November 18, 2012 6:48 AM

Do you live in Maine? If you're black and you voted, you're guilty of voter fraud.

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

(apologies to Keith Olbermann)

Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster

In some parts of rural Maine, there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted on Election Day. Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in town knows anyone who’s black. How did that happen? I don’t know. We’re going to find out…. I’m not politically correct and maybe I shouldn’t have said these voters were black, but anyone who suggests I have a bias toward any race or group, frankly, that’s sleazy.

I’ve never been to Maine, but from what I know of it, and what friends who have been there have told me, it’s a pretty White place (only 1.3% of Maine’s population is African-American). That’s not meant as denigration; after all, I grew up in Minnesota, which no one will ever confuse for Mississippi or Alabama in terms of demographics. Still, African-Americans have every right to live (and vote) where they choose, and while Maine may be overwhelmingly White, that shouldn’t be interpreted to mean that anyone not “fortunate” enough to be White has fewer rights.

I’m not at all certain what point Webster was trying to make, other than to display his evidently boundless racism, but the fact that African-Americans voted in Maine doesn’t ipso facto translate to voter fraud. His argument that African-Americans voting in Maine MUST be voter fraud is absurd on its face, but just another example of how Republicans are trying to explain away their election losses.

Despite Republican efforts to suppress minority votes and cheat their way to victory, the probability of voter fraud is even less than one’s chance of being hit by lightning (0.000001%). Voter fraud is not the problem here; the problem is Republican attempts to thwart democracy and seize power dishonestly. That this didn’t work this time around is more than some Republicans seem able to stomach.

Memo to Republicans like Charlie Webster: African-American votes are not what lost this election for you. Poor ideas, weak candidates, and an inability to connect with more than White Americans is what defeated you this time around. Until and unless you find a way to get past your denial and deal with the truth, it’s going to be tough for you to get back on top.

Not that any of us on the Left are going to have a problem with that idea….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 18, 2012 6:48 AM.

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