Monday, February 23, 2004

More Republican Juvenilia*

If you ever thought that the Democrat's concerns about redistricting in states like Texas were overblown, consider this Republican staffer’s leaked email. In an email with the subject header "R's will pick up 6-7 seats now in Texas," Job Fortson writes
"The maps are now official. I have studied them and this is the most agressive [sic] map I have ever seen. This has a real national impact that should assure that Republicans keep the House no matter the national mood."
"No matter the national mood"? That phrase ought to frighten and revolt every voter in the state of Texas. In 32 subsequent paragraphs (riddled with spelling errors), Fortson explains the status of each congressional district and how they're largely being taken care of.

As Polstate.com points out,
The email is notable for the blunt way in which it address the way in which minorities were shunted from district to district, squeezing them out of districts to favor republicans where the vote was close, or else putting them into overwhelmingly republican districts where their voting power would be diluted.
*with sincere apologies to juvenile writers everywhere

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