On Tuesday, Senate Democrats went to the press to explain why they feel it is essential that our federal government protect the voting rights of American citizens. Read that back and then ask yourself: Are we through the looking glass? Yes, yes we are. While Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema do something that was once called “grandstanding” but in their cases should probably more appropriately be called corrupt-cowering, the rest of the Democratic Senate tried to remind the media and America that the No. 1 thing on the ballot right now is democracy.
The fact that the Republican Party is pretending that the filibuster is some sacred artifact that George Washington had Thomas Jefferson write into the Constitution and then wrap the baby Jesus in before the Lord flew away on a bald eagle doesn’t make it so. The Republican Party has changed the rules of the filibuster in order to mash through unconstitutional Supreme Court picks as recently as 2017. In the olden days, when a filibuster meant you had to stand on your feet and talk for a long time, the record for longest single-person filibuster was held by truly awful human being Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. He spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes of racism-filled invective as he fought against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.
Towards the end of the Majority Leader Chuck Schumer-led press conference, the second to last question from the press was a perfect encapsulation of everything wrong with traditional and right-wing media these days. An as yet unidentified reporter began a misinformation-drenched question about provisions in the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that concerned ballot drop-off boxes and mail-in ballots.
With Schumer standing at the front of the podium, the reporter began by asserting that drop-off boxes and mail-in voting were something “temporary” that was only instituted during the past two years of pandemic, at which point Sen. Amy Klobuchar leaned over to Schumer and said, “Let me.” As the reporter continued on, it became clear that this reporter either is 12 years old, younger than 12 years old, or doesn’t have a clue what they are talking about.
Klobuchar stopped the rambling reporter as they tried to speculate about how racism was involved in Republican moves to limit mail-in voting and destroying drop-off boxes. She said: “First of all, mail-in balloting has been the way of voting in the state of Utah. It hasn't been temporary. And that's one red state.” The reporter began attempting some kind of additional blathering that Klobuchar graciously ended by saying, “Are you talking or am I? I'm talking.”
Then Klobuchar once again explained what every person paying even the tiniest bit of attention to GOP-controlled state legislative moves since the 2020 elections knows: “Mail-in balloting has been the way of life in many, many states, red, blue, and purple. And one of the things we've learned from the pandemic is that it’s actually incredibly helpful in a pandemic, but it’s also made it easier for people to vote. So what has gone on in some states is they've rolled back the very things that would make it easier to vote, leading to more and more—as I pointed out—confusion. The other thing it's important to know, and the reason I use the example of Montana and same-day registration, is they are also rolling back things that have long been the law in states.”
So while this reporter is trying really hard to figure out how voter suppression laws that just happen to affect Black and brown communities disproportionately are racist, maybe they can learn some more about what has been going on in the United States these past many months. Klobuchar continued: “They basically, to quote a North Carolina court regarding a law a few years ago, are discriminating with ‘surgical precision’ by looking at each state and figuring out, ‘How did more people vote this way, let's change that.’ ‘Oh, 70,000 registered to vote in the state of Georgia during the runoff period? Let's do two things: reduce the runoff period, which they have done, Sen. Warnock, and then let's not allow same-day registration—not same-day registration during that period, and that's exactly what they've done.’”
She goes on to say there are numerous examples of these deviously anti-democracy maneuvers available to reporters to read about before they ask stupid questions and finishes by reminding this reporter that every single one of these moves has only one purpose: “No matter which way they did it, it all adds up to one thing and that's voter suppression and limiting people's freedom to vote.”
You don’t have to like Klobuchar for president to enjoy this precision verbal assault.
YouTube Video
The fact that the Republican Party is pretending that the filibuster is some sacred artifact that George Washington had Thomas Jefferson write into the Constitution and then wrap the baby Jesus in before the Lord flew away on a bald eagle doesn’t make it so. The Republican Party has changed the rules of the filibuster in order to mash through unconstitutional Supreme Court picks as recently as 2017. In the olden days, when a filibuster meant you had to stand on your feet and talk for a long time, the record for longest single-person filibuster was held by truly awful human being Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. He spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes of racism-filled invective as he fought against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.
Towards the end of the Majority Leader Chuck Schumer-led press conference, the second to last question from the press was a perfect encapsulation of everything wrong with traditional and right-wing media these days. An as yet unidentified reporter began a misinformation-drenched question about provisions in the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that concerned ballot drop-off boxes and mail-in ballots.
With Schumer standing at the front of the podium, the reporter began by asserting that drop-off boxes and mail-in voting were something “temporary” that was only instituted during the past two years of pandemic, at which point Sen. Amy Klobuchar leaned over to Schumer and said, “Let me.” As the reporter continued on, it became clear that this reporter either is 12 years old, younger than 12 years old, or doesn’t have a clue what they are talking about.
Klobuchar stopped the rambling reporter as they tried to speculate about how racism was involved in Republican moves to limit mail-in voting and destroying drop-off boxes. She said: “First of all, mail-in balloting has been the way of voting in the state of Utah. It hasn't been temporary. And that's one red state.” The reporter began attempting some kind of additional blathering that Klobuchar graciously ended by saying, “Are you talking or am I? I'm talking.”
Then Klobuchar once again explained what every person paying even the tiniest bit of attention to GOP-controlled state legislative moves since the 2020 elections knows: “Mail-in balloting has been the way of life in many, many states, red, blue, and purple. And one of the things we've learned from the pandemic is that it’s actually incredibly helpful in a pandemic, but it’s also made it easier for people to vote. So what has gone on in some states is they've rolled back the very things that would make it easier to vote, leading to more and more—as I pointed out—confusion. The other thing it's important to know, and the reason I use the example of Montana and same-day registration, is they are also rolling back things that have long been the law in states.”
So while this reporter is trying really hard to figure out how voter suppression laws that just happen to affect Black and brown communities disproportionately are racist, maybe they can learn some more about what has been going on in the United States these past many months. Klobuchar continued: “They basically, to quote a North Carolina court regarding a law a few years ago, are discriminating with ‘surgical precision’ by looking at each state and figuring out, ‘How did more people vote this way, let's change that.’ ‘Oh, 70,000 registered to vote in the state of Georgia during the runoff period? Let's do two things: reduce the runoff period, which they have done, Sen. Warnock, and then let's not allow same-day registration—not same-day registration during that period, and that's exactly what they've done.’”
She goes on to say there are numerous examples of these deviously anti-democracy maneuvers available to reporters to read about before they ask stupid questions and finishes by reminding this reporter that every single one of these moves has only one purpose: “No matter which way they did it, it all adds up to one thing and that's voter suppression and limiting people's freedom to vote.”
You don’t have to like Klobuchar for president to enjoy this precision verbal assault.
YouTube Video