Harold Meyerson, an avowed socialist, writes an opinion piece in today’s Washington Post that is, well, so obviously erroneous it never should have gotten past the editors. Mr. Meyerson claims that Republicans are engaged in underhanded shenanigans to steal the 2012 Presidential election.

Mr. Meyerson argues thus:

1. Republicans have passed voter ID laws in several states, along with curtailing early voting. Each of these is TEH RAYCISS!!1!eleventy!! because poor and minorities are disproportionately affected.

2. Republicans control Pennsylvania’s executive and legislative branches. Republicans are pushing through a bill to divide Pennsylvania’s electoral votes according to which candidate wins which Congressional district. This dilutes the popular vote’s influence, strengthening the electoral college. The electoral college is TEH RAYCISS!!1!eleventy!! vestige of a North/South compromise. Therefore, the entire plan is unprecedentedly TEH RAYCISS!!1!eleventy!!

3. Any electoral college victory is suspect because it is anti-democratic, but mostly because it is the result of TEH RAYCISS!!1!eleventy!! RETHUGLIKKANS!1!

Now that Mr. Meyerson’s had his little tantrum, here are the facts.

1. The poor and minorities have no claim that the lack of early voting impact them negatively. They are being treated just like everyone else. You can vote, just show up on election day with ID. Heck, the poor and minorities are disproportionately un/underemployed (or “funemployed” if you’re following the White House talking points, Ms. Brzezinski). You’d think they’d have a lot more time to mosey down to the voting booth than employed people do. Especially because they can essentially vote themselves benefit increases by pulling the Democrat lever.

As to Mr. Meyerson’s claim that proving one is legally entitled to vote through production of a state issued ID is racist,’Puter says garbage. States issue voter IDs for free. You just have to show up, and they’ll give you one. Hardly an insurmountable hurdle.

Here’s a link to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation website where it states that “[a] free ID card is available under Wisconsin law to anyone who: [(1)] will be at least 18 years of age on the date of the next election and; [(2)] requests an ID card for the purpose of voting.”

As to Mr. Meyerson’s claim concerning South Carolina (i.e., must have birth certificate or passport to get a voter ID, and neither is free) ‘Puter again calls shenanigans.

First, when one is born, one’s parent(s) receive a state issued birth certificate of live birth, for free. It’s no one’s fault but your parent(s) if it gets lost.

Second, if you’ve lost yours, it costs $12.00 to get a new one. That’s a one time cost, because once you have a state issued photo ID, you never have to reproduce that birth certificate. You’re paying only for your mistake.

Third, a fact conveniently omitted, the United States Department of Justice has stayed South Carolina’s voter ID law for further investigation under its Voting Rights Act authority. So chances are, the law will have exactly no impact on the 2012 election in any event, because President Obama’s hyper-partisan DOJ is never going to stand idly by while the The One is threatened. Alinsky wouldn’t hear of it!

2. Mr. Meyerson next claims that splitting electoral votes among Congressional districts is somehow (impliedly) unconstitutional and unAmerican. Currently, two states (Maine and Nebraska) operate under exactly the same system Pennsylvania proposes to adopt.

Curiously, ‘Puter can’t seem to find Mr. Meyerson frothing at the mouth about evil Nebraska and dastardly Maine. If Mr. Meyerson truly had a problem with the issue of electoral college apportionment by Congressional district, don’t you think he’d have spoken up before?

3. The electoral college, much like gun rights, is a creation of our founding document, the United States Constitution. Mr. Meyerson’s intense dislike of basic American civics speaks volumes about him. Further, if Mr. Meyerson is correct that the electoral college is a horrible, unspeakable TEH RAYCISS!!1!eleventy!! crime against humanity, then amend the Constitution to make presidential elections majority rules. Go ahead, Mr. Meyerson. The procedure’s right there in the document you seem to loathe so much.

Mr. Meyerson’s article is nothing more than the usual whining of a hard-left ideologue when his world view is threatened. I disagree, therefore the proposed course of action must be unconstitutional/racist/misogynistic/anti-[name-of-your-favorite-victim-group-here]. This mode of argument is ineffective and tiresome. The left would do well to eschew it.

'Puter

Always right, unless he isn’t, the infallible Ghettoputer F. X. Gormogons claims to be an in-law of the Volgi, although no one really believes this.

’Puter carefully follows economic and financial trends, legal affairs, and serves as the Gormogons’ financial and legal advisor. He successfully defended us against a lawsuit from a liquor distributor worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid deliveries of bootleg shandies.

The Geep has an IQ so high it is untestable and attempts to measure it have resulted in dangerously unstable results as well as injuries to researchers. Coincidentally, he publishes intelligence tests as a side gig.

His sarcasm is so highly developed it borders on the psychic, and he is often able to insult a person even before meeting them. ’Puter enjoys hunting small game with 000 slugs and punt guns, correcting homilies in real time at Mass, and undermining unions. ’Puter likes to wear a hockey mask and carry an axe into public campgrounds, where he bursts into people’s tents and screams. As you might expect, he has been shot several times but remains completely undeterred.

He assures us that his obsessive fawning over news stories involving women teachers sleeping with young students is not Freudian in any way, although he admits something similar once happened to him. Uniquely, ’Puter is unable to speak, read, or write Russian, but he is able to sing it fluently.

Geep joined the order in the mid-1980s. He arrived at the Castle door with dozens of steamer trunks and an inarticulate hissing creature of astonishingly low intelligence he calls “Sleestak.” Ghettoputer appears to make his wishes known to Sleestak, although no one is sure whether this is the result of complex sign language, expert body posture reading, or simply beating Sleestak with a rubber mallet.

‘Puter suggests the Czar suck it.