On CNN's New Day Saturday, the show ran a segment pushing a "war on voting" mantra against Republicans which even included a liberal guest accusing the GOP of pushing a "pandemic of apartheid" in new voting reforms.
As co-anchor Victor Blackwell -- who will soon be getting promoted to a weekday afternoon slot on the liberal news network -- introduced three guests all coming from a left-leaning point of view to discuss the issue of voting laws, the words "war on voting" were displayed on screen where they remained constantly for more than nine minutes for the rest of the segment.
In his first question, Blackwell misleadingly recalled complaints about Georgia barring people from using water delivery as a loophole to approach voters in line as he brought up a proposal to search for voting irregularities in Texas:
One of the elements of the Georgia that people found most egregious was the criminalization of giving water and food to people. Proponents of the bill said that it would eliminate voter intimidation. But, in Texas, the proposals that are House Bill 66 -- Senate Bill 7 -- just parallel coming through the legislature that would allow partisan poll watchers to take recording devices into polling places and record voters who are getting help if they believe something is illegal. I mean, that seems like it would be ripe for voter intimidation.
Pastor Frederick Douglass Haynes III of Friendship-Best Baptist Church in Dallas immediately launched into hyperbole as he invoked South Africa's racist apartheid system:
Oh, yeah, well, it seems like there's a pandemic of of apartheid that is spreading from Georgia to Texas. And the most terrible strains we see throughout the nation are in Georgia and Texas, and Texas has decided to pick up on and even remix what is being done in Georgia. And, again, it's voter intimidation -- it's voter criminalization -- and it's a reflection of a determination on the part of those in power -- the Republicans -- to suppress the vote.
As he followed up, Blackwell had a Freudian slip in calling accusations of "voter suppression" a "big lie" before then claiming instead that voter fraud is a "big lie."
Although the words "war on voting" were just shown on screen for this segment, there have been anchors, including Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown, who have actually verbally accused Republicans of engaging in a "war on voting" in recent weeks.
This episode of CNN's New Day Saturday was sponsored in part by Kubota. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows. Click "expand" to read more.
CNN
New Day Saturday
April 10, 2021
8:24 a.m. Eastern
VICTOR BLACKWELL: One of the elements of the Georgia that people found most egregious was the criminalization of giving water and food to people. Proponents of the bill said that it would eliminate voter intimidation. But, in Texas, the proposals that are House Bill 66 -- Senate Bill 7 -- just parallel coming through the legislature that would allow partisan poll watchers to take recording devices into polling places and record voters who are getting help if they believe something is illegal. I mean, that seems like it would be ripe for voter intimidation.
PASTOR FREDERICK DOUGLAS HAYNES III, FRIENDSHIP-BEST BAPTIST CHURCH DALLAS: Oh, yeah, well, it seems like there's a pandemic of of apartheid that is spreading from Georgia to Texas. And the most terrible strains we see throughout the nation are in Georgia and Texas, and Texas has decided to pick up on and even remix what is being done in Georgia. And, again, it's voter intimidation -- it's voter criminalization -- and it's a reflection of a determination on the part of those in power -- the Republicans -- to suppress the vote.
No matter how you look at it -- you can dress it up in a tuxedo with a bowtie, it is voter suppression. It is voter intimidation. It is criminalizing those they deem otherwise. I have a member of my church -- Crystal Mason -- many of you have heard of her -- Crystal Mason cast a provisional ballot, and that provisional ballot did not count, and yet, because of the criminalizing that is done in the name of voter suppression in this country, Crystal Mason found herself sentenced to five years in prison.
So the bottom line is, we're in a state that does not want everyone to vote. They are determined that those who vote are older, whiter, and wealthier. And so they have to engage in voter suppression tactics instead of fixing real problems in this country. Here's what they've done. They are guilty of creating problems in the name of creating solutions that are fixing a problem that does not exist.
BLACKWELL: Yeah, the big lie of broad voter suppression -- of voter fraud.
