This is a single-issue diary: Please stop using the phrase, "voter fraud". The expression plays right into the Bush Administration's hands by evoking that which does not exist. As today's NY Times reports:
Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews.
Haven't we learned anything from David Frum and George Lakoff? The choice of words is crucial to framing the issue and formulating public understanding. As a better frame and more accurate depiction of the phenomena with which we are confronting, I humbly suggest, "voter suppression".
The Bush Administration has issued forward a multitude of linguistic terms that contort national debate and skew public understanding of issues. From "Clear Skies" to "No Child Left Behind" to "Death Tax", the Bush Administration and GOP have used language to distort public debate. "Voter fraud" is just a continuation of Republican framing. I believe that we really need to get a linguistic grip on "voter fraud" before this issue really explodes. It's time that we turned the tables on the propagandists. The US Attorney scandal didn't involve "voter fraud", it involved false and unfounded accusations of voter fraud. Why don't we make this explicit instead of having to explain it everytime the issue is raised?