Funny what a lot of bad press will do to an elected officials position on, well, anything.

Remember how Rep. John Carter (R-TX) and other Texas Rs stalled the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, despite support from R leadership and the White House? Remember how Carter was quoted as saying, "I don't think we have racial bias in Texas anymore" ... and ... "I simply believe you should be able to read, write and speak English to be a voter in the United States," which obviously pissed off people because requiring literacy tests to vote is fucking unconstitutional.

Well, it turns out Carter said none of that! Or, if he indeed did say it, it's not what he meant to say! Or something - whatever you'll swallow.

Per Quorum Report, Carter's only reservation with the VRA is that Congress should wait to act until the Supremes rule on Texas redistricting. Ahh, I can totally see how his initial quotes square with that. From QR:

Ellsworth reiterated that Carter had no other issues with the VRA. In a broad philosophical sense, he believes that voters should be comfortable reading, writing and speaking English because that was the best way to get all the information about candidates and issues. She said, however, Carter never meant to leave the impression that fluency or literacy should be a condition for voting.

She also said Carter does not believe racial bias no longer exists in Texas. However, compared to 1964 when the bill was originally passed, conditions in Texas are dramatically improved.

Finally, Ellsworth said that Carter did not oppose Department of Justice pre-clearance but believed that possible discrimination was not limited to the nine states currently in the VRA. She said he believed that all the states should be subject to DOJ review and pre-clearance.