While the Senate was approving a Republican bill to discourage voting by non-Republicans (minorities, the poor, the elderly), Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, was irked that Democratic opponents spoke frankly of the bill’s objectives. He said “I am offended when you insinuate that I want to suppress votes” by supporting the bill. But as the opponents pointed out, the kind of “voter fraud” the bill supposedly would prevent is already nonexistent. Republicans had no rebuttal.
Here is a problem for today’s Republicans. The party’s Taliban faction has so committed it to extreme partisanship and right-wing ideology that Republicans dare not reveal their real motives to average voters. When they sponsor legislation denying women dominion over their own bodies, they claim they are actually protecting women. This is a lie, and both the liars and the lied-to know it. When they oppose health care for the poor, even knowing that it’s morally correct and good for the local economy, they don’t admit that their opposition is based on their hatred of President Obama and their determination to keep him from achieving any of his goals. Well, the Republican leader of the U.S. Senate admitted it once — a rare moment of honesty — but he clammed up after the voters showed their disagreement.