WASHINGTON - The House abruptly dropped plans Wednesday to vote on a renewal of the Voting Rights Act, a seminal law from the civil rights era, after criticism from Republican lawmakers from Texas. A bill to extend the law for 25 years has support from the White House, top legislative leaders of both parties and a key, GOP-controlled committee that passed it 33 to 1. But the bill was delayed after objections from the Texas lawmakers to the requirement that the state must get permission, or “preclearance,” from the Justice Department or a federal court before making changes to voting standards, practices or procedures.
Greetings from The Shining City on the Hill, otherwise known as Paradise on Earth, where never is heard a discouraging word, and…well, you know the rest of it, right? The good news is that, if you believe Texas Republicans, there is no longer any racial discrimination here in the Great State of Texas (apparently, demonizing homosexuals and convincing Texans to vote to outlaw Gay Marriage doesn’t count as discrimination, because…well, because they’re not real people). We Love Everyone, and Everyone Loves Us (as long as they look, act, and believe like us). Yessirree, we live smack in the middle of what might as well just be one big #@$%!^& group hug- as long as you’re rich, White, Christian, and Republican.
That Texas’ Republican Congressional Delegation would seriously seek to block renewal of the Voting Rights Act because Texas is now some sort of racially harmonious Paradise is the height of absurdity. All you have to do is to listen to these folks spout of on immigration to know tha Republicans in this state still fear and despise Brown People. It’s OK if they mow our lawns and pick up our garbage, but if they expect to actually be treated as full members of White Society…well, nice try and go back to your barrios and colonias, willya?
“I don’t think we have racial bias in Texas anymore,” said Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock.
(Uh, right…and God is the Chairman of the Texas Republican Party, eh?)
“It would be dumb to discriminate,” said Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio. “That is the last thing anyone is trying to do.”
Man, I had NO idea that being a Republican in Texas meant having to engage in such willing disregard of the blindingly obvious. No, this isn’t Jim Crow’s Texas, but for any Texas Republican to imply or declare that discrimination no longer exists here in the Great State of Texas is to engage in the moral equivalent of tubing down the River Denial.
Hmm…rich, White, Conservative, and clueless…yep, you’re a Texas Republican, all right….