The Voting Rights Act and Deceitful Tactics

Hopefully, those stupid rumors that African Americans were in danger of losing their right to vote have now permanently been put to rest; or at least put away for the next 25 years.

Portions of the Voting Rights Act set to expire in 2007 were renewed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a 25-year extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which would preserve for another generation a law that opened voting booths to minorities.

Often described as the crown jewel of the civil rights era, the Voting Rights Act outlawed poll taxes, literacy tests and other obstacles that had prevented African Americans and other minorities from exercising their right to vote.

...Most of the act is permanent, but portions expire if not renewed periodically. The House vote was 390-33, and the Senate is expected to give the bill, backed by President George W. Bush, similar bipartisan support later this year.

To repeat, no minority group was about to lose the right to vote in 2007.

And that's not the result of today's vote.

The voting rights of African Americans are guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Voting Rights Act, and those guarantees are permanent and do not expire.

It was all a rumor. It was just scare tactics, skills that libs have perfected.

The right for African Americans to vote is PERMANENT. That right was NEVER in danger of expiring.

So why did some officials talk as if all the progress that's been made in the past 40+ years was about to be rolled back?

Simple.

It was an easy way to score political points.

During the debate and before the vote on the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, representatives were full of political posturing and full of themselves.

Gwen Moore's statement regarding the Voting Rights Act renewal is a case in point.

Moore made some remarks that were very appropriate. For instance, she said:

"Today, as we consider the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, let us reflect on our ancestors and those who dedicated their lives toward civil rights causes, such as Fannie Lou Hammer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King and her husband Dr. Martin Luther King."

Nothing wrong with that.

BUT--

Moore also said:

"The Voting Rights Act empowers us to confront the deceitful tactics used to undermine minority voters."

What?

What is she talking about?

What "deceitful tactics" have been used recently to "undermine minority voters"?

Is she referring to the rumors of problems in Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 2004?


I have no idea.

That sounds as baseless as the rumor that there was a plot to allow the Voting Rights Act to expire so that African Americans would no longer have the right to participate in elections -- a shameless race baiting tactic.

It's ridiculous.

I wonder.

Would Moore consider slashing the tires of vans rented by the Republican Party of Wisconsin to drive voters to the polls on election day a "deceitful tactic"?

I don't know if those vans were meant to transport minority voters, but that criminal damage to property certainly undermined efforts to get voters to the polls.

What is Moore thinking of when she says, "The Voting Rights Act empowers us to confront the deceitful tactics used to undermine minority voters"?

Is she referring to 40 years ago and prior to that, when African Americans' voting rights were severely restricted, particularly in the South?

Is she referring to alleged racial intimidation and voter suppression in Election 2000 or 2004?

If she's speaking of current times, and she certainly appears to be since she uses present tense, I'd like Moore to be specific. I'd like her to give concrete examples.

-- What "deceitful tactics" have been employed to undermine minority voters?

-- Where did those violations occur?

Could Moore be thinking of those paid Dem staffers slashing tires on Republican vans in Milwaukee?

Could she be thinking of Sowande Ajumoke Omokunde, AKA Supreme Solar Allah, AKA Gwen Moore's son?