You can do what might otherwise be the right thing to do, but you do it in the wrong way or at the wrong time, and it becomes the wrong thing to do.

In a 3-14-2005 post entitled "At the heart of Friday's walkout. - Sen. Minority Leader Brown: 'This is a defining moment for the relationship between Republicans & African-Americans,' I wrote the following about the voter ID legislation:

GOP lawmakers have done it for the past several weeks to women. On Friday they changed the target of their in-your-face legislation from sex to race.

You can do what might otherwise be the right thing to do, but you do it in the wrong way or at the wrong time, and it becomes the wrong thing to do.

On Friday GOP lawmakers knew the bills would stir trouble — but not how much. They found out.

My prediction is that this law will pass muster with the U.S. Department of Justice. But it won't matter. GOP lawmakers will have won the battle but will lose the war come 2006 and later, at least in the Empire State of the South.
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My first prediction about preclearance by the Department of Justice was correct. Here's to hoping my second one in the preceding paragraph also will come to pass.