Georgia Gang Howler Of The Week

Yeah I'm a little late this week. I wasn't even going to bother but there were two things which could not pass.

On the recent Supreme Court hearing on Indiana's voter id law, Phil Kent (of course it's Phil Kent) claimed that particular law was virtually identical to Georgia's law. Jeff Dickerson correctly noted Georgia's law was amended to provide for a free ID and Indiana did not have that provision. Kent popped back the Indiana AG argued anyone could just walk down the street and get one.

Even for a dweeb like me this is not hard. The only hard fast mention of voting in the U.S. Constitution is the 24th Amendment which prevents poll taxes. Simply put, you cannot charge a person to vote. In Georgia, the main id is the driver's license which the state charges a fee - arguably creating a fee to vote. Georgia quickly avoided a constitutional fight by providing free ids to those who lacked. As far as I know Indiana has not.

It may seem a minor point but it is a critical one. If the plaintiffs can convince the court the only way certain voters can exercise their right is to pay a fee the law is patently unconstitutional. So they are not "virtually the same".

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Phil Kent a lawyer?

Finally, Dick Williams couldn't resist taking a stab at Hillary Clinton by rolling out that old canard about Sen. Clintion claiming to be named after recently deceased moutaineer Sir Edmund Hillary. Too bad what Dick claimed is not exactly true.

You know, that little fairy tale has almost reached the level of "Al Gore invented the internet" as a tactic for certain pundits to give whatever constituency they have left the loin shivers.