Just to follow-up on the previous post, at the Corner, Hans A. von Spakovsky explores the complexities and contradictions of Gov Bev Perdue (D-NC). As we mentioned previously, Perdue suggested at a Rotary lunchon that America should “suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years.” But that look at how she justified vetoing a voter-ID law just a couple of months ago:
Besides being anti-democratic, Perdue’s [suspend democracy] proposal is also quite ironic. At the end of June, Perdue issued a press release trying to justify her veto of a voter-ID bill passed by the state legislature. In it, she said that the “right to choose our leaders is among the most precious freedoms we have — both as Americans and North Carolinians. North Carolinians who are eligible to vote have a constitutionally guaranteed right to cast their ballots, and no one should put up obstacles to citizens exercising that right.” She also erroneously claimed that the bill would “unnecessarily and unfairly disenfranchise many eligible and legitimate voters.”
Contrary to Perdue’s mistaken claim, voter-ID requirements have been proven — in the courtroom and the polling place — to pose no obstacles to voting. The same cannot be said of suspending elections in violation of the Constitution. Talk about your insurmountable obstacle to Americans being able to “choose our leaders” and “exercising that right” to vote. And it wouldn’t just disenfranchise “many” voters, it would disenfranchise all voters.
Meanwhile at Newsbusters, Tom Blumer exchanges emails with the Raleigh News & Observer journalist who initially broke the story of Perdue’s anti-democratic remarks, but who seems surprisingly eager to defend them as the proverbial botched joke.
Well, maybe not too surprisingly after all we’ve seen over the past four years.
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