"Republicans say no fixes need be made in gutted Voting Rights Act", so let's go to #Selma for Photo Op with President Obama

H/T The Progressive Cynic

Let's recap:

In the summer of 2013, in a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court eviscerated a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requiring that several whole states and parts of several others "pre-clear" any changes in their voting laws.

Let's go back to  Bloody Sunday

On "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965, some 600 civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma on U.S. Route 80. They got only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge six blocks away, where state and local lawmen attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas and drove them back into Selma.

The events of “Bloody Sunday,”  led Congress to enact the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA).

The voting rights bill was passed in the U.S. Senate by a 77-19 vote on May 26, 1965. After debating the bill for more than a month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 333-85 on July 9. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, with Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders present at the ceremony.
The act banned the use of literacy tests, provided for federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50 percent of the nonwhite population had not registered to vote, and authorized the U.S. attorney general to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections (in 1964, the 24th Amendment made poll taxes illegal in federal elections; poll taxes in state elections were banned in 1966 by the U.S. Supreme Court).

Fast forward to the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday

Rep. John Lewis said this year's 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march should reflect the dignity of the original event, which is why he arranged for President Obama to visit the day before local officials in Alabama hold their commemoration.
The result will be two marches in Selma — one on Saturday, March 7, with Obama, Lewis and a record number of congressional lawmakers, and one on Sunday, March 8, run by local leaders.
Local Alabama politicians have objected. They say the anniversary has always been held on a Sunday because March 7, 1965, when protesters marching for voting rights for blacks were clubbed and tear gassed by police, is known as Bloody Sunday.

Compromise Complete?

Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, one of the key proponents of the annual Selma events, said groups involved in planning the 50th anniversary of the historic day have agreed there would be one march this year and it would begin on the day it is traditionally held, Sunday.
Sanders said his initial concern was that there would be a march on Saturday or other competing marches.
"What I was trying to do was make sure the march on Sunday was sacred and that it is going on," said Sanders, who along with several other public officials raised the concerns in a State House news conference a month ago.

So what brings George W. Bush, and the GOP to #Selma after they've done everything they can do to keep minorities and women from voting?

Republicans have been working hard to drum up attendees for the Selma march. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. are not attending. Rep. Martha Roby, R-AL, said she is working to get more of the GOP to join her at the commemoration.
"My motivation is my love for the state and the importance and significance of this anniversary," Roby said in a recent interview. "I want as many of my colleagues (as possible) to be a part of that. The civil rights movement belongs to everybody. It's not a Republican or Democratic issue."

Mission Accomplished thanks to President Barack Obama and Representatives Terri Sewell and John Lewis.

Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell of Birmingham and GOP Rep. Martha Roby of Montgomery, are co-hosting the pilgrimage and helped recruit members to attend. Leaders in the Senate include Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Tim Scott, R-S.C.
The organization's annual trip to Alabama is led by Alabama native and Democratic congressman John Lewis of Georgia, who was among those beaten during the 1965 march.
Lewis, in a recent interview, said he was happy to see greater interest from Republicans this year.

This bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all elections, federal, state and local, which have been used to deny Negroes the right to vote.

This bill will establish a simple, uniform standard which cannot be used, however ingenious the effort, to flout our Constitution. It will provide for citizens to be registered by officials of the United States Government, if the state officials refuse to register them. It will eliminate tedious, unnecessary lawsuits which delay the right to vote. Finally, this legislation will insure that properly registered individuals are not prohibited from voting. I will welcome the suggestions from all the members of Congress--I have no doubt - See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/1965-president-lyndon-baines-johnson-voting-rights-act#sthash.76dsg6Zy.dpuf

 What a difference three years makes in Sweet Home Alabama.

This bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all elections, federal, state and local, which have been used to deny Negroes the right to vote.

This bill will establish a simple, uniform standard which cannot be used, however ingenious the effort, to flout our Constitution. It will provide for citizens to be registered by officials of the United States Government, if the state officials refuse to register them. It will eliminate tedious, unnecessary lawsuits which delay the right to vote. Finally, this legislation will insure that properly registered individuals are not prohibited from voting. I will welcome the suggestions from all the members of Congress--I have no doubt that I will get some--on ways and means to strengthen this law and to make it effective. - See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/1965-president-lyndon-baines-johnson-voting-rights-act#sthash.76dsg6Zy.dpuf