Disenfranchisement – Hillary style

John Fund had a fascinating piece in today’s WSJ about what “allies” of Hillary Clinton tried to do in Nevada in order to disenfranchise voters before this weekend’s caucus (emphasis added):

Both Democrats and Republicans are good at practicing hypocrisy when they need to. But it’s still breathtaking to see how some Democrats ignore that it was only last week they argued before the Supreme Court that an Indiana law requiring voters show ID at the polls would reduce voter turnout and disenfranchise minorities. Nevada allies of Hillary Clinton have just sued to shut down several caucus sites inside casinos along the Las Vegas Strip, potentially disenfranchising thousands of Hispanic or black shift workers who couldn’t otherwise attend the 11:30 a.m. caucus this coming Saturday.

D. Taylor, the president of the Culinary Workers Union that represents many casino workers, notes that legal complaint was filed just two days after his union endorsed Barack Obama. He says the state teachers union, most of whose leadership backs Mrs. Clinton, realized that the Culinary union would be able to use the casino caucuses to better exercise its clout on behalf of Mr. Obama, and used a law firm with Clinton ties to file the suit.

Mr. Taylor exploded after Bill Clinton came out in favor of the lawsuit on Monday, and Hillary Clinton refused to take a stand. “This is the Clinton campaign,” he said. “They tried to disenfranchise students in Iowa. Now they’re trying to disenfranchise people here in Nevada.” He later told the Journal’s June Kronholz, “You’d think the Democratic Party elite would disavow this, but the silence has been deafening.” (Late Tuesday the Democratic National Committee quietly filed a motion supporting the Nevada party’s rules.)

However, the lawsuit has created an uproar among voters. It was the No. 1 issue among 30 Nevada Democrats participating in a Fox News focus group on Tuesday night; the anger among rank-and-file voters was palpable. The left-wing Nation magazine has denounced the suit as an attempt to “suppress the vote.”

The case goes before a federal judge in Las Vegas this morning. Plaintiffs argue that the caucus sites on the Strip unfairly discriminate against other workers on-duty that day. Lynn Warne, president of the teachers union, insists “our only interest is fairness.” But instead of seeking additional at-large locations, they want to close down the casino sites.

The Subvert Democracy gang, thankfully, was unsuccessful (h/t: BCB). As a sidenote, Reuters kicks in with a little dash of anti-Obama bias in the headline of this piece, which currently reads, “Court allows casino vote that may boost Obama.”

Remember the red-faced version of Bubba, the one we saw when Chris Wallace asked him tough questions about his counterterrorism record? He’s back, and visible, in this eye-opening video which explains in more detail than the news articles cited above what the Clintons are trying to do in NV, and alludes to why Bubba is defending it. Clinton gets red-faced in front of ABC7 reporter Mark Matthews about one minute and twenty seconds into the video:

Matthews wrote about the story on his blog here.

Could it be anymore obvious what the Clinton campaign is trying to do? Is there any question that if Hillary Clinton had been endorsed by the Culinary Workers Union this lawsuit would have never been filed?

In other Dem campaign news, the criticism of Barack Obama’s praise of Reagan yesterday continued today, with His Royal Phoniness taking a shot at The Golden Boy for his remarks:

When you think about what Ronald Reagan did to the American people, to the middle class to the working people” said Edwards.

“He was openly Γ’β‚¬β€œ openly Γ’β‚¬β€œ intolerant of unions and the right to organize. He openly fought against the union and the organized labor movement in this country. He openly did extraordinary damage to the middle class and working people, created a tax structure that favored the very wealthiest Americans and caused the middle class and working people to struggle every single day. The destruction of the environment, you know, eliminating regulation of companies that were polluting and doing extraordinary damage to the environment.”

“I can promise you this: this president will never use Ronald Reagan as an example for change.”

Whew – that’s a relief. In the first place, Ronald Reagan never got a $400 haircut

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