# I Pit the ID-demanding GOP vote-suppressors (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 12, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943 "2012-06-12T19:15:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 541
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10801 "2018-01-09T01:59:36Z")
You’re countering your own inferences now? Well, enjoy. I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10802 "2018-01-09T11:22:00Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > More fun for me, as the winner, I suspect. > > In a representative democracy, society expresses its view of the reasonable standards by the action of its elected legislators. > > I know you’d rather be King Gyrate I, but you can’t. > > Sorry, Your Majesty. When is your coronation again? Interesting. So your approach is that when **you** assert things by fiat, it’s because they reflect the will of all reasonable people but when **I** assert things by fiat (which I do for the purpose of calling out **you** asserting things by fiat) it’s because I have pretensions to absolute power? Yes, that makes sense. I’ll file that next to the “things that aren’t onerous to me aren’t onerous to anyone and anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t taking personal responsibility for themselves” one, which is just as convincing. > [@](#): > > ::yawn:: > > Too freakin’ bad, chuckles. I can always tell when you know you’re losing the argument - you get extra snide. Keep thumping the table, counsellor. > [@](#): > > Any system suffers from the flaw that its implementors cannot know the future. Doctors used to treat peptic ulcers by urging people to drink milk. Now, we know about acid blockers and h. pylori. Hint: Jim Crow laws are in the **past**. And since we have a rather strong precedent for laws and the legal system being used to suppress voting in a specific population, your argument needs to be a little more robust than “hey, it’s currently legal so it’s all good”. But please continue to make the “milk is good for your bones so disregard what happened in the past” argument you’re currently pursuing. > [@Bricker](#): > > This thread has been laden with vituperative insults directed at me – this is the Pit, after all, so I cannot complain, but I see you’ve adopted the usual view that the right thing for the conservative to do is accept insults, not return them, smile ingratiatingly, offer arguments that are dismissed out of hand by the liberal interlocutors, and then finally accept defeat at the hands of his betters. Interesting. So your approach is that when **you** direct vituperative insults at other people it’s only because you are a poor persecuted conservative in this benighted land of liberals doing so in self-defense, and when other people do it it’s because they all big meanie-meanheads picking on you purely due to your political preferences and not because anything you’ve written might be legitimately considered highly objectionable. Have I got that right? > [@](#): > > I’m trying to present a view that the silent readers, not the vocal participants, find compelling. Ah, the Silent Majority of ordinary, right-thinking people. Good luck with that. > [@The\_Tooth](#): > > You’re countering your own inferences now? Well, enjoy. I guess. If he argues with himself, he is assured of at least one victory. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10803 "2018-01-09T14:37:27Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > This thread has been laden with vituperative insults directed at me – this is the Pit, after all, so I cannot complain, but I see you’ve adopted the usual view that the right thing for the conservative to do is accept insults, not return them, smile ingratiatingly, offer arguments that are dismissed out of hand by the liberal interlocutors, and then finally accept defeat at the hands of his betters. > > I’m trying to present a view that the silent readers, not the vocal participants, find compelling. In that, you are failing. I largely got dragged into participating on this board specifically because you kept saying that you were appealing to the silent reader, which makes sense. It is unlikely that you are going to convince a debate opponent of your position, and that is very rarely the purpose of a debate. The purpose is usually to convince the audience. As an audience member at the time, I wanted to let you know that your arguments were not compelling, not because you lack legal knowledge of intelligence, but because you tend to use fairly dishonest forms of rhetoric, one of your favorite is usually not actually stating the position that you’re coming from, but only play semantic and nutpicking games, not making any progress whatsoever of actually advancing your idea, but just bogging down and preventing conversation amongst those who are actually interested in discussing something with which you disagree. Anyway, just wanted to counter point that if what you claim is really what you are trying to do, you are failing. As I no longer believe that that is what you are trying to do, I really see it as you enjoy disrupting conversations that are discussing topics you disagree with. Sometimes you have legitimate points to bring up, I can tell that because you actually bring up those legitimate points. When you know that you don’t actually have a legitimate position to argue from, that is when you engage in semantics and passive aggressive pedantry, rather than discussion. Anyway, just an observation, you do you. > [@Bricker](#): > > It counters the inference that this is unusual, and it counters the inference that it’s a problem unique to Republicans, and it counters the inference that Obama enjoyed legitimacy while Republicans do not because they promised