The Patriot Post® · Turning Virginia Blue

Virginia Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe just gave Hillary Clinton a big gift ahead of the November election. McAuliffe signed an executive action granting voting rights to 200,000 ex-felons, and people with criminal records tend to vote Democrat. Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) said in a statement, “The singular purpose of Terry McAuliffe’s governorship is to elect Hillary Clinton President of the United States. This office has always been a stepping stone to a job in Hillary Clinton’s cabinet.” But given that Hillary herself should be a felon, this was the obvious move. McAuliffe’s action won’t help only Clinton, either, but every down-ballot Democrat in Virginia.

For his part, McAuliffe told Republicans to get over it: “Well, I would tell the Republicans, ‘Quit complaining and go out and earn these folks’ right to vote for you.‘ … I think some of the language that has come out of the Republicans — I would tell them to be very careful at how they frame this, very careful of their rhetoric.” Fair enough, but Democrats are all too happy to paint Republicans as racist homophobes who oppress the poor, and their Leftmedia mouthpieces repeat the charge loudly and often. Defending Rule of Law is the harder position to defend when your opponents are emotionally demo-goguing the issue.

Meanwhile, recall that Barack Obama’s Justice Department released a few thousand nonviolent federal prisoners late last year, with thousands more on the way. In general, Democrats treat prison reform and voting rights as a method of gaining more votes for themselves. But they “care.”