Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Republicans' strategy: Suppress the vote and frighten the people

According to an article in the New York Times, Republicans nationwide seem to have found their campaign theme:   be very afraid for our safety.   It's being sounded in campaigns across the country, ballyhooed on Fox News and talk radio, and splashed across tv screens with ads paid for by secret funds and SuperPacs, much of it from the Koch Brothers.

Images of masked terrorists all in black with automatic rifles or knives for beheadings.  Images of people dying of Ebola virus.   Claims that ISIS terrorists are streaming across our Southern border and infiltrating the country.

Their message is:   Obama cannot protect you from these dangerous forces.

That's the message.  Add to that the methods of voter suppression.   From voter ID laws and limitations on voting times and places to foot-dragging in processing the floods of new registrations that Democrats have been collecting in their drives to register new voters, Republicans in control of state governments have been suspiciously slow at processing them.

For example, here in Georgia, the Secretary of State, who himself is up for re-election in a surprisingly close race -- and as a Republican likely to benefit himself from keeping out new voters -- has not given any satisfactory answer to why 40,000 registration forms submitted by the New Georgia project have not yet shown up on the voter lists.

There is good evidence to show that a group backed by the Koch Brothers has sent out incorrect information to voters in North Carolina about registration deadlines and about voting places, etc.     Beyond trying to buy the election with wealthy, right-wing donor money, this actually constitutes trying to steal the election.

Honestly, I would be ashamed to belong to a party that saw no way to win except to suppress the vote and foment fear -- plus outright lying and election fraud.

Ralph

No comments:

Post a Comment