one thing and supposedly delivered another. So, you believe that an over promise is the same thing as a deliberate lie? If Obama could have kept you with your doctor or insurance, he would have. The fact that many insurance policies were not actually up to the task of covering people when they got ill, and those had to go away, maybe that should have been addressed, but if you “like you insurance” and your insurance isn’t going to cover you when you need it most, then your opinion on your insurance, and the fact that you “liked” it, isn’t really important. That businesses decided to drop insurance plans for their employees was not really Obama’s fault either. If I were a state politician, looking to increase traffic safety, and I said, if you like your car, you can keep your car, but in the end, there were a few vehicles that were considered to be non-roadworthy due to lacking basic safety equipment like seatbelts or even seats, would you use those examples as claims that I had lied? If your parents take away your car, or you stop paying your car payment and get it repossessed, would you use that as an example to say that I lied? That is the logic that you are using to call Obama’s aspirational over promise as an actual lie. Now, compare that to the claims made by trump about the healthcare program he was going to implement. He said it would be great and wonderful, and that it would cover more people at lower cost. The bill the republicans tried to pass did not even try to accomplish those goals. People voted for trump and republicans because they wanted this healthcare bill that was better than the ACA, which to be quite honest, really shouldn’t have been too hard. They wanted a bill that would better protect the health of themselves and their families, protect better against medical bankruptcy, and lower costs. Trump promised that bill, and that is what lead many voters to vote for him. In trying to equate the two, you fail. I do not believe that you are actually stupid enough to really think that the two are equal, so the other option is that you believe that those reading your words (including that silent majority that you like to think is lauding you) are stupid enough to think that the two are equal. You treat not only your interlocutors with contempt, but also the lurkers that you claim benefit from your arguments. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10804 "2018-01-09T15:11:50Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > So, you believe that an over promise is the same thing as a deliberate lie? There is potential for excessive hairsplitting in trying to separate falsehoods derived from well-intentioned overgeneralization versus those due to deliberate deceit, not least of which because speculation on intent may be involved. In this particular instance, however, I feel the more significant distinction is that of magnitude. How often did Obama make the “you can keep your doctor” statement? How much weight was it given? How far from reality was it? Now how often have Republicans and their media outlets made the “repeal and replace” case and for how many years? How many of them made it? How many of them promised that an actual, substantive replacement plan would be drafted? How many (including the current president) claimed one already existed, even though it patently doesn’t? How many made claims about what this mythical plan would do (e.g. cheaper, more efficient, covering more people)? One can acknowledge that Obama’s statement (which - I have not forgotten - garnered him ‘Lie of the Year’) was wrong and stupid and still point out the false equivalence with the years of far more egregious lies repeated far more frequently by far more people to a much larger audience and with far less actual basis in truth the Republicans have promulgated. This isn’t even “apples and oranges”; this is “apples and Sherman tanks”. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10805 "2018-01-09T16:33:23Z")
Well, it’s \*possible \*to claim that “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction” is the moral equivalent of “No, honey, that dress doesn’t make you look fat”. Just not convincingly. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10806 "2018-01-09T16:37:45Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Hint: Jim Crow laws are in the **past**. If only. Voter ID is just a new one. > [@](#): > > Ah, the Silent Majority of ordinary, right-thinking people. Good luck with that. “I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not! And I’m sick and tired of being told that I am.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10807 "2018-01-09T16:45:15Z")
I’m still chuckling over the idea of defining reasonable as “that which elected officials do”. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10808 "2018-01-09T16:56:47Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Interesting. So your approach is that when **you** assert things by fiat, it’s because they reflect the will of all reasonable people but when **I** assert things by fiat (which I do for the purpose of calling out **you** asserting things by fiat) it’s because I have pretensions to absolute power? Yes, that makes sense. I am not asserting things by fiat. I am asserting things that are the result of actions by elected representatives in a representative democracy. You are asserting things by fiat, because you endorse the representative democracy approach when it yields a result you like and reject it when it doesn’t. That, pally, is fiat. I mean, Your Highness. Sorry. Not sure how royalty feels about informality. