Solange Uwimana: WSJ Likens Actual Voting Rights Concerns To "Birther Fantasies"
For the past few months, just as many states across the country are passing voter ID laws, the Wall Street Journal has steadily denied that voter ID laws disproportionally affect minority, as well as elderly, voters. Never mind that according to New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, upwards of 5 million voters — mainly racial minorities, students, and seniors — would be impacted by these laws. But the Journal , along with other conservative media , continue to champion them. In articles and editorials, the Journal has made a habit of attacking Attorney General Eric Holder and his Justice Department for blocking these laws from being implemented in several states, claiming that Holder is “scaremongering” and playing “identity politics.” In yet another editorial, the Journal wrote of Holder: “It would take a distinctive kind of naivete to believe there is no voter fraud in America.” It also accused DOJ’s civil rights division of “massag[ing] the data” so “it can charge bias” in blocking Texas’ voter ID law. Today, the conservative paper continued the trend, alleging that Holder and President Obama are using their “political power” to scare African-American voters. According to the Journal , Holder and Obama’s voting rights concerns are nothing more than “racial incitement” and part of a “strategy” to re-elect Obama, adding: “And liberals think Donald Trump’s birther fantasies are offensive?” The editorial continued: For all of Mr. Obama’s attempts to portray Mitt Romney as out of touch, no one has suffered more in the Obama economy than minorities. Which explains Mr. Holder’s racial incitement strategy. If Mr. Obama is going to win those swing states again, he needs another burst of minority turnout. If hope won’t get them to vote for Mr. Obama again, then how about fear? The editorial went on to assert that a speech to black leaders at a summit of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Conference of National Black Churches about the importance of voting and the significance of new voter ID laws was Holder “using his considerable power to inflame racial antagonism”:
More:
Solange Uwimana: WSJ Likens Actual Voting Rights Concerns To "Birther Fantasies"