While the liberal media pushed lie after lie about the Republican Party trying to “roll back voting rights” in an effort to “target” minority voters, Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania stepped into the breach during Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC and told them off. He told them it “makes a lot of sense” to verify the identity of a voter and called out Democratic efforts to nationalize our elections.
After talking about gun control and the Senator’s background check bill, NBC political director and moderator Chuck Todd tried to brush over Democratic nationalization efforts to make the conversation about Republican support for a new Voting Rights Act. And he did so by highlighting a soundbite Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock (D) falsely suggesting the GOP was against voting rights.
“I want to separate HR-1 from the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Do you believe there is enough—there are ten Republicans to do an updated version of the Voting Rights Act, something that used to be fairly easy to get done in a bipartisan way? I know the issues with HR-1, and I'm trying to separate the two. Where are you on this,” Todd ridiculously asked.
Toomey didn’t take the bait. He instead put attention on what Todd didn’t want to address in HR-1; issues like increasing the insidious practice of ballot harvesting:
The Democrats have been driving this message on HR-1. And I think we ought to be asking our Democratic colleagues why are they so insistent that we not have any mechanism to verify that a person seeking to vote is, in fact, the person that they say they are. Why are they so insistent that people ought to be able to go ballot harvesting, maybe go through a nursing home and get a couple hundred ballots that just happen to be whatever they are.
“I mean, there is a completely false narrative about so-called ‘voter suppression,’” Toomey declared. “You look at the Georgia law. There's no voter suppression. Sunday voting is still allowed. There's an expansion of in-person voting, there’s no requirement that you have a reason for a mail-in ballot.”
The Senator then put Todd on the spot, adding: “So, this has been a false narrative entirely, Chuck. And I'm afraid it's all about trying to get rid of the filibuster. We're not going to be cowed by being called racist over a policy that has nothing to do with race.”
Todd refused to address the facts and tried to make the issue the optics of GOP efforts:
I understand your point of view there. I'm just curious though, do you think it's a good look for the party that, after the presidential loss, after the former candidate basically creates a false narrative and lies about why it happened, that these laws are getting changed under a false pretense? That's not a good look for the Republican Party, is it not?
After noting his criticism of former President Trump post-election, Toomey told Todd “we should be honest” about election integrity. He recalled the fact that many states (including his home state) made very dramatic sweeping changes to accommodate the circumstances of a global pandemic that had huge implications.”
“And some of those sweeping changes include provisions that are really actually tough to verify the accuracy of the vote,” he explained. “And we have an awful lot of Americans who are worried about the integrity of our system. So, some commonsense measures like requiring an ID to get an absentee ballot or to vote, that just makes a lot of sense.”
Todd didn’t really have a response, and he had already announced “one last question” two questions ago, so the interview promptly ended.
Chuck Todd’s false narrative of opposition to voting rights and voter suppression against Republicans was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Verizon and Walmart. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased programming their fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC’s Meet the Press
March 28, 2021
10:50:47 a.m. Eastern(...)
CHUCK TODD: One last question. I want to ask you about the voting rights issue, but I want to play a statement from your colleague on the Democratic side of the aisle, Raphael Warnock. Here’s what he had to say about voting rights.
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): We wouldn't have to have this debate about the filibuster, at least on this issue, if the folks on the other side would do the right thing and stand for voting rights.
TODD: I want to separate HR-1 from the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Do you believe there is enough—there are ten Republicans to do an updated version of the Voting Rights Act, something that used to be fairly easy to get done in a bipartisan way? I know the issues with HR-1, and I'm trying to separate the two. Where are you on this?
SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): So, I haven't drilled down on this distinction that you're making. The Democrats have been driving this message on HR-1. And I think we ought to be asking our Democratic colleagues why are they so insistent that we not have any mechanism to verify that a person seeking to vote is, in fact, the person that they say they are. Why are they so insistent that people ought to be able to go ballot harvesting, maybe go through a nursing home and get a couple hundred ballots that just happen to be whatever they are.
I mean, there is a completely false narrative about so-called “voter suppression.” You look at the Georgia law. There's no voter suppression. Sunday voting is still allowed. There's an expansion of in-person voting, there’s no requirement that you have a reason for a mail-in ballot. All you need is some verification of ID, and so does every Department of Transportation in America in order to drive. So does every airline if you're going to get on a plane.
So, this has been a false narrative entirely, Chuck. And I'm afraid it's all about trying to get rid of the filibuster. We're not going to be cowed by being called racist over a policy that has nothing to do with race.
TODD: I understand your point of view there. I'm just curious though, do you think it's a good look for the party that, after the presidential loss, after the former candidate basically creates a false narrative and lies about why it happened, that these laws are getting changed under a false pretense? That's not a good look for the Republican Party, is it not?
TOOMEY: Well, Chuck, look, I was very critical of President Trump along the way after the election, as I think you know. But we should be honest about this. We made very dramatic sweeping changes to accommodate the circumstances of a global pandemic that had huge implications. And some of those sweeping changes include provisions that are really actually tough to verify the accuracy of the vote. And we have an awful lot of Americans who are worried about the integrity of our system. So, some commonsense measures like requiring an ID to get an absentee ballot or to vote, that just makes a lot of sense.
TODD: Senator Pat Toomey, Republican from Pennsylvania. Always appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. Thank you, sir.
TOOMEY: Thanks for having me, Chuck.