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10809 "2018-01-09T17:46:13Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I am not asserting things by fiat. I am asserting things that are the result of actions by elected representatives in a representative democracy. > > You are asserting things by fiat, because you endorse the representative democracy approach when it yields a result you like and reject it when it doesn’t. That, pally, is fiat. > > I mean, Your Highness. Sorry. Not sure how royalty feels about informality. I endorse the approach when the majority of the people affected by legislation like the result. When those elected play games in order to keep themselves in power against the will of their constituents, you cannot really call those actions of its elected legislators reasonable standards in which society expresses its view. It is not really a representative democracy anymore, but more of a dictatorship, with the now authoritative government acting by fiat. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10810 "2018-01-09T18:52:20Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I endorse the approach when the majority of the people affected by legislation like the result. When those elected play games in order to keep themselves in power against the will of their constituents, you cannot really call those actions of its elected legislators reasonable standards in which society expresses its view. It is not really a representative democracy anymore, but more of a dictatorship, with the now authoritative government acting by fiat. QFT There have been many times in this thread and others where I see \*\*Bricker \*\*willfully ignoring the reprehensible character of the people in his team who are elected to make the laws, interpret the laws and at the executive level. They are getting worse nowadays than from a few years back. And it is better for \*\*Bricker \*\*to continue to tell others to ignore the ugly reactionary forest for the few nice legal twigs. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10811 "2018-01-09T20:05:33Z")
Not quite. Voter confidence is a “valid neutral justification”, as determined by men wearing the appropriate black polyester robes. Therefore, even if “some” Republicans have malign motives in voting this legislation, the legislation can still stand, because someone _could_ have voted for a law that has a voting suppression affect for valid reasons. Therefore, we must assume that they did. The robes, the gavel went bang, the decision is handed down, and its all legal and Constitutional. Is it legitimate political action, does it reflect the best traditions and standards of democracy? From these, the Counselor skates gracefully away. According to his personal definition of our argument, he has solidly won. Its the sort of argument that makes a rationalization substitute for a value or a principle. To paraphrase Scripture, don’t cast pearls in front of sheep because they may be wolves in disguise, but so long as they are covered in wool, they are _legally_ sheep. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10812 "2018-01-09T23:18:07Z")
I hope it won’t seem too vituperative of me to note that given his contributions to this thread over the last few days, I feel confident that Bricker has completely lost it. He reached the point where he can no longer argue and has resorted to declaring that we were never worth arguing _with_. Whether or not he is actually a lawyer, he’s now little more than a performance artist. Possibly a starving artist. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10813 "2018-01-09T23:56:42Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I endorse the approach when the majority of the people affected by legislation like the result. When those elected play games in order to keep themselves in power against the will of their constituents, you cannot really call those actions of its elected legislators reasonable standards in which society expresses its view. It is not really a representative democracy anymore, but more of a dictatorship, with the now authoritative government acting by fiat. That ain’t happening, though, so. . . ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10814 "2018-01-09T23:57:48Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > QFT > > There have been many times in this thread and others where I see \*\*Bricker \*\*willfully ignoring the reprehensible character of the people in his team who are elected to make the laws, interpret the laws and at the executive level. They are getting worse nowadays than from a few years back. And it is better for \*\*Bricker \*\*to continue to tell others to ignore the ugly reactionary forest for the few nice legal twigs. As opposed to your preferred method, which is that the legislators won’t do what you demand, so you . . . what, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10815 "2018-01-10T00:57:25Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > …Possibly a starving artist. “Yo Momma floss her teeth with barbed wire!”, well, sure this is the PIt. Jokes about someone’s presumed polyamorous perversions, no problem. But there are limits, sir, limits! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10816 "2018-01-10T01:11:47Z")
