Criminal Democrats and Jackass Derbies

Please keep in mind while reading this that I strongly support restoring voting rights to convicted felons who complete their sentences.  I also strongly support providing a reasonable avenue for convicted felons to have their records expunged after meeting some requirements.

However, I am waiting for the campaign ads for democratic candidates that read “Four out of five criminals support me.”

My question for this week is- are Democrats criminals or are criminals democrats? Last Week Gov. McAulliff restored voting rights to 208,000 Virginian felons. Both Democrats and Republicans agree that the felons will vote mainly for Democrats.

Now, this isn’t because McAulliff is a Democrat and they will be voting a gratitude vote.  The criminals who had their voting rights restored by a Republican Governor also voted mainly for Democrats.  The real question is which is the cause and which is the effect?

Does anyone but me think it is somewhat embarrassing for a political party to say, “We appeal to criminals” or “my supporters can’t be expected to have an ID” or “Illegal voters support me”?

In the interest of balance it is also embarrassing for a political party to support a candidate who is rude, vulgar, poorly informed and who encourages violence when anyone disagrees. Notice I didn’t name anyone but you know exactly to whom I am referring.

This election we apparently have one candidate whose platform is “vote for me-I lie better” while the other leading candidate says, “I use the laws and rules to cheat people but it is wrong when they are used against me.”

My analogy for this year’s election is a horse race. Consider the Triple Crown where the best of the best compete. Every year a superior horse wins each race in the Triple Crown.

Then there are thousands of horse races of a lesser level with lower quality horses. The competition is just as good as all of the horses are the same class. In every case there is a winner. One of the field is always faster than the others and wins. There are even Jackass Derbies and one jackass always wins.

But back to politics. Surely both political parties can locate and nominate a superior candidate. Surely our presidential race should be more similar to the Kentucky Derby than to a Jackass Derby.