I can't imagine why Scott Brown thinks poor people wouldn't vote for him! They don't even bother to hide their disdain for the hoi polloi anymore, do they? The fact that a senator - a Massachusetts senator - can equate registering welfare
August 11, 2012

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I can't imagine why Scott Brown thinks poor people wouldn't vote for him!

They don't even bother to hide their disdain for the hoi polloi anymore, do they? The fact that a senator - a Massachusetts senator - can equate registering welfare recipents to vote with systematic voter fraud just leaves me shaking my head, because he's using this as a right-wing dog whistle to wingnuts who insist only the worthy (i.e. employed) should get to vote:

Sen. Scott Brown — Massachusetts moderate — has just released one of the most brazen anti-franchise statements I’ve seen from a prominent Republican this year.

Apparently the daughter of his challenger, Elizabeth Warren, is the chairwoman of one of a few voting rights groups contracted by the state of Massachuetts to send voter registration forms to people who weren’t offered the chance to register when they applied to receive welfare benefits. That was a violation of federal law, and Massachusetts is sending these people registration forms as part of a legal settlement. And this makes Scott Brown really mad, because if you help welfare recipients vote, they’ll vote against Scott Brown, probably.

I want every legal vote to count, but it’s outrageous to use taxpayer dollars to register welfare recipients as part of a special effort to boost one political party over another. This effort to sign up welfare recipients is being aided by Elizabeth Warren’s daughter and it’s clearly designed to benefit her mother’s political campaign. It means that I’m going to have to work that much harder to get out my pro-jobs, pro-free enterprise message.

It’s actually a “special effort” to comport with federal law, as I said, but the fact that helping legally qualified citizens register to vote is now considered improper is startling. Or at least that a non-insane Republican said as much out loud is startling. This goes beyond phony accusations of voter fraud: Brown is outraged that his opponent’s daughter is working for an organization making it easier for people to legally vote. Because they’re poor.

If this doesn't get you to donate to Elizabeth Warren's Blue America page, I don't know what will.

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