While talking about Florida Governor Charlie Crist's proposal to restore the voting rights of non-violent ex-felons on MSNBC today, Tucker Carlson told Democratic strategist Peter Fenn that the disenfranchised blacks in Florida in 2000 should have just voted anyway. Has Tucker ever voted in his life? When you go to your designated polling place, you need to check in and make sure your name is on the list. If it's not -- which is what happened to tens of thousands of black voters -- you can't vote. Period. You can't say "I'm not a felon" and pull the lever.

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I know the whole "Bush stole the presidency" controversy is tired, but there's no doubt the 2000 Florida vote count was fishy. Robert Greenwald's superb film Uprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election makes the case clearly and persuasively, as does Rep. Conyers' 2004 report Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio (.pdf).

In other voting rights-related news, TPM examines the issue in the context of the Attorney purge scandal.