Todd Akin Suggests the Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be overturned

[lovedforaday]

Rep. Todd Akin, the GOP’s candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri, suggested in an interview that it was time to “look at or overturn” the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Asked directly if seminal federal civil rights legislation that prohibits discriminatory voting procedures needed to be modified or scrapped, Akin said

Comments

[beoweasel]

Wait, doesn't Akin belong to the group of Republicans that don't want general population to vote for senators?

[beoweasel]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say his comments are in regard to the Republican effort to institute 'Voter ID' laws in several swing states.

As a sort of brown, first time voter...

[zemi_chan]

Re: As a sort of brown, first time voter...

[sophiaserpentia]

They're attempting to wear at the Civil Rights Act (and women's suffrage) slowly, patiently. Right now they're just at the stage of making sure the notion that these are bad ideas is out there, and stays out there. But an increasing number of U. S. Senators are starting to make noises like this, and eventually the noise will pick up enough steam for proposals to start appearing in Congress.

So yes, we should be very concerned.

ETA: Plus the more people who are on record as saying things like "the Civil Rights Act is a bad idea and should be repealed," the less reactionary they sound.

Re: As a sort of brown, first time voter...

[zemi_chan]

It feels like everytime we (as in minorities) are finally getting somewhere, (in respects to social progress), some new obstacle rises up and threatens to not only keep us from moving forward but also push us back a few decades.

[tabaqui]

Christ on a cracker.

C'mon, Claire - the crap out of him on this.

[wrestlingdog]