An editorial in today’s New Hampshire Union Leader, “Jim Crow? Not Even Close,” blasted former President Bill Clinton for comparing New Hampshire’s voter photo ID bill to Jim Crow laws.
Legislators finally passed a voter ID bill this session, only to have Gov. John Lynch veto it. This week former President Bill Clinton compared it to Jim Crow laws. We suppose that as long as you’re going to make up stuff to discredit the opposition, you might as well go all in.
There’s only one problem with that claim, well, two actually.
1. The New Hampshire legislation that Clinton included as an example of the “disciplined, passionate, determined effort of Republican governors and legislators” to disenfranchise voters was the legislature’s attempt to prevent college students from voting in the town where they live while attending school — not the voter photo ID bill.
2. Clinton didn’t compare the new wave of restrictive voter legislation to Jim Crow laws, he said it represents the most determined effort to limit voting since the end of the Jim Crow era. That’s a very different claim — and one that’s hard to dispute.
The video makes all this clear. But hey, let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good story. As Sarah Palin would say, it’s just the lamestream media makin’ stuff up.
Last week, former President Bill Clinton referred to attempts by the New Hampshire legislature to pass new voter restrictions as part of the most “disciplined, passionate, determined effort” to disenfranchise voters since Jim Crow.
“[O]ne of the most pervasive political movements going on outside Washington today is the disciplined, passionate, determined effort of Republican governors and legislators to keep most of you from voting next time. There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the other Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today.
“Why has New Hampshire [tried to] made it almost impossible for college students who come from other states but live in New Hampshire most of the year to vote there? Why is all this going on? This is not rocket science. They are trying to make the 2012 electorate look more like the 2010 electorate than the 2008 electorate.”
CORRECTION: Due to sloppy research by our interns, the authors would like to clarify a couple of points. It turns out that all news reports cited above were not published in the last ten days, but right after the 1994 Republican midterm landslide. Every time “Barack Obama” appears in print, you should substitute “Bill Clinton”. The acronym “OTB” actually stands for “One-Term Bill” not “One-Term Barack”.
WARNING: READERS ARE NOW ENTERING “THE IRONY ZONE”
Former President Bill Clinton will be in Nashua Sunday for a Get Out the Vote campaign rally with Gov. John Lynch. Clinton has had a unique relationship with the Granite State since his come-from-behind near-win in the 1992 New Hampshire primary and remains enormously popular.
The “Moving New Hampshire Forward” rally will be held at the Nashua Community College gymnasium. Doors open at 12:30 pm and close at 1:30 pm. Tickets for the free event can be obtained by calling 603-225-6899 or sending an email to gotvrally@nhdp.org.
“When something is really important to us – like football – we care about the facts. … If ever there was an example of not watching the game film, this is it. The game film shows the facts.”
—Former President Bill Clinton, reminding voters that they should hold Republicans accountable for their role in the budget deficit and the country’s economic condition — as only he can.
Former President Bill Clinton frames the upcoming election as only he can:
I believe the president and the Congress have done better than the American people think. I’m not upset that they are not getting credit for it because Democrats get hired when the country is messed up and people hire us to fix things. People don’t feel better. They don’t feel things fixed. So it’s OK they are not getting credit for it.
But what the American people need to do is to do what’s best for themselves and their family. The only things that really matter are: what are we going to do now? And once you settle on that, who is more likely to do it? If the election is about that, I think we’ll do fine.
But the Republicans have been really very straightforward in what they want to do. It’s not just repeal health care. They want to repeal the student loan reform. They want to repeal the financial oversight. They want to move toward privatizing Social Security and Medicare. They want to do, in short, what they’ve wanted to do for 30 years.
I think what the Democrats need to say is: ‘we share your anger, we honor your anger. … But give us enough time to get out of the hole and move America forward,’ and then say what you’re going to do. I think that’s the main chance they’ve got to make this a good election.
Former President Bill Clinton will be in Nashua Sunday for a Get Out the Vote campaign rally with Gov. John Lynch. Clinton has had a unique relationship with the Granite State since his come-from-behind near-win in the 1992 New Hampshire primary and remains enormously popular.
