DNC Chair’s Voter ID Comment Is Finalist for PolitiFact’s “Lie of the Year”

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s claim that voter ID was comparable to Jim Crow laws has been featured as one of the top ten lies of 2011 by PolitiFact.

Here’s the ‘winning’ lie (which was said to CNN's Roland Martin in June):

You have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally -- and very transparently -- block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates than Republican candidates.

PolitiFact criticized “the inflammatory nature of the phrase, which all but calls the laws’ supporters racists.”  PolitiFact points out that voter ID has a “feasible ‘out’ -- getting an ID card.”  PolitiFact concludes, “they would not return the United States to Jim Crow. Saying so offers more heat than light.”

PolitiFact relied on input from Harvard Law School Professor Michael J. Klarman, FairVote’s executive director Rob Richie, East Georgia College historian Thomas Adams Upchurch, Yale Law School Professor Heather Gerkin, and Loyola Law School professor Richard Hasen to rate Wasserman Schultz’s comment false.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s character came into question this year also for letting the DNC use footage of House chamber for political ads in violation of House of Representatives ethics rules.

Will Debbie Wasserman Schultz ‘win’ the title of ‘liar of the year’?  She stands a good chance, but then again, President Obama is also a finalist on the top ten list... twice.