Union Leader Factual? Not Even Close

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.