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Apparently, Republicans have decided to stick with theirdubious Olive Garden election security analogy no matter how much ridicule they get in the process.
Last week,White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson went viral after suggesting on Newsmax that the popular Italian-inspired restaurant chain is more insistent about security for its never-ending pasta passthan Democrats are about election security.
“I saw a tweet yesterday from Olive Garden, of all places, that in order to take advantage of their never-ending pasta pass, you have to show photo ID,” she said. “I thought, that’s weird, Olive Garden takes pasta pass security more seriously than Democrats are taking election security.”
Olive Garden does indeed require pass-holders to show a photo ID before ordering the never-ending pasta, but ― and this is an important distinction ― there’s a big difference between access to unlimited pasta and access to one’s constitutional right to vote.
Jackson’s analogy was promptly ridiculed on social media, but it hasn’t stopped Republican lawmakers from using it to promote the passage of Donald Trump’s so-called SAVE America Act.
If that bill passes ― and the chances of that currently don’t look good ― voters would need to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote and a photo ID at the time of voting.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) cited the Olive Garden analogy during a congressional session on Monday, saying, “Heck, you even need to present a photo ID to utilize the Olive Garden’s never-ending pasta pass.”
On Tuesday, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) tried out the same talking point but fumbled a key detail and suggested that picture ID is required to “get pasta at Olive Garden.”
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Olive Garden did not immediately reply to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Not surprisingly, both Foxx and Scalise were both ridiculed for attempting to turn an Olive Garden promotion into an excuse for voter suppression.
