McBride's Take

In her most recent blog post, Jessica McBride takes the same point I was making in my post below and runs with it. She makes a leap of logic (and geography) to assume the effect of the tire-slashing was to keep poor black people from voting just because the vans were parked at 71st and Capitol Drive (which is actually in a racially-mixed and relatively middle-class area of Milwaukee), and I also think she over-exaggerates the concern that this case is bringing the Democratic Party as a whole in Wisconsin.

As I mentioned in my original post below, the people who did this didn't do the Democratic Party any favors--and it certainly doesn't help that the accused are throwing up a defense that this incident was orchestrated by outside Democratic "operatives." But, aside from the accusations of the accused (who are facing max. sentences of 3 1/2 years in jail and up to $10,000 in fines if convicted), there is no evidence to suggest the original offense was more than an isolated incident committed by a handful of misguided young men.