‘Can a magazine jump a shark?’ The New Republic redefines ‘voter suppression’

“Didja hear how the GOP is suppressing the vote?” “Dogs? Water cannons?”’ “WORSE. They’re, gasp, LEAVING A DEM ON THE BALLOT!” “…”

— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) September 05, 2014

Welp, give The New Republic points for creativity with this one:

http://twitter.com/#!/tnr/status/507980510405357569

So here’s the deal: Kansas Democrat Chad Taylor has been running against incumbent GOP Senator Pat Roberts, but the Independent candidate is currently beating him in the polls. So, what’s a flailing Dem to do? Why, drop out of the race, of course.

Unfortunately for Taylor, Kansas’ secretary of state isn’t letting him off the hook so easily. And The New Republic really doesn’t like that. Because … voter suppression?

The case will now go to the courts. Election law guru Rick Hasen writes that though Taylor has a case, the question of what the courts will do is a tossup. If they rule for Kobach, then Democrats will have to undertake the awkward task of asking voters not to vote for the Democrat on the ballot. But they’ll also have vouchsafed the strategy Republicans always employ when they fear the electorate isn’t on their side. Normally that means making it hard for Democrats to vote in the first place. This time around it means trying to trick low-information Democrats into voting for a candidate who isn’t running. But it’s still voter suppression.

It is? Since when?

http://twitter.com/#!/charlescwcooke/status/507986048128131072 http://twitter.com/#!/seanagnew/status/507984218106781696 http://twitter.com/#!/tsrblke/status/507984918786228224

Heh.

http://twitter.com/#!/RBPundit/status/507985923012063232 http://twitter.com/#!/DrewMTips/status/507988799876788224 http://twitter.com/#!/SonnyBunch/status/507987463701553152 http://twitter.com/#!/SonnyBunch/status/507985979807129600

Journalism’s come a long way, baby.

http://twitter.com/#!/charlescwcooke/status/507987878283333632

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Related:

Twitchy coverage of The New Republic

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2014/09/05/can-a-magazine-jump-a-shark-the-new-republic-redefines-voter-suppression/