Courtesy of Raw Story:
Powell told CBS host Bob Schieffer that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn part of the Voting Rights Act had been followed by states “putting in place procedures and new legislation that in some ways makes it a little bit harder to vote, you need a photo ID.”
“And they claim there is widespread abuse and voter fraud, but nothing documented, nothing substantiates that,” he pointed out. “There isn’t widespread abuse. And so these kinds of procedures that are being put in place to slow the process down and make it likely that fewer Hispanics and African-Americans might vote, I think, are going to backfire because these people are going to come out and do what they have to do in order to vote. And I encourage that.”
Powell added that he wanted to give Republicans the benefit of the doubt that they wanted to improve the voting system, “but when they start to say, let’s restrict the number of voting hours or make it harder for students to vote, then I have to get a little bit suspicious of it.”
“Here’s what I say to my Republican friends: The country is becoming more diverse. Asian-American, Hispanic-Americans and African-Americans are going to constitute a majority of the population in another generation. You say you want to reach out, you say you want to have a new message, you say you want to see if you can bring some of these voters to the Republican side. This is not the way to do it.”
“The way to do it is to make it easier for them to vote,” Powell insisted. “And then give them something to vote for that they can believe in. It’s not enough just to say, we have to have a new message. We have to have a new substance to that new message.”
I think Colin Powell is making sense in one respect and that is the fact that attempting to suppress the vote is going to bite the GOP right on the ass.
However I don't think they have another play.
The only other option they have is to fundamentally change the party, and try to attract a different demographic of voters.
But if they start supporting immigration reform, in order to reach out to Hispanics, they lose the racists. If they stop trying to restrict abortion by passing draconian laws, in order to attract more women, they lose the Evangelicals. And if they start talking about implementing a reasonable tax plan, in order to attract more moderates, they lose their big business donors, and then they essentially cease to exist.
As jaded as it sounds, there may be no way for the Republicans to compete in the upcoming elections cycles, that is NOT underhanded and nefarious.
I'm just saying.
Oh, but there is a way for Repugs to compete, and compete for the foreseeable future. They have so gerrymandered state legislatures where they are currently in the majority that many, many U.S. House of Representatives seats will remain safely in Repug hands even as the voter landscape changes.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention, if Obama takes this country back to war, the repugs will suddenly become the party of peace, and that will decimate the Dems next election.
Decimate the Dems next election? Where'd you get your crystal ball?
DeleteYou don't think the Repugs will suddenly become the Peace Party if Obama initiates a military action in Syria, 5:14? You hardly need a crystal ball to predict that they will make successful political hay out of Bomber Obama. It's as predictable as clockwork.
DeletePeople do NOT want war with Syria. If Obama acts against that reality, he will be dooming his presidency and handing the next round of elections to the Repugs as surely as Bush handed them to the Dems in 2006.
Again, no crystal ball necessary.
"But if they start supporting immigration reform, in order to reach out to Hispanics, they lose the racists. If they stop trying to restrict abortion by passing draconian laws, in order to attract more women, they lose the Evangelicals. And if they start talking about implementing a reasonable tax plan, in order to attract more moderates, they lose their big business donors, and then they essentially cease to exist."
ReplyDeleteThe intelligent thing to do is to actually DO what you suggest in this quote: support immigration reform; quit trying to alienate the females with their old testament draconian measures; ignore the racists; revamp the tax code.
By ignoring them and actually working toward making this country once again the greatest in the world by once again doing things that emphasize our espoused ideals we might actually get some GOOD things done. Sure, they won't get anyone into the presidency or control Congress for a while, but that's what happens when your lying comes back to bite you in the ass.
It will take time and honest effort for them to reclaim any high ground. The racists will slowly disappear. The extremists in the religious right will fade away. The liars like SP will be shut down. Etc., Etc.
People like Collin Powell are OLD SCHOOL republicans who have their heads in the sun instead of up their, well, you know. Putting people like him back in control will bring them back, but only after having EARNED it.
But that takes intelligence - something the repubes seem to have in short supply right now.
I can agree with a lot of what you say, but Americans need to let go of this idea that we are the greatest country in the world. It is insulting to other countries for one thing - it's one of the reasons we are so disliked by much of the world. Other people love their countries just as much as we love ours and we have no reason to expect anyone else to just accept our putting ourselves above them. Everyone respects our military strength; not everyone respects our hubris.
DeleteFor another thing, it's just not true. We spy on everyone, detain people without cause, have a truly shameful incarceration system and rank second to Saudi Arabia in executions. We have condoned torture while denying it even exists. We have more nuclear weapons than the rest of the world and have a history of using them. Don't expect the rest of the world to just jump on your bandwagon of American Exceptionalism. Really, sometimes we're just not that nice.
We would do much better if we accepted our country as just one of many other countries who have just as much right to be on this planet as we do, treating others with equality rather than superiority and stop expecting them to see the profound wisdom in every military incursion we inflict upon them because we know better than they do - what with us being the greatest country in the world and all.
7:50 -
DeleteThere is a big difference between being proud of your country and being arrogant. Every country has something that makes it special.
We need to acknowledge that, as a country, we have many faults but, hopefully, we will always strive to improve the lives of our citizens and how we treat people around the world.
anons @ 7:50 and 9:20: I absolutely agree with you both, and I thank you for voicing this.
DeleteI live in a state that encourages voting!
ReplyDeleteBut I'd give money to get-out-the-vote, voter registration, in states far away,
and, if I could swing it, I'd go to those states and canvass, door to door, to show people how to register.