So, this sacred value of “voter confidence”? What do you think is the effect on the voter confidence of the people intentionally and adversely hampered by this stuff? What do they say to themselves, gee, its more trouble for me, but at least Republicans don’t have to worry about voter fraud! Swell! I’m gonna go way out on a limb here and suggest that they probably feel disrespected. As if their citizenship was not held to be valuable. How does that foster voter confidence? That’s a real negative impact, that is tangible injury. Voter fraud, on the other hand, is a chimera, a spook story. Do you hear any Republican plans to assuage this insult? Some effort of outreach to ensure that these laws _only_ tighten voter security without putting up barriers for legitimate citizens? Why not? Nobody told them? They didn’t hear anything about that? If voter confidence were the true goal of these actions, it would have been simple enough to make the effort, if they gave a shit. They didn’t. There was a very good reason that they didn’t. They didn’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10817 "2018-01-10T04:16:22Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > As opposed to your preferred method, which is that the legislators won’t do what you demand, so you . . . what, exactly? What you are talking here is that we should not complain about it. IOW you just continue to tell others that it is _legally_ raining when they pee on Hispanics or other minorities and the poor. What you do is what you do not want to talk about what we should do: to toss all the congress rascals out, that nowadays are mostly Republican. Of course they do know that and so they continue to mold the rules to be harder to follow by the poor or minorities, and that leads precisely to the point: Stop defending those reprehensible rascals with your obfuscation. Of course, since I do not expect you to tell your friends to cut it out as you do not want to be voted off the Republican island, I post for others to do then the right thing in the following elections. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10818 "2018-01-10T11:53:36Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I am not asserting things by fiat. I am asserting things that are the result of actions by elected representatives in a representative democracy. You just keep believing that if it makes you happy. And the rest of us (silent majority potentially included) will continue to see it as the bullshit rationalization it is. > [@](#): > > You are asserting things by fiat, because you endorse the representative democracy approach when it yields a result you like and reject it when it doesn’t. That, pally, is fiat. > > I mean, Your Highness. Sorry. Not sure how royalty feels about informality. When you’re done playing with your strawman, remember to tidy it away. > [@Bricker](#): > > As opposed to your preferred method, which is that the legislators won’t do what you demand, so you . . . what, exactly? Obviously, I should: - Get my chosen media outlets to spread rumors of vast amounts of voter fraud to provide an excuse for my pet government officials (supported by ‘evidence’ provided by my private research company) to purge the voter rolls of ‘questionable’ voters, who always strangely seem to belong to demographics and geographic areas that skew to the opposition party. - Require voter IDs but tailor the ID requirements to favor those most likely to be held by people I want to vote and least likely to be held by those I don’t, then make it more difficult for the latter group to obtain those IDs. - Reduce the amount of voting stations and voting booths available in opposition-heavy areas, and reduce or remove any other voting practices favored by opposition voters. - Conduct massive smear campaigns against any organizations seeking to help people overcome all the obstacles I’ve thrown in their way in order to justify closing them down. I mean, that’s the sort of “representative democracy” you’ve been defending. One which represents you…but doesn’t represent “democracy” very much. > [@GIGObuster](#): > > What you are talking here is that we should not complain about it. Forget it, **GIGO** - it’s **Bricker** town. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10819 "2018-01-10T14:03:42Z")
I don’t think it’s off-topic to mention the recent drawing in Virginia after a tied vote. Nevermind that the the tie resulted from GOP malfeasance, I want to ask about the lots drawing itself. _ **Am I the only one who thinks the Election Chairman probably cheated?** _ It doesn’t take rocket science to know that the drawing would appear fairer if the “lots” were properly shuffled, or if the drawing was done by _someone other than the shuffler_, _ **who kept his hands on the GOP canister the entire time.** _ If the goal was to draw the GOP name by cheating I’m not sure what they would have done differently. > [@Bricker](#): > > I am not asserting things by fiat. I am asserting things that are the result of actions by elected representatives in a representative democracy. Do you have a point, **Brickhead**? Nixon’s ordering an illegal burglary was an action “by elected representatives in a representative democracy.” Bush’s stupid trillion-dollar was an action “by elected representatives in a representative democracy.” Or, to explain it in terms that your ilk might grasp, when the Clintons murdered Vince Foster, that was an action “by elected representatives in a representative democracy.” I’ve heard Dopers say that the **Brickhead** is intelligent. Please, someone, PM me if ever shows signs of intelligence, because I sure don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10820 "2018-01-10T14:35:28Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I’ve heard Dopers say that the **Brickhead** is intelligent. Please, someone, PM me if ever shows signs of intelligence, because I sure don’t see it. He apparently used to. I suspect Obama’s election and the Tea Party success in 2010 made Bricker feel he had to choose a side, and he has, though it meant having to rationalize the abuses of his side, i.e. what happened to Garland was perfectly fair, given what happened to Bork, indeed what happened to Bork _demanded_ what happened to Garland. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943.md?page=540) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943.md?page=542)