Saturday, July 17, 2021

Sorry, Mr. President: The ‘fight’ for voter rights is nothing like the Civil War

Rich Lowry   "If this is Joe Biden when he’s forceful and passionate, the country is better off with the passive and detached version. 

"The president gave a thunderous address in Philadelphia on Tuesday denouncing alleged Republican voter suppression. Playing on the darkest fears of Democrats and layering on the adjectival overkill, Biden blatantly distorted Republican state-level election laws in a frankly demagogic speech.

"Biden rightly excoriated former President Donald Trump, if not by name, for his conduct since the election. But he also lashed the Republican election bills. The approach seems designed to mirror Trump’s effort to undermine his side’s faith in the electoral process with a countervailing effort to undermine Biden’s own side’s faith in the electoral process.

"Indeed, if Democrats lose in 2022 or 2024, Biden’s speech may be seen by Democrats as providing an equally corrosive excuse: It was Republican voter suppression.

"According to Biden, the GOP election rules are one of the most grievous affronts to our democratic rights ever. “The 21st-century Jim Crow assault is real,” he said. “It’s unrelenting, and we’re going to challenge it vigorously.”

"He called this push “the most serious test of our democracy since the Civil War,” making sure to note that the statement wasn’t hyperbole, even though it’s hard to imagine a more hyperbolic assertion." . . .  More

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