Steve Benen:

But DeMint then turned to voter-ID laws. “[I]t’s something we’re working on all over the country because in the states where they do have voter ID laws you’ve seen, actually, elections begin to change towards more conservative candidates,” he said.

In case anyone, including DeMint, needs a refresher, the line Republicans and proponents of voter-suppression tactics are supposed to take is that voter-ID policies have nothing to do with partisanship or affecting the outcome of elections, and everything to do with the integrity of the voting process. “We’re not trying to disenfranchise Democrats,” GOP officials say, “that’s just the accidental byproduct of our policies.”

The argument is obviously untrue, but at least in public, Republicans generally try to pretend that the talking points have merit.

Except that’s not at all what DeMint said. Rather, the Heritage Foundation chief argued that the right is working on voter-ID policies across the country “because” these laws help elect conservatives.

It’s one of those classic cases of someone making a mistake by accidentally telling the truth.