“I’m just not sure if this is something I would want to have on this High Point University campus, the registration of voting [sic].”
The leader of a college Republican chapter in the state was caught on camera telling a conservative group that it couldn’t register voters on campus Wednesday—the same day state leaders pledged to take their fight for a restrictive voting law to the Supreme Court.
“I just do not want to have people being registered to vote, whatsoever,” Leigh Thomas, chair of the High Point University College Republicans, said in the video, which was first published by Campus Reform, a conservative activist group.
In the video, Bree Binder, a member of the group Turning Point USA, asked Thomas for permission to enter the campus to register voters. At High Point, visitors to the campus are required to have permission from a student, according to Charlie Kirk, Turning Point’s executive director.
Binder, who filmed the encounter, expected Thomas would help, because Thomas had worked cooperatively with Turning Point in the past. Instead, Thomas said no.
“I’m just not sure if this is something I would want to have on this High Point University campus, the registration of voting [sic].”
Asked why, Thomas repeated: “I don’t approve of it whatsoever—on a campus like High Point University,” then reiterated: ”I don’t want to have any voting registration happening on this campus, with students.”http://www.msnbc.com/...
Warning, the video has a 'Palinesque' quality; when fist viewing, I laughed through tears of sadness. This vid is a cultural indictment or in the words of Napoleon: "In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.”
For a good satirical analysis click here: http://www.camelcitydispatch.com/...
So what is behind this ding-bat decision? Has Thomas gotten a crazy notion that “Only liberals like registering voters” somewhere in the un-plumbed depths of this young lady’s mind? Is the state party apparatus so terrified of the mythological youth vote that they have ordered college Republican groups to do whatever is in their power to make sure that no new voters are minted on university grounds? Has Thomas been so conditioned by repetitive exposure to propaganda geared toward convincing Republicans that the entire elections system is rife with fraud, registering voters might be a little gay, and a small group of elites with a right to vote based on economic status might be a pretty good idea down the line?
Is this spill-over from the very real efforts by the North Carolina GOP establishment to clamp down on and marginalize truly grassroots activists and candidates? ...
The video appeared on social media yesterday, was pulled, then resurfaced; apparently even other Republicans were concerned...
In an interview with Campus Reform, Turning Points USA founder Charlie Kirk said he was disappointed in the College Republicans' response to his group’s grassroots activism.
“Voter registration is an integral part of getting more young people involved, informed, and engaged,” Kirk said. "Nobody should have a monopoly on registering college students to vote or try to prevent college students from voting."
“An important part of outreach is civic engagement—we have previously worked very well with College Republicans and are disappointed that, at High Point University, our registration efforts were thwarted by the leader of College Republicans.”http://www.campusreform.org/...
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”
― Groucho Marx