Sen. John Cornyn accused Attorney General Eric Holder of “playing to the lowest form of identity politics” in his address to the NAACP in the senator’s home state on Tuesday.
Holder defended the Justice Department’s fight against Texas’ voter ID law, saying “we will not allow political pretexts to disenfranchise American citizens of their most precious right.”
“Under the proposed law, concealed handgun licenses would be acceptable forms of photo ID, but student IDs would not,” Holder said. “Many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them, and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. We call those poll taxes.”
“I’m sorry to say that his remarks were completely inappropriate and misleading,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor today.
“He once again defamed my state, and our state legislature, by equating our common sense voter I.D. law with a poll tax. By invoking the specter of Jim Crow racism, the Attorney General is playing the lowest form of identity politics.”
“Mr. Holder knows better,” Cornyn added. “His rhetoric is irresponsible and a disgrace to the office of the Attorney General. Shame on him.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0vIKht1-y0
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