Campaigning in Ohio last Friday, President Obama was interrupted when the crowd booed at his mention of House Republicans and Mitt Romney. The President responded by saying:

“No, no, no — don’t boo, vote. Vote. Voting is the best revenge.”

Mitt Romney, looking for anything to grasp onto, tried to belittle what Obama said. “Vote for revenge?” Romney asked. “Let me tell you what I’d like to tell you: Vote for love of country“.

Yes. Mr. Romney, we do vote as the best revenge. We vote out of revenge for you and your Republican cronies trying to deny us the right to vote. We vote out of revenge for your Republican cronies in the Pennsylvania trying to deny a 93-year old great-great grandmother who has voted for over 70 years her right to vote this year because she doesn’t have a drivers license.

When he passed that law that would deny Viviette Applewhite her right to vote for not having the “correct” ID, the leader of PA House Republicans crowed “Voter ID law that will enable Mitt Romney to carry Pennsylvania? Done! No, not quite “done” – Viviette refused to take no for an answer and sued, and a judge agreed with her and struck down the law for this election. So Viviette will be voting this Tuesday – out of revenge and love of country.

But that didn’t stop the Republicans – despite the judge’s ruling they kept the signs up, incorrectly and illegally telling voters they had to have ID to vote.

So Obama For America is mounting a huge ground game, knocking on doors and telling voters that they don’t need an ID to vote, telling them to vote out of revenge, and for love of country. And we’ll be back Tuesday to see if they need any help getting to the polls.

And then there was that little Republican voter information campaign:

Funny thing, though – those “voter information campaign” warning voters against voter fraud weren’t placed on highways or in the suburbs, they were only placed in inner city, poor and minority neighborhoods. Neighborhoods that just happened to vote overwhelmingly Democratic. And who paid for those billboards? A little known Wisconsin “foundation” called the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. Harry Bradley is a conservative Republican “kingmaker” in Wisconsin, who has funded campaigns for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Congressman Paul Ryan, and many more. Despite the intimation, voters in those neighborhoods will be voting this Tuesday, voting out of revenge and love of country.

And then there’s that early voting. Ohio Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to deny his fellow Ohioans the last 3 days of early voting. Why? In 2008 Black Churches all across the state organized a “Souls to the Polls” campaign, providing transportation to take thousands and thousands of their parishioners to the polls to vote on the Sunday before election day.  And Obama carried Ohio in 2008. My goodness, we can’t have that happen again! Well, the Supreme Court told Jon to stuff it, and those souls are going to the polls today, voting out of revenge and love of country.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Rick Scott cut early voting from 14 days in 2008 to just eight days this year, which ended yesterday – no Souls to the Polls in Florida this year. So we waited in line for four hours to vote yesterday, waited in line for five hours to vote yesterday, and waited in line for six hours to vote yesterday. Waited to vote out of revenge, waited to vote for love of country.

But vengeance is a dish best served cold. So we didn’t get angry, we didn’t get upset, we just waited patiently in long lines to cast our vote that Republicans tried to deny us.

And waited patiently in long lines to cast our vote that Republicans tried to deny us.

And waited patiently in long lines to cast our vote that Republicans tried to deny us.

And waited patiently in long lines to cast our vote that Republicans tried to deny us.

We waited patiently in long lines to cast our vote. Out of revenge for you and your cronies trying to deny us our right to vote. And yes, Mitt – for Love of Country. Because 2010 was the year of the Tea Party because we stayed home. So we waited patiently in long lines to cast our vote Republicans tried to deny us, because 2012 is the year of “You got your shot, thanks for reminding us why we voted for Democrats in 2008″.

Republicans love to win in the state of Ohio. So much so that they keep dreaming up new and better ways to suppress the vote in minority and Democratic areas. In 2004 they distributed voting machines in such a way as to create long lines in predominately Democratic, minority precincts.  An estimated 174,000 voters gave up on trying to vote and left the long lines. George W Bush carried Ohio by 118,000 votes.

In 2007 the Democratic Governor and the Democratic majority legislature addressed the problem by introducing early voting – voters could vote as early as 35 days prior to the election, right up to election days, and vote early in convenient locations that were open evenings and weekends. It was very successful – In Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County, African Americans make up 28 percent of the population but were 56 percent of early voters in 2008. In Columbus’s Franklin County, they make up 20 percent of the population but were 34 percent of early voters. Barack Obama carried Ohio by almost 300,000 votes.

2010 swept the legislature and Governorship back to the GOP, and they quickly decided that many people participating in Democracy was a very bad thing. The shortened early voting from 35 days to just 11, with voting 3 days before the election eliminated. Long lines in minority precincts, that should swing things their way again, right? Well, why take a chance the Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted decided – he has introduced a “separate and definitely not equal” system. Early voting in the urban areas, rich in Democratic votes? Early voting will only be 8am to 5pm weekdays. No evening voting after work, no weekend voting. The rural and suburban areas, rich in Republican votes? They get extended evening early voting hours, and weekends to boot. Can voter suppression get anymore obvious?

Republicans apparently think democracy works best when only their voters get to vote. See you in court. And don’t get any ideas, Gov. Brewer.

Link to the article at The Nation.