Hastert & Sensenbrenner: Duets in RINO Key

As mentioned a couple of days ago, Hastert's RINO stripes show clearly when he strongarms the real Conservatives in the House. Sensenbrenner has joined with Hastert a couple of times recently in such efforts: first, the Sanctimonious Yelping-and-Screeching Campaign in defense of a mythological "sacred space" of Congressional offices (the Jefferson mess;) and now, ramming a ridiculous "voting rights" act down the throats of several Southern states.

This "voting rights" act stinks:

For one thing, the bill tries to effectively make an end-run against the Georgia v Ashcroft decision that helped put limits on the enforced racial segregation of voting districts.

What the House bill does is re-establish a form of electoral apartheid, and tries to guarantee election outcomes by assuming that all minority voters have readily identifiable "preferred candidates of choice." The "right" to elect said candidates is then assumed to be sacrosanct.

The great conservative lawyer Ted Olson has criticized this new provision, and Rep. Tom Price of Georgia rightly complained that the provision would try to guarantee "the outcome of elections" rather than "the right of individuals to vote."

In short, the bill in many, many ways is utterly pernicious, and itself makes utterly racist assumptions about how the color of somebody's skin automatically determines their voting preferences.

And remember, the Georgia v. Ashcroft decision that this bill tries to vitiate is a decision that was SUPPORTED by the black, Democratic attorney general of Georgia. As if Denny Hastert from his wrestling coach's bench in Illinois knows more about the needs and rights and concerns of black voters than does the black, Democratic attorney general of Georgia, Thurbert Baker.

Jim Sensenbrenner's term as Chair/Judiciary expires early next year. One might infer that Jim's recent lovey-dovey kootchie-koo act with Hastert, who acts more RINO every year, is in anticipation of some other plum Chairmanship.

Let's hope that when THAT is settled in January, that Sensenbrenner returns to Conservatism.