re: #27 Killgore Trout

I don’t know how accurate that is. The GOP sends vans around to all the nursing homes to bring in elderly voters who can’t drive. They are a reliable and significant part of the Republican voter base. I think the argument could be made that the GOP actually ends up hurting itself by these silly laws.

And you would be wrong. Other than seniors, all the groups likely to be affected are heavily Dem—the young, the poor, blacks, Hispanics.

The whole GOP push here emanates from the same mindset that brought us the Southern Strategy 50 years ago. It’s a sort of Southern Strategy updated for a new century. Old fault lines of resentment (particularly working class/middle class white attitudes toward nonwhites) are being exploited in order to alter voting calculus. It’s a way for the GOP, which even a 3rd grader knows is in trouble demographically, to bolster its chances by selectively impeding the votes of groups inclined toward the other party.

The original southern strategy was a huge success: the South is now virtually all red. Today’s new incarnation is aimed at swing states where minority participation can put a Dem over the top. Is anyone really surprised that the gop would stoop this low?