Posted on 03/01/2005 9:27:26 AM PST by neverdem
IN the wake of their election defeat, Democrats have promised to mend their ways by emphasizing moral values. So, in their first major legislative initiative of the year, what are the party's two top senators offering? A bill to guarantee that millions of convicted murderers, rapists and armed robbers can vote.
This week, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Kerry will officially introduce the Count Every Vote Act, which she claims is "critical to restoring America's faith in our voting system." Among the provisions: A measure to insure that voting rights are restored to "felons who have repaid their debt to society" by completing their prison terms, parole or probation.
Sen. Clinton says there are 4.7 million such disenfranchised felons in 48 states and the District of Columbia.
The power to deny voting rights to ex-convicts now rests with the states, so standards vary across the country. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution explicitly allows for states to deny felons the right to vote.
Clinton and Kerry do have good reason to want ex-convicts to vote: Felons overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.
In recent academic work, Jeff Manza and Marcus Britton of Northwestern University and Christopher Uggen of the University of Minnesota estimated that Bill Clinton pulled 86 percent of the felon vote in 1992 and a whopping 93 percent in '96.
The researchers found that about 30 percent of felons vote when given the chance. So, if all 4.7 million of Mrs. Clinton's ex-cons are re-enfranchised, about 1.4 million will cast ballots, and about 1.2 million of those will be for Democrats.
Manza & Co.'s results indicate that this "felon vote" would have given Democrats the White House in the 2000 and control of the Senate from 1986 to 2004.
Seattle Times reporters last month identified 129 felons...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The Democratic base....
At that point, look for Puerto Rican statehood to become an issue again.
TS
When you vote, you participate in a collective decision making process.
People that are felons are poor decision makers.
Their contribution to the vote would then tend to lead to poorer collective decisions.
Therefore their opinions should not be given the weight of a vote.
Of course the fact that felons vote democrat is yet more proof of their poor judgement.
One thing Clinton was always masterful at was knowing his base, Hitlery was clearly paying attention!
Simple poison pill: Give felons, who have paid their debt, the right to own guns again too.
The poor Dems have to stoop so low...
If you had as many friends as Hillary who were or are behind bars, you would want to be able to count on their vote as well.
Remember McDougal? True to the end. But couldn't vote. And don't forget future felons. See tagline.
Such a shame....
I am highly skeptical of statistics that claim that Democrats would draw 80+ percent of the so-called felon vote.
moveon.org has an offshoot, called breakout.org..
Would you support IQ testing as a means to certify voters?
If you are for not reinstating a felons rights, would you allow them to opt out of paying for the burden of those collective decisions?
Whats next,
Mass murderer (name) wins the Governers office in NY?
Mrs. Clinton trying to circumvent the Constitution - without bothering to go through the legitimate Amendment process.
I wish it'd been a joke...
neverdem
> IN the wake of their election defeat,
> Democrats have promised to mend their
> ways by emphasizing moral values. So,
> in their first major legislative initiative
> of the year, what are the party's two
> top senators offering? A bill to guarantee
> that millions of convicted murderers,
> rapists and armed robbers can vote
Now that is typical of the godless dems.
What should happen is that convicted felons
get transported to Alaska where they can build
their own sod huts on National Park land that
is otherwise going to waste; they'll be isolated
so as not to contaminate people with their presence
and, as a bonus, we can charge them rent for the
land to make up for the cost of their imprisonment
while they work in the oil fields.
Keep up the good work!
fr_poster
"I am highly skeptical of statistics that claim that Democrats would draw 80+ percent of the so-called felon vote."
I am highly skeptical also. I believe it is closer to 90+ percent.
In other news, Clinton appeared at a rally for core supporters of the democrat party today at a graveyard in new york city, stressing the need for residents to get out the vote.
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