Marking the 56th anniversary of passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, on Friday, MSNBC’s Morning Joe pushed the panic button when it came to Republican-backed voting reforms advancing in states across the country and the failure of Democrats in Congress to force through a federal takeover of elections. The hysterical panel feared that GOP legislatures enacting new election laws would be “devastating” for Democrats in the 2022 midterms.
“We’re seeing, of course, right now an assault, that the Democrats say, on voting rights across the country in states....Republican state legislatures are restricting access to the ballot,” bemoaned Associated Press White House correspondent Jonathan Lemire late in the 7:00 a.m. ET hour of the morning show. Minutes later, co-host Willie Geist turned to two left-wing guests who wrote an op-ed demanding Biden do whatever it takes to push legislation that would rig elections in the Democratic Party’s favor.
He first read from The Hill editorial authored by women’s group All In Together CEO Lauren Leader and LBJ Foundation president and CEO Mark Updegrove:
Like President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Biden is a creature of the Senate, one who understands and appreciates the Upper Chamber’s traditions and nuances – if anyone can effectively get a controversial bill through a polarized Senate as Johnson did, it’s Joe Biden. But what 2021 and 1965 have in common is the threat against the stability and durability of democracy itself.
Geist conveniently edited out this partisan jab from the screed: “With Republicans seizing every opportunity to abridge voting rights to hold power across the country, rolling back the clock on one of our most sacred rights in the process, Biden faces a moment no less urgent.”
He then asked Leader: “...what do you see as the stakes right now as we look at voting rights and for this president?” In response, she wailed about the poor electoral prospects for her party in 2022:
Well, clearly, the enfranchisement of voters, thanks to the Voting Rights Act, has had a transformational effect on American democracy....And so any efforts that roll those back, that would keep people from the polls, is devastating for all Americans, obviously. It’s especially devastating, potentially, for the Democratic Party going into the midterms. And I think that’s part of why these stakes are so high. If he doesn’t get something done on voting rights now, he risks the majority in the Senate, the majority in the House, we risk the future of the country for years to come.
The leftist pleaded: “We’re gonna need a massive push from the grassroots, pressuring Congress, pressuring the Senate relentlessly if we’re going to get anything passed.” Leader then urged an end to the filibuster in order to shove through controversial legislation to protect Democrats from electoral defeat.
Later in the discussion, Washington Post associate editor Eugene Robinson kept up the unhinged alarmism: “...it’s the anti-democratic forces that are seeking to be on the offensive, to roll back the clock, essentially, to roll back what was done in 1965....They’ve got to get something through the Senate....because what’s being threatened is all that we have gained since 1965. And that’s – that’s just an enormous threat to American democracy as we know it.”
Lemire chimed back in and cynically hoped that the blatant lies from Democrats and the media about GOP voting reforms being the end of democracy would be a great get-out-the-vote message for the DNC: “...voting rights, it is perhaps the most sacred right of democracy, it also could a motivator and you get people out, to turn out in 2022, to vote for this, protect your right to the ballot.”
Segments like this completely give away the fact that all of the media hysteria surrounding this issue is glaringly partisan and just about making sure Democrats never lose an election ever again.
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Here is a transcript of the August 6 panel discussion:
7:46 AM ET
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JONATHAN LEMIRE [AP WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT]: We’re seeing, of course, right now an assault, that the Democrats say, on voting rights across the country in states. You know, Republican state legislatures are restricting access to the ballot and there’s been a lot of pressure on Joe Biden to defend voting rights in a similar position, perhaps, as LBJ. He gave a powerful speech in Philadelphia a few weeks ago about it. Biden, like Johnson, creatures of the Senate, they know how the body works. And there’s a lot right now of people who want Biden to come out against the filibuster, to eliminate it or modify it. How do you think President Johnson would have handled a situation like this?
MARK UPDEGROVE: I think he would have run over anybody who got in his way. But he was also an institutionalist, he was also a traditionalist, he was a creature, as you pointed out, Jonathan, of the Senate. Biden was in the Senate far longer than LBJ, 36 years, longer than any president we’ve ever had. He understands its traditions and I think he’s very resistant to break them down. By the same token, what we don’t know right now is what’s happening behind the scenes. One of the crown jewels of the LBJ presidential library archive are the taped conversations of LBJ doing the business of his presidency. And you can hear in those tapes what he’s doing behind the scenes, getting people to bend to his will. Joe Biden may well be doing that now and we might not know it for years and years. So that’s – because he has those relationships, because he understands politics, and the way things work, that may be happening as we speak.
