Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean paid tribute to Rev. Jesse Jackson on Sunday, traveling to the civil rights leader's Rainbow/PUSH headquarters in Chicago to demand that Republicans back Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s version of a bill to extend the Voting Rights Act.
Republicans "ought not to get even 2 percent" of the African-American vote "in 2008 if we don't have a Voting Rights Act," Dean said, in quotes picked up by the Chicago Sun-Times.
"I want the Voting Rights Act reauthorized, and I want the Republicans to lead on it."
Jackson's version of the Voting Rights Act, portions of which are set to expire in 2007, contains measures to combat so-called voter intimidation of the kind Democrats allege took place in Florida and Ohio during the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman said the GOP backs renewing the Voting Rights Act as it stands, telling National Public Radio in April: "We have a Justice Department and a president that is totally committed to enforcing the Voting Rights Act."
But that wasn't good enough for Dean, who blasted Mehlman's voter outreach efforts with black Americans.
"I do not want to hear any more about Ken Mehlman going to African-American churches," Dean told the Rainbow/PUSH crowd.
During a press conference later in the day, Dean said that passage of the Jackson Voting Rights Act "is a litmus test" Republicans must pass before they can seek black votes.
"If you are not going to support extension of the Voting Rights Act, then I don't know what right you have to go to a black church and show your face," he complained.
Dean also took a swipe at Republicans for using the Bible to defend traditional marriage, telling the crowd, "Let me remind those Republicans" that the Bible mentions helping the poor "3,000 times. I have not yet seen gay marriage mentioned in the Bible. That is a Republican issue."
Reacting to Vice President Dick Cheney's comments to the Fox News Channel, where Cheney described Dean as someone only a mother could love, the volatile DNC chief fumed: "My view is that Fox News is a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and I don't comment on Fox News."
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