“The most trusted name in news” once again proved itself to be a Democratic Party policy think tank on Monday as they exploited Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day to suggest their party push so-called “voting rights” legislation every six months to 30 days. Also known as CNN, the network claimed Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) were the kind of “white moderate” that help the KKK, as King warned in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
The partisan appeal for routine votes pushing the federal takeover of elections was sparked by weekday afternoon CNN Newsroom co-host Victor Blackwell when speaking to radical leftist and political commentator Bakari Sellers about the day’s events:
Bakari, let me ask you from a political perspective, should the White House, should the party do this every six months. And I'm not saying that to be dismissive. We did this in July. We heard from the President, the National Constitution Center, the big powerful speech, and then vote that didn't lead to anything. Then we see it in January, the big speech and then the vote tomorrow.
Sellers responded with some faux disagreement by first saying, “we need to do it every six months” then revised it to “we need to do it every 30 days.”
After reciting arguably King’s most famous quote about how a person should be judged “by the content of their character, not the color of their skin,” Sellers pivoted to smearing Manchin and Sinema as essentially helping the Klan:
I mean, we can't forget about his Letter from the Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963, when he actually talked about what we're dealing with today.
In that letter, he went about talking about the fact is that the white moderate is the person stands in the way of progress in this country. It’s not the White Citizens Council or the Ku Klux Klaner, it was the white moderate who want to preserve of order over justice. And that’s what you have in Sinema and Manchin at this point in time.
He also shared some ironic displeasure with how the issue had become a “political football,” blaming Chief Justice John Roberts. “But this should be an issue that black, white, Democrat, or Republican, northern or southerner; we shouldn't have to rehash this every time around. This should be an issue we all agree on,” he bemoaned.
A couple of minutes later, Blackwell pointed out that Democrats won’t push a vote every 30 days but the question remained: “What does the party now do this with energy? … What does the White House do with all of this energy?”
According to Sellers, the Department of Justice needs to “do things that they are already doing, plus do it more” in terms of attacking states passing election integrity laws and rolling back pandemic voting measures.
His next call to action was to get people registered to vote. “We need to make sure that we're registering hundreds of thousands if not millions of voters … I want to register them in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jackson, Mississippi, Columbia, South Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina. And we’re going to flip the head of these southern states passing these regressive bills on their head,” he said.
This partisan call to action by CNN was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Liberty Mutual and Safelite. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN Newsroom
January 17, 2022
2:06:55 p.m. Eastern(…)
VICTOR BLACKWELL: Bakari, let me ask you from a political perspective, should the White House, should the party do this every six months. And I'm not saying that to be dismissive. We did this in July. We heard from the President, the National Constitution Center, the big powerful speech, and then vote that didn't lead to anything. Then we see it in January, the big speech and then the vote tomorrow.
Is it beneficial for the party to continue to look as if and try to continue to pass this or do you set up a failure every six months because you can't get it done?
BAKARI SELLERS: I don't think we need to do it every six months, Victor, to be completely honest with you. I think we need to do it every 30 days.
I mean, the fact is, you know, when you're talking about Dr. King, there are a lot of people who think Dr. King graced this planet and said judge thee by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, and then he died peacefully in his sleep.
I mean, we can't forget about his Letter from the Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963, when he actually talked about what we're dealing with today.
In that letter, he went about talking about the fact is that the white moderate is the person stands in the way of progress in this country. It’s not the White Citizens Council or the Ku Klux Klaner, it was the white moderate who want to preserve of order over justice. And that’s what you have in Sinema and Manchin at this point in time.
And so, we have to have that furious urgency of now. And it’s unfortunate that this is becoming such a partisan issue and it was done by none other than the chief justice of the United States of America, John Roberts who made this into a political football.
But this should be an issue that black, white, Democrat, or Republican, northern or southerner; we shouldn't have to rehash this every time around. This should be an issue we all agree on.
BLACKWELL. Yeah. Former Secretary Clinton tweeted something, a quote from Dr. King speaking about the white moderate and being dam of progress, I'm paraphrasing here.
(…)
2:09:43 p.m. Eastern
BLACKWELL: Bakari, what does – You say this should happen every 30 days, What does the party now do this with energy? Because it’s not going to happen every 30 days we know. What does the White House do with all of this energy? We see the live pictures of people marching and we hear the passion from LaTosha [Brown].
SELLERS: I mean, look, let's be completely honest because we've had a lot of people in our party who want to preserve the status quo, who say, “why are you giving the president and vice president and the administration and the leadership so much hell?” And the reason being is because this issue matters that much.
And then they ask, “okay, he finally used his bully pulpit,” he being the President of the United States, “what more do you want him to do?” I would say I want to challenge the Department of Justice to do things that they are already doing, plus do it more. Which means going to these states which are passing regressive laws and be a fence, be a fence post, challenge those laws continuously.
Let's utilize some executive action, let’s see what President can do along the lines of voting rights while we're fighting this battle in Congress. And last but not least, my father told me this the other day, he said, “while we have all of this energy, we need to organize and we need to register voters.”
We need to make sure that we're registering hundreds of thousands if not millions of voters and not registering them in New York, Massachusetts, and Colorado. I want to register them in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jackson, Mississippi, Columbia, South Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina. And we’re going to flip the head of these southern states passing these regressive bills on their head.
(…)
