leaders tried to gut the bill. Carter and company objected to a requirement that Texas and some other Southern states get clearance from the Justice Department or a federal court before making changes to voting standards or procedures. Texas lawmakers also objected to the law's requirement that jurisdictions print ballots in other languages if 5 percent or more of their voting-age populations have limited English skills.

Eye on Williamson excellent recap of the Texas racial voting problems.
http://eyeonwilliamson.org/?p=299#more-299

Sonia

[ceile]

14. TX is a minority-majority state now.

And he objects to:"... the law's requirement that jurisdictions print ballots in other languages if 5 percent or more of their voting-age populations have limited English skills." Get over it or get out. ugh!

[sonias]

15. It's all about thuggery and controlling the polls

republicans only want people who look and think like them to vote. The jerk does have a very good opponent in Mary Beth Harrell.
http://marybethharrellforcongress.com/html/

Sonia