J.D. Prose – 8/4/13

This page was last updated on August 8, 2013.

Voter ID delayed is injustice (temporarily) denied; J.D. Prose; Beaver County Times; August 4, 2013.

In the print edition, this column appeared in the op-ed section labeled “ON THE LEFT.” Given Mr. Prose’s body of work and the BCT’s left-leaning positions, did the BCT really think readers didn’t know he’s a “Surly progressive?”

According to his Twitter page, Mr. Prose is a self-described “Surly progressive.” As you read this opinion column and his Twitter “tweets,” keep in mind Mr. Prose wears at least one other hat for the BCT. In addition to being an entertainer/pundit, Mr. Prose is a part-time reporter covering political stories. Ask yourself this. When a pundit gives his political opinions in one part of the paper, can he be trusted to report politics objectively elsewhere in the paper? After all, would a person whose opinion is 1+1 equals 3 report 1+1 really equals 2? Does he have a “Chinese wall” in his head to keep his opinions from bleeding into his reporting? (You may recall NPR claimed it fired Juan Williams for doing exactly what Mr. Prose does.) If it can get worse than that, Mr. Prose has made name-calling and personal attacks a foundation of his columns. If pushed, I’d be willing to bet Mr. Prose would try to excuse his writing by claiming he’s paid to be controversial and stir debate. The problem is, you don’t need to get into name-calling and personal attacks to accomplish those goals.

You can find the archive of my Prose column critiques here.

Below is a critique of portions of this column.

“There was actually some good news last week for Pennsylvania voters. Go figure. If you didn’t hear, the ridiculous Republican-backed Voter ID law that addresses problems that don’t exist and is only meant to disenfranchise traditionally Democratic voters WILL NOT be enforced this November.

[RWC] A few weeks ago, Mr. Prose sent “Congratulations to Attorney General Kathleen Kane for announcing that she won’t defend the state’s law banning same-sex marriage from a legal challenge in federal court.” Here, Mr. Prose failed to mention AG Kane’s (D) office defended “the ridiculous Republican-backed Voter ID law” before the Commonwealth Court in July. Even worse for Mr. Prose, Mrs. Kane said, “The Pennsylvania Voter ID law is, on its face, constitutional. My concern with the Voter ID law has always been its implementation.” Ouch!

During the summer of 2011, Rhode Island passed a law requiring a photo ID to vote. RI voters reliably vote Democrat and Democrats hold overwhelming majorities in both houses of the General Assembly. The governor is an independent, a former U.S. Senate RINO with high ADA Liberal Quotients. Further, leftist darling former-President Jimmy Carter supports a photo ID for voting. This is info we’re not supposed to know.

Heck, even President Obama is all for voter ID, as long as we’re talking about Kenya and not the U.S. Why?

“It’s a sure bet that Voter ID will go before the state Supreme Court because both sides — the state and the ACLU, etc. — have vowed to appeal any lower court ruling not in their favor.

“Pennsylvania GOPers, of course, backed Voter ID to tilt the playing field in favor of Republican candidates by making it more difficult for seniors, young people, immigrants and minorities — all Democratic-leaning groups — to vote.”

[RWC] This is all BS.

My dad was born in 1907 and he had a photo ID that would have allowed him to vote. My mother, who died at 90, also had acceptable photo ID.

By “immigrants,” Mr. Prose means illegal aliens. Legal immigrant CITIZENS should have no problem with valid ID.

Why would “young people” and “minorities” have a problem getting valid ID?

“It was all part of sweeping Voter ID efforts by GOP legislatures literally using the template written by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council to imprint their radical agenda on states nationwide concerning voter’s rights, abortion, public education, health care, corporate accountability, etc.”

[RWC] It looks like Mr. Prose and Beaver County Reds are getting their talking points in sync.

“And it’s only getting worse. Sleep tight.”

[RWC] One of Mr. Prose’s BCR pals once wrote, “The right to vote is one of our most important rights.” If lefties really believe this, why don’t they want to make sure someone who wants to exercise “one of our most important rights” is who he says he is? In this day and age, a person of voting age – young, old, or anywhere in between – almost needs to go out of his way not to have ID that would satisfy the PA voter ID law. Instead of fighting ID to protect “one of our most important rights,” wouldn’t it make more sense to help the outliers get valid ID?