Rep. Shane Schoeller (r): reading comprehension isn't a strong point

by: Michael Bersin

Thu Jan 12, 2012 at 13:38:49 PM CST

Here's a tip - cutting and pasting a quote out of context may help you with your right wingnut base, but it isn't going to make you look very good to everyone else.

Via Twitter:

@shaneschoeller Schoeller 4 SoS
Conservative Schoeller Applauds Kander's Support of Voter ID [....] #MOSOS 3 hours ago

Not so fast.

And also, the press release from Representative Shane Schoeller's (r) Secretary of State campaign:

Conservative Schoeller Applauds Kander's Support of Voter ID

Jefferson City, Mo. - Conservative Shane Schoeller today applauded Jason Kander's public declaration of support for Voter ID legislation. Schoeller recently filed House Bill 1104, which would require photo identification to vote and damper attempts of vote fraud.

Kander, speaking to the Lafayette County Democrats in Higginsville, and reported by showmeprogress.com, said, "Uh, one of the big issues they've tried to make, one of the big issues in this in this race is photo ID. My rule is real simple, photo ID, going to vote - if it, if a policy makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat, then I'll be for it."

Schoeller welcomes Kander's support on this issue, "It is imperative that we protect your vote and work to halt voter fraud. By requiring that a photo identification be presented helps us promote the integrity of our election process."

Schoeller, an outspoken conservative and the Speaker Pro Tem of the Missouri House of Representatives....

Why, they left stuff out. Go figure.

If someone prefaces a statement with:

Representative Jason Kinder (D): ....one of the big issues they've tried to make....

They're telling you it's somebody else's "big issue", not theirs. And when they follow that up with a personal story which vividly illustrates a serious problem with somebody else's "big issue" they're not endorsing it.

....I've served on the Missouri Veterans Commission. I've been to a lot of veterans homes where you go in and you'll talk to a veteran and you'll find out that this is a person who was in Normandy. But, they haven't driven in a long time, they don't have a license. I think that if you were at, on the beach at Normandy you've earned the right to vote.  I don't think we should put the [inaudible] that right....

You see, requiring a veteran to jump through hoops does not qualify as "makes it easier to vote."

For the individual this would be called reading comprehension. For the twenty something campaign gofer on wingnut welfare, the right wingnut candidate, our old media, and anyone else, it's also called "context".

On the up side, who'd have thought that Representative Shane Shoeller (r) reads Show Me Progress? Maybe if he keeps at it he might learn something. You know, like elderly people and veterans would really like to be able to vote in our elections without having a corporatist right wingnut front group's spam legislation [pdf] make it impossible for them to do so.

Think about that.