WILLIE GEIST: Lauren, you and Mark have an op-ed in The Hill titled, “Lessons for Biden on the 56th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.” In it, you write this, “Like President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Biden is a creature of the Senate, one who understands and appreciates the Upper Chamber’s traditions and nuances – if anyone can effectively get a controversial bill through a polarized Senate as Johnson did, it’s Joe Biden. But what 2021 and 1965 have in common is the threat against the stability and durability of democracy itself. The lesson of LBJ is not that he had absolute power that he wielded absolutely to accomplish exceptionally hard aims. Instead, LBJ had the courage and conviction to leverage every bit of soft power at his disposal – from personally pressuring lawmakers to enlisting the grass roots across the nation to bring his cause to the fore. LBJ knew he would alienate many of the southern states – but he did it anyway. It was that important.”
So obviously very different times, very different political circumstance, different media circumstances, and different polarization right now. But what do you see as the stakes right now as we look at voting rights and for this president?
LAUREN LEADER [FOUNDER, ALL IN TOGETHER]: Well, clearly, the enfranchisement of voters, thanks to the Voting Rights Act, has had a transformational effect on American democracy at every level, the participation of women, the participation of African-Americans, the participation of minorities of every background, has had a profound impact on what our government looks like today, how we function as a society. And so any efforts that roll those back, that would keep people from the polls, is devastating for all Americans, obviously. It’s especially devastating, potentially, for the Democratic Party going into the midterms. And I think that’s part of why these stakes are so high. If he doesn’t get something done on voting rights now, he risks the majority in the Senate, the majority in the House, we risk the future of the country for years to come.
And it’s not just about a political aim, it really is about making sure that every voter is heard. You know, one thing I find so interesting about this was that grassroots engagement in Johnson's time, his incredibly close relationship with Martin Luther King and his ability to sort of mobilize a sense of moral outrage in the country. I haven’t really seen Biden do that. He has not really appealed in the same way, I think, to that very personal sense of “You’re about to lose a right that is sacred.” And I think that’s going to be critical. We’re gonna need a massive push from the grassroots, pressuring Congress, pressuring the Senate relentlessly if we’re going to get anything passed.
GEIST: So what can he reasonably be expected to do when you have a 50/50 Senate and you have a couple of senators who say, “I’m not going with the big bill, I’m willing to look at the John Lewis bill. What can a president do under these circumstances?
LEADER: Well, look, obviously the elephant in the room is the filibuster. And he’s said really clearly he’s not willing to roll back the filibuster. But it’s hard to understand why he wouldn’t consider it for voting rights, which has already been floated as a compromise. You know, just on certain key issues that have to do with the sustainability and durability of democracy, we have to get things done. So I hope he’ll come around on that.
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7:50 AM ET
GEIST: So, Gene, Republicans have shown no appetite for any of the voting rights legislation that’s up right now. And, as Lauren says, there’s some convincing to do with a couple of Democratic senators if they’re going to move on it as well.
EUGENE ROBINSON [ASSOCIATE EDITOR, WASHINGTON POST]: Yeah, I mean, the difference between now and 1965, I think, is that the anti – it’s the anti-democratic forces that are seeking to be on the offensive, to roll back the clock, essentially, to roll back what was done in 1965. And that force has to be met with greater political force, I think, from the side of democracy and the side of expanding the franchise and including more and more Americans in our democracy. And that’s – that’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s not happening adequately now. They’ve got to get something through the Senate and it’s very difficult to see how that happens now.
I hope Mark Updegrove is right, that behind the scenes there’s arm-twisting and cajoling and sweet-talking and all of that going on. But I really, really hope we see the results because what’s being threatened is all that we have gained since 1965. And that’s – that’s just an enormous threat to American democracy as we know it.
LEMIRE: I mean, the White House, Willie, hasn’t given up on a legislative solution, but you’re seeing they’re emphasis recently, it’s been shifted more to on the legal front. And also to increase voter turnout, believing that they can overcome some of these obstacles if they can just get more people to the polls. And look, they recognize this, this is – voting rights, it is perhaps the most sacred right of democracy, it also could a motivator and you get people out, to turn out in 2022, to vote for this, protect your right to the ballot.
GEIST: As of now, they don’t have the votes, we’ll see if that dynamic changes.
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