Appearing as a guest on MSNBC Live on Saturday morning, former ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd was sounding like a typical MSNBC Republican as the former GOP political strategist complained about Republicans standing in the way of Democrats enacting liberal policies on issues like gun control and voting regulations.
MSNBC co-anchor Lindsey Reiser quoted a tweet from Dowd as she began by lamenting the recent passage of new voting rules in Georgia:
We know backlash growing over this new Georgia bill. We're going to show a graphic here of everything it represents -- requiring an ID for an absentee ballot, limiting ballot drop box locations, banning people from handing out food and water to voters in line, and more. And you have said that we have a "tyranny of the minority" and not a democracy. I'm going to pull up now a graphic of the amount of people in Georgia who actually support this bill and ask if this is what you mean by that.
Dowd began by citing polling suggesting that liberal policy proposals are popular:
What we have right now is -- including this voting rights -- 75 percent or more of people want to make voting easier in this country -- 75 percent or more of people in this country want to make the minimum wage higher than it is -- 75 percent or more of people in this country want gun reform -- common sense gun reform -- none of which can pass in the United States Senate right now.
He further complained:
We do have a minority now in this country who are basically stopping anything from happening. So the idea of the filibuster which was supposed to force compromise and bring us together -- it's exactly achieving the opposite of it, which is, it allows obstruction, and it allows a small minority of people in this country to block anything from happening that the majority wants.
As Dowd alluded to dubious polling suggesting that most Americans agree with Democrats on gun control, he ignored any issues where polling suggests support for Republican ideas -- like voter ID requirements, for example.
He soon claimed that Americans are "suffering" because of the inability of Democrats to enact liberal policies:
Americans are suffering right now because they all -- the vast majority of the country wants our minimum wage increase -- we've watched again another gun shooting that we've seen over the last 24 hours to add with what happened in Boulder, what happened outside Atlanta and the Atlanta area. ... And that's another example of a small group of people in this country are able to prevent us from doing anything on this issue. Keep in mind, it happened once in New Zealand, and they fundamentally changed their laws after it happened one time. Today, it happens once a week, and we don't change any laws.
Dowd, a frequent Good Morning America guest, left ABC in January.
This episode of MSNBC Live with Kendis Gibson and Lindsey Reiser is sponsored in part by Charmin. Click on the link to let them know what you think.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC Live
March 27, 2021
7:47 a.m. Eastern
LINDSEY REISER: We know backlash growing over this new Georgia bill. We're going to show a graphic here of everything it represents -- requiring an ID for an absentee ballot, limiting ballot drop box locations, banning people from handing out food and water to voters in line, and more. And you have said that we have a "tyranny of the minority" and not a democracy. I'm going to pull up now a graphic of the amount of people in Georgia who actually support this bill and ask if this is what you mean by that.
MATTHEW DOWD, COUNTRY OVER PARTY: Well, exactly -- great to be here. Exactly. What we have right now is -- including this voting rights -- 75 percent or more of people want to make voting easier in this country -- 75 percent or more of people in this country want to make the minimum wage higher than it is -- 75 percent or more of people in this country want gun reform -- common sense gun reform -- none of which can pass in the United States Senate right now -- not an ounce of it -- in the United States Senate right now because of the way the structures, because of the way the rules, because of the way the traditions work.
We do have a minority now in this country who are basically stopping anything from happening. So the idea of the filibuster which was supposed to force compromise and bring us together -- it's exactly achieving the opposite of it, which is, it allows obstruction, and it allows a small minority of people in this country to block anything from happening that the majority wants.
KENDIS GIBSON: And, Michael, a little bit more on that because you also say that the filibuster today in our polarized environment actually prevents compromise and encourages obstruction, and that Americans are the ones who are suffering from this. How so?
DOWD: Well, there's -- we're suffering -- Americans are suffering right now because they all -- the vast majority of the country wants our minimum wage increase -- we've watched again another gun shooting that we've seen over the last 24 hours to add with what happened in Boulder, what happened outside Atlanta and the Atlanta area. And every time one of these things happens, as you all know -- you've done your shows, you get ready to do a show, and all of a sudden you have to change your show because of another gun shooting .
And that's another example of a small group of people in this country are able to prevent us from doing anything on this issue. Keep in mind, it happened once in New Zealand, and they fundamentally changed their laws after it happened one time. Today, it happens once a week, and we don't change any laws.
