The particulars of Carter's objection to the bill were overshadowed by his verbiage, especially when he said, "I simply believe you should be able to read, write and speak English to be a voter in the United States."

Oops! The VRA was passed in part to stop racists from administering literacy tests at the polls designed to block minority voter access. It also mandated that jurisdictions that contain enough people with limited English skills print their ballots in other languages.

Why would Carter endorse a literacy test in the light of such an embarrassing historical record? You see, he also said, "I don't think we have racial bias in Texas anymore."

As much as we'd all love for Representative Pollyanna to be correct in his proclamation of a color-blind Lone Star State, the facts say otherwise. According to a report by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Texas has had the second highest number of objections filed under the VRA since 1982, behind only Mississippi.