Just a few bad apples

The Note says today that the GOP doesn't deserve its reputation as the party of vote suppression.

Yes, the GOP is still under enhanced scrutiny for decades-ago shenanigans around the country. And there remain mean people who do nasty things every election on both sides. Some top GOP officials wonder whether some "stupid" independent activists — that is their characterization , not ours — will make it hard for them on Election Day by doing "stupid" things unilaterally, like checking identifications at the door to the polls, printing flyers saying Election Day is on Nov. 3, or paying for last minute push polls that aim to confuse some voters.

We know that GOP lawyers in their -pre-election briefings take pains to warn their soldiers away from doing anything like this. And we believe Ed Gillespie when he says he won't stand for that kind of stuff this year. And Democrats will also go out of their way to sniff out intimidation, raising its profile and masterfully enlisting the media in their communications plans. But ignore any flippancy, voter intimidation is real and can have real effects.

Forget the disenfranchisement of a million black voters in 2000, forget the Jeb Bush-Katherine Harris-Rent-a-mob tag team in Florida. Forget it all and believe the Note. Damn those "stupid" independent activists...