Justice Official: Race Remark "Hurtful"

(CBS)  The chief of the Justice Department's voting rights division apologized Tuesday for saying that aging is not a problem with black voters because they die before they become elderly, unlike whites.

Still, some Democrats said they want him fired.

"I want to apologize for the comments I made at the recent meeting of the National Latino Congreso about the impact of voter identification laws on elderly and minority voters," said John Tanner, voting section chief of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

"My explanation of the data came across in a hurtful way, which I deeply regret," he told the House subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and civil liberties.

That wasn't good enough for some Democrats, who accused Tanner of policymaking and analysis without facts to back it up. Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., last week called for Tanner's firing.

Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., said that in the 2004 presidential race, for example, the same percentage of eligible black voters as whites cast ballots in his state. But of those groups, more blacks over age 60 voted than whites in the same age group.

Tanner, who said he too is from Alabama, said he was unaware of those statistics.

"You engaged in an analysis without knowing the numbers," Davis told Tanner. "If you are basing your conclusions on stereotypes rather than facts, then it suggests to some of us that someone else can do this job better than you can."

It is well documented that black Americans - particularly black males - have shorter life expectancies than whites. A black person born in 2004 had an average life expectancy of 73.1 years, about five years less than for whites, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

At issue are Tanner's remarks Oct. 5 before the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles. Tanner addressed state laws that require photo identification for voting, saying that elderly voters disproportionately don't have the proper IDs.

"That's a shame, you know, creating problems for elderly persons just is not good under any circumstance," Tanner said, according to video posted on YouTube. "Of course, that also ties into the racial aspect because our society is such that minorities don't become elderly the way white people do. They die first.

"There are inequities in health care. There are a variety of inequities in this country, and so anything that disproportionately impacts the elderly has the opposite impact on minorities. Just the math is such as that," Tanner added.

Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the full House Judiciary Committee, said the comment demonstrates "a severe lack of appreciation of what the section's mission should be: that minority voters should not be disenfranchised."

Conyers and other Democrats complained about Tanner's stewardship of the voting section, and subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the hearing had been scheduled more than two months before Tanner made the comments. The proceedings, however, were postponed until the Justice Department could make Tanner available to testify, Nadler said.

Tanner has come under fire for clearing a Georgia law that requires voters to show government-issued photo IDs at the polls. A subsequent photo ID law was upheld by a federal judge last month.

Opponents say photo ID laws will disenfranchise minorities, the poor and the elderly who don't have driver's licenses or other valid government-issued photo IDs. Supporters of such laws say they are needed to prevent voter fraud.

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider Indiana's photo ID law, which is similar to Georgia's, this term.

[usaprophet]

Most Americans just don''t seem to care that our nation, along with the Constitution upon which it was founded, is being flushed-down the NWO toilet by our nations'' ruling elite. While Congress and the President warn and insite fear in the sheeple about the prospect of terrorism, they at the same time leave our border wide open, and fund and conduct illegal wars overseas that do nothing but encite the terrorism which their Draconian Laws like the Patriot Act and The Real ID Act pretend to protect us from. Think about it. What would you do, if someone invaded the U.S. for no reason, and took over. You''d be mad as hell, and you''d be making trips to their country in order to give a little payback. Wake up America! It''s not about protecting you from terrorism, or saving our planet from Global Warming, or any of that fear-mongering garbage the tube feeds you 24/7. It''s about feeding the military industrial complex and facilitating the ruling elite''s ability to ratchet-down control over the American people, placing us into a total control grid where they can surveille, track and control everywhere we go and everything we do. It''s the groundwork for totalitarianism. I weep for my country, and for those of you who are so distracted, dumbed-down, or outright brainwashed by mainstream media, which endlessly regurgitates scientifically-crafted streams of information aimed at keeping your eyes closed to the realities of the world around you, that you fail to recognize this. Go Ron Paul!.

[klingon69]

Tanner has come under fire for clearing a Georgia law that requires voters to show government-issued photo IDs at the polls. A subsequent photo ID law was upheld by a federal judge last month.

Opponents say photo ID laws will disenfranchise minorities, the poor and the elderly who don''t have driver''s licenses or other valid government-issued photo IDs. Supporters of such laws say they are needed to prevent voter fraud.

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider Indiana''s photo ID law, which is similar to Georgia''s, this term.

I must not understand the photo-id law. In Texas, I have always had to show photo ID to vote. Is this not required? I think Citizenship papers should have to be shown before any voting happens. A valid state govt issued birth certificate would be perfect to comply with this.

[signof4]

%u201CYou engaged in an analysis without knowing the numbers,%u201D

Democrat congressman and senators lie every day! They throw out false numbers, misleading information, out and out lies; should they be fired too?

[fibonacci_]

Maybe Ron Paul could solve this, thefarrier? Put up some more Ron Paul stuff here, there is a gap here.

[nyecop]

This is part of what is wrong with our country. Assuming (and I am assuming) that this person was just stating facts supported by medical evidence, then all he is guilty of is failing to use politically correct wording. What the real shame is here is that if this remark had been made about any other race that "black voters" then no one would have said anything. Black, White, Red, Yellow, Brown or whatever your race, you have no more (or less) rights than any other race and it is time that true recial equality be restored in The United States of America and all races are truly treated equally instead of being given a preference because of the color of your skin. We are all equal... Treat us that way in all matters. What this person really needs to apologize for is being tackless and (if it is true) telling the truth.