Democrats Standing Up To GOP Antics On Voting Rights Act

Democrats sent a loud and clear message to Republicans today:

Screw with the Voting Rights Act, and we’ll vote against it—and tell the world why.

This is in response to the four idiotic amendments—one by Louie Gohmert of Tyler—that I wrote about last night in my guest blog for DallasBlog.

Here’s what Nancy Pelosi had to say, via the Chron:

“Democrats would not be able to vote for the bill if any one of those amendments passes,” said Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. “Any one of them would be a weakening of the Voting Rights Act.”

The Chron claims that none of the four amendments is expected to pass. That’s not what the Washington Post was reporting last night, however. They noted that Gohmert’s amendment—which would limit the reauthorization period to 10 years instead of 25—was the most “popular” of the amendments. I suspect it was popular, however, only among Republicans who are looking for a way to reign in the radicals on their side.

Of course, GOP leaders seem to think that, any way you cut the cake, renewal of the VRA will help them look good to minorities—something they desparately need to do if they want to regain control of congress and mitigate damage caused by the immigration debate.

However, regardless of how this pans out, the Republicans will look less like the “Party of Lincoln” to minorities and more like the “Party of David Duke.” After all, their leadership wasn’t strong enough (or was totally unwilling) to put a stop to the VRA rebellion by their own ultra-conservative members.

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