MSNBC host PoliticsNation host Al Sharpton prepared for the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, by joining MTP Daily host Chuck Todd on Friday where they both lamented President Biden did not use his Tuesday State of the Union address to tie the fight for “voting rights” to Ukrainians’ fight for freedom. And, once again, Sharpton compared his causes to that of the Ukrainian people (as have others at MSNBC).
That Biden didn’t make the comparison came as a surprise to Todd, “I'm curious, you know, to me, this moment of Bloody Sunday and what we're seeing in Europe, there is a connection. It's a fight for freedom, it’s a fight for democracy and...it’s a statement I thought we would hear from the President on Tuesday that connected the two. He didn't quite do that. I image you will be.”
Sharpton declared that of course he would and that, “I think that you said it perfectly, Chuck. And I wish the President had said it. You cannot fight, and you should, for the right for the people of Ukraine to have a democratic state and make decisions based on voting and then not deal with that same right to be upheld here in America.”
The best comparison to Russian bombs Sharpton could apparently come up with was:
[W]e're looking at laws being changed in Alabama where we'll be this weekend, in Texas, in North Carolina, and on, where you have going up to the Supreme Court, this whole question of an independent state doctrine, where they're trying to say that state courts should not be able to even stop state legislatures from changing voting regulations and voting districts. So, as we look for and pray for the people in Ukraine, we need to also deal domestically. And I think that connection is very clear and we need to make it clear. And I will be doing that in the sermon at Brown Chapel on Sunday morning.
Speaking of Selma, Todd then asked, “You know the 2020 turnout in Selma was just 57 percent? In Selma in 2020, it was among the worst in the state of Alabama. What does that tell you about the current state of — of — voting access in this country?”
It doesn’t say much, considering that was before all these new laws that Sharpton and Todd deplore, but Sharpton still alleged, “It tells us a lot. It tells us that, one, access is stopping things and it tells us that we have to inspire people to go past the road blocks, as they did in the '60s.”
Sharpton then got in one last Ukraine analogy, “We are dealing with a voting emergency in this country, as we deal with Ukraine, and we need to deal with it, and that's why this weekend in Selma is extremely important, because we need to underscore that we cannot be global liberators and at home ignore the threat to democracy right here.”
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Here is a transcript for the March 4 show:
MSNBC's MTP Daily
03/04/22
1:53 p.m.CHUCK TODD: And I'm curious, you know, to me, this moment of Bloody Sunday and what we're seeing in Europe, there is a connection. It's a fight for freedom, it’s a fight for democracy. And — and — Rev., it's a — it’s a statement I thought we would hear from the President on Tuesday that connected the two. He didn't quite do that. I image you will be.
AL SHARPTON: I certainly will be and I think that you said it perfectly, Chuck, and I wish the President had said it. You cannot fight, and you should, for the right for the people of Ukraine to have a democratic state and make decisions based on voting and then not deal with that same right to be upheld here in America, where we're looking at laws being changed in Alabama where we'll be this weekend, in Texas, in North Carolina, and on, where you have going up to the Supreme Court, this whole question of an independent state doctrine, where they're trying to say that state courts should not be able to even stop state legislatures from changing voting regulations and voting districts. So, as we look for and pray for the people in Ukraine, we need to also deal domestically. And I think that connection is very clear and we need to make it clear. And I will be doing that in the sermon at Brown Chapel on Sunday morning.
TODD: You know the 2020 turnout in Selma was just 57 percent? In Selma in 2020, it was among the worst in the state of Alabama. What does that tell you about the current state of — of — voting access in this country?
SHARPTON: It tells us a lot. It tells us that, one, access is stopping things and it tells us that we have to inspire people to go past the road blocks, as they did in the '60s, as you talked about John Lewis and Hosea Williams. You must remember that over, according to the reports, over 30 percent of the early voting ballots in Texas in this past Tuesday's primary was rejected based on new Texas laws. So we're going to see low amounts of voting everywhere if we do not challenge and turn around a lot of these restrictive laws that have been put in place since 2020, in 19 states or more. We are dealing with a voting emergency in this country, as we deal with Ukraine, and we need to deal with it, and that's why this weekend in Selma is extremely important, because we need to underscore that we cannot be global liberators and at home ignore the threat to democracy right here.
