I'm sure there's nothing racist about it....

[Playinghardball]

[ZombieHorde]

1. I don't think it is because President Obama has dark skin.

I think it is because the Republican brand is becoming more and more unpopular, and they increasingly have to resort to dirty tricks in order to win elections. I think they are using many people's distaste for undocumented workers, which may be based in racism, to champion disenfranchising many legal voters who would normally vote for Democrats.

[Mnemosyne]

2. In my very red area of PA, it is the color of his skin. Lots of the racist shitheads around here. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

13. In your entire State it is legal to discriminate against LGBT people in housing or

employment or the offering of services. So rest comfortable knowing that PA has more problems than just the racism.

[Mnemosyne]

15. Oh yeah, bigotry and racism abound here. I only stay for the grandkids. nt

[xfundy]

3. Racism is the entree

Then, all the BS generated by cancervatives over the years about libruls kicks in, but is inflated constantly by calls for more racism. Not only against ppl of color, but that MISS AMERICA is a MOOSLIM even though she'd never be, and then BLACK MAN SHOT UP NAVY YARD, even though he was one of the troops they claim to support, but then GAYS TRIED TO BUY WEDDING CAKE.

This crowd's feeders have to constantly look for something to piss them off, otherwise the hate stops, the money flow ends, Baby Jesus cries, and they have to answer to the people for the damage they've done.

LOOK OVER THERE! IT'S A DAMN LIBRUL! Their sheep are well trained.

[quakerboy]

10. I think it depends on which group your are talking about.

Why does the republican leadership want voter ID? To lock out voters who are likely to vote against them.

Why does the republican base support their leadership in wanting voter ID? There I think its racism, more often than not.

[azurnoir]

4. actually they've been 'worried' about voter ID for a number of years

it's mainly centered around keeping those who's skin color resembles that the POTUS from voting at all, for anyone, ever

[SheilaT]

5. Racism can be amazingly subtle.

Many people honestly don't think they are racist. They simply think that their beliefs and attitudes are normal.

We all live in a bubble. But we all should try very hard to burst that bubble, or at least understand that we are in a bubble.

I'm a female, so there are certain things I absolutely get. But I'm still Caucasian, so there's a whole lot of racism I'll never understand.

In the late 1960's I had a co-worker, a black man, in his early 40's, who'd retired from a career as a non-commissioned officer in the army. He absolutely got the women's movement. He was also willing to talk to me honestly about race, to gently make me understand all sorts of things that I, then only 20, simply did not understand.

Raiford Williams, if you are out there, thank you.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

6. This is illogical. To see this, note how it generalises.

This line of argument could equally well be used to attribute *any* change or new development in the last 6 years to racism against Obama.

[Gravitycollapse]

7. In reality, there is always an element of racism present against a black President...

precisely because racism is so diffuse and systemic. It is everywhere. Especially when we are dealing with a racist nation attempting to reconcile the fact that the head of state is no longer white.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

8. True, but in context misleading.

There certainly *is* always an element of racism present against Obama, but that doesn't answer the question of whether a given development can be attributed to it.

I don't for a minute think that the Republicans wouldn't be using dirty tricks like voter suppression to get a white Democratic president out of office.

[Gravitycollapse]

9. But voter suppression certainly becomes more sympathetic with a black president.

The right suffers from a corruption of the psyche. Racism is a sort of overriding part exploding out of their lizard brains. Everything, EVERYTHING, becomes more important the moment the target becomes a black man.

[progressoid]

11. I think that's a little too simplistic.

Voter ID is just another in a long line of GOP backed voter suppression tactics. Just look at the foul play during Bush/Gore.

[Cha]

12. Hey Play.. thanks. Pretty much says it all in 43 pics

[el_bryanto]

14. I genuinely don't think they are connected on a policy level

But I do think they are connected on a politics level - in other words the republican policy makers know that their base will be receptive to the idea because many of them don't think blacks and other minorities shouldn't be voting anyway and having a black President just makes that work.

But on a policy level, I think it's more to do with if we can keep minorities (or even better women (but we haven't figured out how to do that yet) from voting than we have a lot better chance of winning elections.

Bryant

[n2doc]

16. Well, for the first 16, blacks and women couldn't vote

For the next 60 years, women couldn't, and until the late 1960's blacks were very strongly prevented from voting in much of America. They didn't need 'voter id" when you had the poll tax and 'citizenship tests'....

Anti-democratic actions have been a part of America throughout its history.