Rand Paul to GOP: Our voter ID push is “offending people”

[GunnyFreedom]

The Democrat voter fraud that wins elections doesn't have much to do with voter ID per se. The problem is that in several precincts, Democrat pollworkers vote on behalf of registered voters who don't show up at all (much less with ID).

The only way to counter that is to have poll monitors count the number of people who go in to vote.

If you think the fight over voter ID is ugly, imagine the fight over having (Republican?) poll watchers in urban ghetto precincts.

It's the law here. If you try to send one home you go to jail.

 

[RonPaulMall]

Yes but he has to thread the needle. He knows these votes will come to him rather than a Bush or Christie when the field narrows. I think where we disagree is you want these voters to be his main constituency/target, and I don't see that as possible or advisable.

What I would point out here is that Voter ID is just as popular with moderate Christie supporters as it is Cruz supporters. Voter ID is just another way the MSM likes to call anybody that disagrees with the Democrat Agenda "racists". Rand loses with every potential GOP voter, conservative, moderates, and even liberals, when he gives credence to the MSM slur that anybody who thinks asking a voter to confirm their identity prior to being allowed to vote is a "racist". WD-NY is exactly right about the framing thing. If Rand wanted to quietly say I don't think voter ID laws are all that important and I wouldn't push that kind of legislation if I were a state rep, fine. Nobody would have noticed or cared. The issue itself really isn't high on anybody's list of concerns. What agitates people about voter ID is the MSM's slander about racism, and Rand foolishly framed the issue in a way that suggested he thinks those slurs have some sort of validity.

In short, if you really feel the need to say something about Voter ID (which isn't even a Federal Issue for god's sake), could you please try to do it in a way that doesn't suggest every GOP voter in the county is a racist? It is a small point, but a pretty darn vital one if winning the election is your goal.

 

[whoisjohngalt]

What I would point out here is that Voter ID is just as popular with moderate Christie supporters as it is Cruz supporters. Voter ID is just another way the MSM likes to call anybody that disagrees with the Democrat Agenda "racists". Rand loses with every potential GOP voter, conservative, moderates, and even liberals, when he gives credence to the MSM slur that anybody who thinks asking a voter to confirm their identity prior to being allowed to vote is a "racist". WD-NY is exactly right about the framing thing. If Rand wanted to quietly say I don't think voter ID laws are all that important and I wouldn't push that kind of legislation if I were a state rep, fine. Nobody would have noticed or cared. The issue itself really isn't high on anybody's list of concerns. What agitates people about voter ID is the MSM's slander about racism, and Rand foolishly framed the issue in a way that suggested he thinks those slurs have some sort of validity.

In short, if you really feel the need to say something about Voter ID (which isn't even a Federal Issue for god's sake), could you please try to do it in a way that doesn't suggest every GOP voter in the county is a racist? It is a small point, but a pretty darn vital one if winning the election is your goal.

29% of the black vote in the only poll I've seen since this event occurred. Let's see how it affects his numbers. As I keep saying, provide the evidence to show the failure of strategy. Otherwise all I can hear is someone who is unhappy that Rand's agenda is diverging from their own.

All I keep hearing is that 80% of people support it. Funny, that's the same thing the liberals keep telling me about gun control.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

What I would point out here is that Voter ID is just as popular with moderate Christie supporters as it is Cruz supporters. Voter ID is just another way the MSM likes to call anybody that disagrees with the Democrat Agenda "racists". Rand loses with every potential GOP voter, conservative, moderates, and even liberals, when he gives credence to the MSM slur that anybody who thinks asking a voter to confirm their identity prior to being allowed to vote is a "racist". WD-NY is exactly right about the framing thing. If Rand wanted to quietly say I don't think voter ID laws are all that important and I wouldn't push that kind of legislation if I were a state rep, fine. Nobody would have noticed or cared. The issue itself really isn't high on anybody's list of concerns. What agitates people about voter ID is the MSM's slander about racism, and Rand foolishly framed the issue in a way that suggested he thinks those slurs have some sort of validity.

In short, if you really feel the need to say something about Voter ID (which isn't even a Federal Issue for god's sake), could you please try to do it in a way that doesn't suggest every GOP voter in the county is a racist? It is a small point, but a pretty darn vital one if winning the election is your goal.

You just perfectly summarised my own reaction, and articulated it far better than I did. Thank you. If I go for something big we may need to talk messaging.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

29% of the black vote in the only poll I've seen since this event occurred. Let's see how it affects his numbers. As I keep saying, provide the evidence to show the failure of strategy. Otherwise all I can hear is someone who is unhappy that Rand's agenda is diverging from their own.

All I keep hearing is that 80% of people support it. Funny, that's the same thing the liberals keep telling me about gun control.

Rand saved his own rear end by coming back and explaining it, thank heavens, but he should never have jeopardized himself like that in the first place; and certainly not over a known specious point. It was a tactical error. The man is human, he will make tactical errors. Recogninzing them is how we grow stronger and get better. It is not a bad thing.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Messaging, he could have said;

"Look, there are people trying to divide us, and there are a lot of lies out there. A lot of people actually believe that VoterID is racially motivated even though nearly all of us on this side know that it's not. I just don't think we should push this issue so much because it drives people away over a lie. Let's just do these things instead of always talking about them, and alienating people for no reason. The ID requirement will end up having almost no impact at all on voting, if it even has that much, it's not the policy that's hurting us but the incessant yammering about the policy that's killing us. So just shut up and get it over with and move on, before you alienate the entire planet. "