If one only listened to the radical liberal media, then that person would think America was a despotic regime that only let rich and white people vote. All of it a deceitful narrative.
But that was the “Big Idea” NBC Nightly News threw their weight behind Tuesday night when they sat down with failed Senate candidate and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke to discuss his plans for America. “And tonight in our series, My Big Idea, former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke tells our Harry Smith about his vision to revolutionize voting in America,” touted anchor Lester Holt.
O’Rourke told NBC that he wanted a “new Voting Rights Act, same day and automatic voter registration” along with the end of gerrymandering, which he suggested was when “members of Congress choose their voters”. Correspondent Harry Smith cheerfully added that “O’Rourke also wants to get rid of PACs and big money in politics,” a standard left-wing talking point. Meanwhile, O'Rourke was one of the most successful fundraisers in 2018.
Smith sat back as he allowed O’Rourke to spew his campaign drivel with no challenge:
SMITH: As it sits now, that is not a bill that's going to get passed.
O’ROURKE: It is and I'll tell you why. Because the issues that we're talking about are almost universally popular throughout the rest of the country. People want to have direct access to their representatives, their elected officials. Anything that we want to do as a country is only made possible when our democracy works. It's the greatest mechanism humankind has ever devised and we should be supporting it, fixing it, and making sure that it involves every single American in its success.
“Giving power back to the people. That's Beto O’Rourke’s big idea,” Smith boasted at the end of the segment.
In extended coverage of the interview on NBC News Now, Smith cued up O’Rourke to smear all Republicans as “guilty of voter suppression”. In his response, O’Rourke repeated the debunked liberal lie that the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race was “a stolen election”.
Back in reality, Governor Brian Kemp beat the radical Democratic nominee, Stacey Abrams, by 54,723 votes. The race also witnessed the largest African-American turn out for an election in Georgia history. So, what voter suppression exactly? There was none.
But those facts didn’t matter to Smith who, earlier in his NBC Nightly News report, fawned for “the viral media darling of the 2018 midterms” because “he's taken the momentum of his almost successful challenge against Senator Ted Cruz to mount an even more ambitious campaign.”
Um. If you lose an election, there is no momentum. That’s why O’Rourke was dropping in Democratic primary polls.
The race in Georgia was only “a stolen election” because Republicans won the race. And the reason Smith didn’t fact-check O’Rourke was because the liberal media believe their own lies.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
June 18, 2019
7:13:52 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: Just eight days to go until the first 2020 Democratic primary debate here on NBC. And tonight in our series, My Big Idea, former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke tells our Harry Smith about his vision to revolutionize voting in America.
[Cuts to video]
HARRY SMITH: What's your big idea?
BETO O’ROURKE: We've got to fix our democracy, ensure that it works, and guarantee that every single one of us can be counted into the solutions, to the challenges that we face.
SMITH: Beto O’Rourke, the viral media darling of the 2018 midterms, he's taken the momentum of his almost successful challenge against Senator Ted Cruz to mount an even more ambitious campaign.
O’ROURKE: Count myself lucky to be one of the contenders.
SMITH: We met the former Texas Congressman in Dallas.
O’ROURKE: My idea is to ensure we have a new Voting Rights Act, same day and automatic voter registration. We end the process of gerrymandering, whereby members of Congress choose their voters instead of the other way around.
SMITH: O’Rourke also wants to get rid of PACs and big money in politics.
As it sits now, that is not a bill that's going to get passed.
O’ROURKE: It is and I'll tell you why. Because the issues that we're talking about are almost universally popular throughout the rest of the country. People want to have direct access to their representatives, their elected officials. Anything that we want to do as a country is only made possible when our democracy works. It's the greatest mechanism humankind has ever devised and we should be supporting it, fixing it, and making sure that it involves every single American in its success.
SMITH: Giving power back to the people. That's Beto O’Rourke’s big idea. Harry Smith, NBC News, Dallas.
