Good Job Thinking This One Through, Jackass
by Jason at 6:10 am on June 24th, 2004 in Politics“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”
—usually credited to Samuel Johnson, 1775“We believe it’s important to give people a second chance,”
—Mo Elleithee, America Coming Together
While I’m sure the group America Coming Together has the best of intentions for their current voter registration programs, they certainly created a hell of a mess. ACT, an independent entity working to get John Kerry elected, decided it would be a good idea to hire felons to canvass voters in metropolitan areas. And suddenly the Republicans have an issue that should concern anyone who remembers the anchor around Michael Dukakis’ neck named Willie Horton.
Imagine being a Kerry staffer who opens the paper to see the likes of this:
A political group that could be crucial to John Kerry’s presidential campaign has paid felons — some convicted of sex offenses, assault and burglary — to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in at least three election swing states.
Even though this story has nothing to do with Kerry or his campaign (which isn’t associated with ACT), you can bet that the White House and conservative pundits will be doing everything they can to make the connection stick in voters’ heads.
Hey ACT—good job on thinking this one through. Really.
jamie wrote:
ok, here i go with my bleeding heart crap, but if these people have done their time and are on the streets, why not pay them to do a job?
Posted 24 Jun 2004 at 8:48 am ¶
Jason wrote:
This is one of those occasions where perception > reality. It doesn’t matter if these people have paid their debt to society, since they can be used as a tool to frighten potential voters away from Kerry.
Cue the ominous music:
“Sex Offenders are in YOUR neighborhood, collecting personal data on YOU and YOUR family. Instead of being tough on crime, liberal activists for JOHN KERRY think that your family’s safety should suffer”
etc. etc.
Of course, this is ridiculous. But they’ve done a lot of damage to candidates with less.
Posted 24 Jun 2004 at 10:45 am ¶