Republicans trying to limit student voting because they are 'foolish.' (liberal, tend Democratic)

[onehandle]

New Hampshire's new Republican state House speaker is pretty clear about what he thinks of college kids and how they vote. They're "foolish," Speaker William O'Brien said in a recent speech to a tea party group. "Voting as a liberal. That's what kids do," he added, his comments taped by a state Democratic Party staffer and posted on YouTube. Students lack "life experience," and "they just vote their feelings."

New Hampshire House Republicans are pushing for new laws that would prohibit many college students from voting in the state - and effectively keep some from voting at all.

One bill would permit students to vote in their college towns only if they or their parents had previously established permanent residency there - requiring all others to vote in the states or other New Hampshire towns they come from. Another bill would end Election Day registration, which O'Brien said unleashes swarms of students on polling places, creating opportunities for fraud.

The measures in New Hampshire are among dozens of voting-related bills being pushed by newly empowered Republican state lawmakers across the country - prompting partisan clashes akin to those already roiling in some states over GOP moves to curb union power.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/06/AR2011030602662.html

[Badfish]

1. LOL

it appears he is trying to rally his opponents base.

[Uben]

2. Maybe we should not allow republicans to vote.......

...after all, they are the ones who screwed everything up. They have a tendency to vote their "ignorance" on everything.

Good idea, don't know why it hasn't happened already!

[MissHoneychurch]

3. Yeah

let's go back to the times when only adult white men with money were allowed to vote .... NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LiberalFighter]

11. And they did it out in the open so everyone knew how they voted.

[liberal N proud]

4. Republicans are always trying to stop people from voting

They think if they make it difficult to vote, they will win more elections.

They are always blocking voter registration drives and always the ones who object over voters at the polling places.

Republican value - we the people does not include all the people.

[Enthusiast]

6. That is why they attacked ACORN

with such vigor.

[Avant Guardian]

22. Thats why they are going after unions

Because unions give money to candidates that defend unions, Democrats.

[CanonRay]

5. The Rethugs tried this on us in the late 60's, early 70's

nothing new here. They never change,do they.

[border_town]

7. You know

I think the rest of the New England States need to vote out New Hampshire and Maine, and add NY and WI(only if they recall Walker). These two states are not very progressive.

[avebury]

12. Maine only recently started to drink the KoolAid

I grew up in Maine and, until recently, found the people to be pretty reasonable. If you wanted change and the Legislature to act on it and they wouldn't you always and the referendum process. The little person did have a chance to promote change. I was shocked to see them elect a tea party candidate for Governor. Maine has now drunk the Kool Aid. How sad.

[Auntie Bush]

14. My son lives in ME and he said

Everyone except one ostracized man in their whole neighborhood is Democratic. :woohoo:

[Arkana]

21. Maine has a bad habit of rebelliousness for the sake of rebelliousness.

They get all "Oh yeah? Well ain't NO ONE gonna tell us how to vote! I'm running away to the circus!" if a campaign gets too "overbearing" in Maine. Funny thing is, it's not specific to a party--Maine voted for Gore, Kerry, and Obama, and Clinton both times as well, so they're no strangers to casting votes for Democrats.

It's a good state, and the people are good people--but they have an awful tendency to shun politicians that are perceived as "elitist", even if they're not.

[1776Forever]

8. Yes let's all just vote for our own good and forget our neighbors and then when we have to drive

through slums to our gated communities and there are no taxes to support policemen and firemen and the disease levels get so huge that our children have to wear masks when they go to Disney World then we can all be safe in our Tea Party clusters. But don't drink the water.

[ensho]

9. yet they want these foolish students to have guns on campus?

what stupidity

[ladjf]

10. Republican politicians know that their voter base is among the

less educated people.

[toddwv]

13. Doesn't seem like this would pass even a state Constitutional test.

Students reside where they are attending college. To deny them the right to vote in their place of residence just seems completely over the line even for the anti-American right.

Depending on how the bill is written, this will most likely end up denying more than just college students the right to vote in their place of residence even if it passes.

[Bake]

15. Rethugs not only hate Democrats, they hate DEMOCRACY.

They hate America.

Bake

[VoteProgressive]

16. Typical GOP response to everything.

[Mybrokenchains]

17. i find it highly unlikely...

that all college students are foolish, considering we live and grow up in the information age....3 clicks away from any answer we might need.
Also, isn't voting with our feelings what were supposed to do?...vote how we feel? xD

It seems much more likely that repubs are all faceless meandering greed powered marionettes, hung about on the thin strings of lies and incompetence......o-o

[14thColony]

18. The Republicans are not comfortable with democracy

Unless they can find a way to control who you vote for.

[tallahasseedem]

19. So then...

they should bring soldiers that age home from war because they lack "life experience." So you can shoot and kill innocent civilians in the name of the United States but you can't vote...yeah, okay.

[Arkana]

20. Ahahahahahaha

"Only people we want to vote should vote! No one else can vote!"

Sorry, you fucks, but it's FEDERAL LAW.

[ShadowLiberal]

23. What a great way to win my vote call me foolish and say I 'vote my feelings' just like everyone else

What a great way to win the vote of a 25 year old young person like me, call me and everyone like me foolish, and attack me for 'voting my feelings'. So now it's wrong for me to vote for the candidate's that the party I like runs, just because it's 'voting my feelings', as opposed to you know, Tea parties, who clearly don't let emotion play *ANY* role at all in their vote (except you know, the racism, and their often violent words they have for those who they don't 'feel' are on their side).

Of course I live in PA instead of NH, so way to help your PA republicans, by isolating a whole generation of voters for them.

A lot of the hostile stuff they're saying is borderline racist in my book, if young people were a race.

[BreweryYardRat]

24. The Republican party, once again, proves an old saying:

"There's no fool like an old fool."

[yellowcanine]

25. In other words, they really don't believe in the democratic process.

[yellowcanine]

26. I thought there was a SCOTUS ruling on this a while back. Basically saying, "you can't do this."

I could be wrong.

I know that in 1972 we had a brouhaha about students flooding the Democratic caucuses in Virginia and voting for George McGovern. The local party made some lame excuses about why students could not vote and that the vote was invalid. There was a court case and the local party lost. Then we got a really HUGE turnout of students the second time around and McGovern won even bigger. That is what will happen here also. A lot of students who otherwise might have been sitting out the election will make sure they vote, just to spite the people who tried to stop them. Don't rile up college students.

[Blue_Tires]

27. They tried to pull this shit in Virginia back in '08, but there was

too much backlash and they backed down...But in today's political climate, who knows what is possible?? FWIW there was some passive vote caging through random flyers telling students that voting anywhere other than their 'hometown' precinct was illegal...

I still never fail to be amused at how many 'freedom-loving patriots' want to ditch the 'inconvenient' parts of the constitution...