After signing the nation’s most restrictive voter ID bill into law Monday, North Carolina’s Republican Gov. Pat McCrory took to YouTube to decry the left’s “scare tactics” and defend the law, saying it was aimed at “ensuring nobody’s vote is disenfranchised by a fraudulent ballot.”
msnbc host Alex Wagner had some fun with that jaw-dropping case of Orwellian double-speak in that, actually, the people being disenfranchised will be the estimated 318,000 people who lack a photo ID–mainly minorities, poor and young voters–unable to vote as a direct result of McCrory’s new law.
As for the voter fraud that McCrory says he is protecting North Carolinians from? It’s non-existent–or to be precise, accounted for 0.00174% of all ballots cast in the state in 2012.
“How courageous of the governor to take to YouTube to talk about this rather than hold a press conference because you wouldn’t want anybody asking about it,” the Grio’s Joy Reid said. “Governors like McCrory are passing all these draconian pieces of legislation and then they are passing the pieces of legislation that prevent voters from punishing them.”
The New York Times’ Frank Bruni agreed.
“Where it becomes very suspicious is almost every component of the law is connected to where the Democrats have an advantage in the vote over Republicans,” he said. “And when you add all that together it is impossible not to conclude that this is about trying to derive an advantage at the polls and that is why he is on YouTube, as opposed to a press conference because he doesn’t want to get those questions and address that criticism.” McCrory’s not the only Republican governor who likes signing bills in secret. Last month, Scott Walker quietly signed a bill forcing all Wisconsin seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound. A statement posted later on the governor’s website noted the law would protect women’s “physical and mental health now and in the future” and also included this memorable line–“Women have a choice as to the ultrasound they receive.”
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