Between Thursday night and Friday evening, a number of shows on both CNN and MSNBC have pushed claims by Democrats that Georgia Republicans are engaging in "voter suppression" targeted at black voters because of reports that more than 50,000 new voter registrations of mostly black voters are being held in limbo because of errors in the paperwork.
But only CNN's Jake Tapper has bothered to note that Secretary of State and GOP gubernatorial nominee Brian Kemp gave an explanation for why a disproportionately large number of black voters were affected.
MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell went the furthest in hyping the issue as he called it a "scandal," and did not bother to inform viewers that the voters affected can resolve the issue on Election Day or at least cast provisional ballots so that the matter will not prohibit them from voting. He also demonized Kemp as "the most obvious of the grotesque, racist voter suppressers."
On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow first covered the issue on Wednesday night and revisited the story on Thursday as Chris Hayes and O'Donnell caught up, and, on Friday, anchors Stephanie Ruhle, Craig Melvin, Andrea Mitchell, and Nicolle Wallace devoted attention to the story, and the Morning Joe show also made time for it.
Even though the AP article that the shows cited on screen as their source included Kemp's explanation that the reason almost 70 percent of voters affected were black was because a liberal group -- the New Georgia Project -- focuses on registering minority voters and was responsible for turning in many incomplete forms, all of the shows on MSNBC did not bother to even mention this clarification and made it sound like blacks must have deliberately been targeted by the Georgia Secretary of State office.
And, on Andrea Mitchell Reports, contributor Charlie Sykes was true to form as an MSNBC Republican as he mostly fretted over the matter and did not bring up Kemp's explanation.
On CNN, New Day, At This Hour, Inside Politics, The Lead, and The Situation Room all carried the story on Friday, and host Jake Tapper was alone in noting the New Georgia Project's role in tripping up many black voters who tried to register.