The Republicans are betting that the people they strike off the list won't know how to get back on. That's where we need to step in and make these complicated regulations simple for those who may not have cars, who have to work two jobs, who don't understand what their legislators have done.
Then -- a supreme get-out-the-vote drive on Election Day, to make sure that everyone who wants to vote can and will.
If they put Sarah inside one of the cruise missiles I can support this. Otherwise I am totally against any strike.
ReplyDeleteI generally like Colin Powell despite his unfortunate and ill-choice of party affiliation. But, there is a missing part here - YEs, it will work for some voters - Powell, in his affluence doesn't realize that these are REAL impediments to many potential voters.
ReplyDeleteGetting a state ID can be a difficult process for non-drivers and those not normally committed to voting. There is also the turn off of having to deal with the govt. Many decades ago, this would have kept me from voting - why? Anybody else remember the days of driving on a ticket? If you had a traffic top, they would literally take your license and if you got stopped for something else, you would present the ticket. For someone living paycheck to paycheck or not being able to take time off to go to court to fight it - ahhh yeah - drove on that ticket for quite a while and even had one arrest warrant out for non-appearance. I wasn't criminal, just a kid (one ticket was for going 33 in a 25 mph zone, another for driving on an expired plate (waiting fro boss who didn't want to pay me to cough up the cash.)
See how this works?
On the other hand I think Powell is missing the part that says it will so INFURIATE many minority voters that many more will not only jump through these hoops, but encourage and enable friends to do so - many small voter drives with massive results, as grannies and gramps force or bribe their otherwise apathetic kids to register and vote. Grandmas fried chicken, homemade tamales and potstickers have a mesmerizing, coercive effect., as did kolaczki in my youth.
@ 5:30 a.m.hell, they could drop her safely with a parachute - oops, can't do that, with all her vitriol it'd be a chemical attack.
ReplyDeleteWe must MAKE it backfire.
ReplyDelete@5:30
ReplyDeleteUm, are you meaning you are against the potential attack on Syria? if so, that was the PREVIOUS entry Gryphen made.
Sorry.
(Have to say I completely agree with your idea, though!)
OT, sorry I just had to post this link. Meeting an old friend and her husband for dinner tonight. I don't know him well but I know he's kind of a right winger so I wanted to prep myself for polite conversation and I found this. Read the first answer. LOL
ReplyDeletehttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090701215921AAeTv4p
There is every reason to be suspicious of McCrory, Berger, Tillis an dPope. They are ushering us into a sinkhole.
ReplyDeleteThree NSA Headlines, Three Unforgivably Misleading Claims
ReplyDeleteThe reporters and articles orbiting the Snowden/NSA story are trying to con us. They’re grifters in pursuit of traffic, market share and, in a few cases, a fringe burn-down-the-village-in-order-to-save-it political agenda. Exposing the cavalcade of misleading claims isn’t commensurate with defending NSA, it’s about distinguishing between what’s real and what’s false. It’s about exposing the rigged debate.
Anyone who willingly aligns with journalistic con men, knowing the articles are shoddy, if not entirely misleading, are forfeiting their place at the grown-ups’ table.
If you need more evidence of the scam, here are three NSA headlines from the last few days. Any rational, reasonable person would deduct that these headlines flagrantly misrepresent the facts.
http://thedailybanter.com/2013/08/three-nsa-headlines-three-unforgivably-misleading-claims/
Another Day Brings More Lies From Glenn Greenwald
Delete...There’s no other way to describe this: it’s a bald-faced lie. Greenwald knows that David Miranda was given a lawyer during his detention, yet he makes absolutely no mention of this fact, and instead states once again that Miranda was “denied the right to a lawyer.”
This is false, folks. It’s an outright lie. If you wonder why I seem so critical of Glenn Greenwald, look no further than lies like this one. He knows his story sounds much more dramatic if he obfuscates about this issue, so that’s what he’s doing. He’s playing the left.
The theme of the interview, by the way, is Greenwald’s incredibly, wondrous bravery, and how he’s not going to be intimidated by the evil US government. And boy, does he ever think the US is evil. How evil?
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/42443_Another_Day_Brings_More_Lies_From_Glenn_Greenwald
"Here’s what I say to my Republican friends.." With all due respect, Colonel Powell, they're NOT "Republicans" the way you're using the word, and they sure as hell aren't your "friends".
ReplyDeleteI and many others busted our asses these past two elections to stop Governor Corbett (R TB), PA. to rescind the voter id laws in Pennsylvania, other Republican states, governors as well, AND took countless elderly people of all races to get their non driver photo i.d.'s in case it passed. We had hours and days cut..etc. Octogenarians who had to find their birth certificates and other id needed to get the photo ID. Can't count how many apoplectic panicked elderly people who feared they couldn't vote for the first time in their lives.
Yeah, we've progressed, but not enough by a long shot. I respect this man so very much, but it's beyond me why he remains a Republican, especially after he allowed himself and his reputation to be abused by the previous administration.
If enough time is given, I don't have a problem with it. Minorities, and everyone else (male) had to register for the draft. Social security doesn't mail checks, but directly deposits, and you have to have picture ID to get a bank account. To get any kind of medical procedure you have to show picture ID, and with the institution of ACA, the purpose was to provide healthcare to all, with no thought to helping get IDs... besides: if there I'd an election in which everyone has to show IDs, there'll be a lot less talk about fraudulent practices, simply because a person can't say that they are Mickey Mouse, or go from district to district, as they are accusing currently.
ReplyDelete