Charlie Crist: “Including as many Americans as possible in our electoral process is the spirit of our country. It is why we have expanded rights to women and minorities but never legislated them away, and why we have lowered the voting age but never raised it. Cynical efforts at voter suppression are driven by an un-American desire to exclude as many people and silence as many voices as possible.”
Voter suppression is as close as you get in democratic politics to mortal sin. And it’s going to be one of the prime features of the 2012 election. It is shameful, cynical and frankly disgusting.
We’re under two weeks now until Curiosity makes its Aug. 6 Martian landing. Carl Franzen previews the mission, which begins with a pretty spectacular landing sequence.
The American hurdler Forrest Smithson competed with a Bible in hand during the 1908 London Olympics to protest having to race on a Sunday.
Of the many states who have this year pushed head first into the controversial ground of voter ID laws, Pennsylvania has — either by accident or intent — been fairly transparent about the fact that the law really isn’t about preventing in-person voter fraud.
Last month, the Pennsylvania House Majority Leader — a Republican — said of his legislature’s law: “Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”
But ahead of a trial over the law beginning today, state officials have made it abundantly clear: They’re not aware of any instances of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania, nor do they believe November’s elections would be at risk of in-person voter fraud without the law.
What does that leave? 750,000 registered Pennsylvania voters at risk of not being able to cast a ballot because of something the state admits isn’t even a problem.
Any doubt what this is about?
Renewed interest in Mitt Romney’s now-closed Swiss bank account has created a parlor game among experts and political junkies who would love to know why on Earth Romney had a Swiss bank account in the first place, and whether he paid taxes to the U.S. government on the money and interest in a timely manner.
Romney’s unwillingness to disclose more information about his finances has fueled speculation that Romney used the account to hide money from the IRS, and may have even had to avail himself of an amnesty program that allowed U.S. owners of certain Swiss bank accounts to come clean to the government without facing legal recriminations. (The Romney camp is now specifically denying that his UBS account was connected to the IRS investigation and the amnesty program.)
But even if Romney paid his taxes as required, the question becomes, Why would a person with national political ambitions open himself to the political risks associated with having a Swiss bank account in the first place? Read More
Today at around 2 p.m., the Congressional Budget Office will release two key reports: An updated projection of the Affordable Care Act’s budgetary effects, which will reflect the recent Supreme Court decision; and a mirror image analysis of the GOP’s latest effort to repeal the whole law.
Politically, and in budgetary terms, this could amount to very little. But CBO could also conclude that the Court’s decision — which essentially optionalized the ACA’s Medicaid expansion — makes the law much more expensive. Read More
Some helpful context from TPM Reader ZH …
I’m glad you’re hitting on this again — I thought there was some important context missing from the debate over Holder’s “controversial” poll-tax remarks.
Michael Brodkorb is suing the state of Minnesota for sex discrimination after being fired after it was discovered that he was having an affair with Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (R).
TPM’s Electoral Scoreboard moves to Obama 281, Romney 191, as Michigan moves from Toss-Up to Favors Obama.