Ann Althouse reviewed what promises to be a hacktastic The New Republic obedient hit-piece against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.  The TNR article promised revelations of a “toxic strain of racial politics” running through Governor Walker’s career, only Ann couldn’t find any of it:

I can’t link to the article, but I can read it on my iPad. It’s titled — creepily — “The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker.” Sub-head: “A Journey Through the Poisonous World That Produced a Republican Star.” It’s written by Alec MacGillis.

AND: I have now read the long article, and the closest thing to anything racial coming directly from Scott Walker is his support over the years for voter ID laws.

Ah, yes.  Those racially pernicious Voter ID laws that the Left so loves to hate.  Let’s review how those laws are received in the real world, shall we?

• Washington Post, July 2012: 65/33 support for Voter ID among Blacks.
• Pew Research Center, September 2012: 61/35 support among Democrats.
• McClatchy-Marist, July 2013: 83/12 support for among non-whites.
• Fox News poll, May 2014: 51/46 support among African Americans.
• Rasmussen Reports, May 2014: 78/19 support among likely voters.

We see this over and over and over again. Support of voter ID laws does not make one racist, unless you’re prepared to call a majority of minority voters racist about themselves. Voter ID is, in fact, a perfectly mainstream and popular position.  It is the people who oppose Voter ID who are the fringe.  Which apparently includes the folks at The New Republic. Or perhaps TNR doesn’t believe in this pernicious nonsense any more than I do: they just know that their core readership loves to intellectually masturbate over the idea of helpless, child-like minorities being roughly treated by brutal, domineering Republicans.

Hey, I am being polite: I included the word ‘intellectually.’ I’m not entirely certain that doing so is justified by the available evidence.

Moe Lane (crosspost)