Am I taking crazy pills, or is it that Democrats have decided to smoke whatever Hunter Biden takes? The Democratic Party's reversal on voter ID has been quite the show. We've gone from it's a racist policy to "hey, screw it. We'll back it." Oh, even better was the declaration from Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) that no Democrat has ever been against voter ID requirements for voting. We'll get to that in a second, but Joe Biden just said that what Republicans are trying to do to ensure voter integrity is Jim Crow 2.0.
Let's circle back to what Clyburn said around Independence Day. He did a media hit with Fox News's Neil Cavuto (via RealClearPolitics) [emphasis mine]:
CAVUTO: So, Congressman, when you said you were absolutely open to Joe Manchin's proposed voter I.D. requirement, which did seem to represent a significant pivot on your part, is that your way of saying let's get past the I.D. thing, and on to other matters to get this law done?
CLYBURN: You know, Neil, I don't know why people keep misrepresenting stuff.
There's not a single time that I have ever voted in my entire life -- and I'm going to be 81 years old next week. There's not a single time that I have voted that I did not I.D. myself.
What I spoke about was allowing an I.D., a picture I.D. of a hunter's license to be good, but of a student activity card to be no good. That's the kind of voter I.D. law that I'm talking about that's unfair. I have said that all of my life.
I don't know why you guys keep misrepresenting what I said. I have never said that you should not have voter I.D. What I got my voter registration cards, I keep them in my wallet. And when I go to vote, I presented that every time. And I said to them, I am Jim Clyburn. This is my I.D., and I want to vote.
I have always had voter I.D. And that's why the representative earlier who voted -- no Democrat has never been against voter I.D. We're against...
Clyburn: "no Democrat has ever been against voter ID"
— Doug Andres (@DougAndres) July 13, 2021
can we get a fact check on that?
Long voting lines.
— James E. Clyburn (@WhipClyburn) October 23, 2020
Closed polling locations.
Voter ID laws.
They're all voter suppression.
Tune in as I'm joined by @JointCenter president @SpencerOverton to continue the conversation about why we must secure the right to vote for ALL Americans. https://t.co/fmHIQPsYta
Do I really need to rate this nonsense? Of course, Clyburn is lying through his teeth. Let's look back to his tweet from October 2020, which some on Twitter found:
"Long voting lines. Closed polling locations. Voter ID laws. They're all voter suppression."
That doesn't sound like being pro-voter ID to me. For years, Democrats have missed that voter ID is immensely popular across racial, political, and geographic lines. Maybe that's why these Jim Crow attack lines don't work except for unhinged urban-based progressives. That's not enough to shift the sand of public opinion. It's just factually wrong on all fronts. Democrats have always been against voter ID and other voter integrity measures because, apparently, they think that nonwhites cannot register to vote.
Democrats can get away with this atrocious gaslighting because they have powerful friends in the media. They got away with their Russian collusion circus, so they're going to see how far they can go with their lies. The other competing narrative is that it was the Republicans who wanted to defund the police.
Luckily, everyone can find out for themselves that this is garbage, so it's just high-pitched screaming into the vortex. It still makes noise, however.
