Cranley Jumps the Shark on His ‘Voting Rights Pledge’
Holy moly — from the “Issues” section of John Cranley’s web site (2nd Item) — you can’t make this stuff up:
JOHN CRANLEY’S VOTING RIGHTS PLEDGE
Whereas, the right to vote is a hallmark of American freedom; andWhereas, the right to vote has not always been readily available to all Americans; and
Whereas, recent elections and actions by Congress have revealed that there are still forces within our country who will go to considerable lengths to make it more difficult for some Americans to exercise the right to vote; and
Whereas, every branch of government, and especially the United States Congress, should take whatever steps necessary to ensure that no American will ever be unfairly denied the right to cast a vote, and whereas Congress should take steps to prevent anyone from being discouraged from voting;
Therefore, I hereby proclaim that as an elected official, I will continue to work to uphold the precious right to vote and remove any and all barriers intended to discourage Americans from exercising that right; and
Further proclaim that, upon election to the United States House of Representatives, I will always vote to uphold the Voting Rights Act and support efforts to make it easier for Americans to take full advantage of the right to vote.
Proclaimed today, on the Seventh Day of July, 2006 by:
John Cranley, Candidate for Congress
First Congressional District, Ohio
My, I’m impressed.
I could be patient with this, but the challenger is bent out of shape that his opponent, incumbent Steve Chabot, won’t sign Cranley’s pledge.
John, for God’s sake, chill — The link at the mostly-asleep Politics Extra Blog notes that Chabot worked hard on the Voting Rights Act.
But that’s not the clincher — The Voting Rights Act extension was passed by both chambers and signed by the President on July 27 of this year, 20 days after Cranley’s Pledge was posted.
But even THAT’S not the clincher — The clincher is that with the President’s signature, the Voting Rights Act was extended (get this; click “more” for the answer if you are on the home page):
25 years.
Uh, John — Maybe in 2031, when Steve’s in his 19th term in Congress and before your campaign to unseat him in 2032 starts to heat up, y’all can do lunch or something and get this Voting Pledge thing done. K?
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UPDATE: Here is a timeline sent to me by the Chabot campaign of work Mr. Chabot did on the Voting Rights Act in 2005 and 2006.
