The radical attempt by Democrats to nationalize voting across the country appears to going down to defeat on Tuesday. So at the White House press briefing, the assembled partisan press whined that the administration didn’t do more to save the legislation.
ABC’s Cecilia Vega spoke directly for Democrats, telling Press Secretary Jen Psaki the difficulty is with red state Republicans: “But the problem, as Democrats at least see it, is not problems in blue states, state legislatures. It's Republican-controlled states where many of these decisions are already being made. So what leverage do you actually have? And what realistically do you think you can accomplish in some of these red states?”
Talk about a Democratic cheerleader. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell actually irritated Psaki from the left, lamenting that Biden hadn’t done enough to save the so-called For the People Act:
KELLY O’DONNELL: You very ably went through the President's history on voting rights and related issues, and you laid out all the times he has spoken out. But this lectern is available to him today. We have not heard him talk about it. He has the biggest megaphone.
PSAKI: [Irritated.] Aside from the Tulsa speech just a few weeks ago.
O'DONNELL: No, I’m talking about when the vote is happening, using the President’s time. Clearly the President is choosing not to do that now. Why? Where is the President on this issue on a day when they're voting?
Partisan April Ryan of CNN cited George W. Bush as a way of fretting just how much worse Republicans have gotten since. Here's her softball:
APRIL RYAN: As someone that was here when he [George W. Bush supported expanded voting rights] did it -- he was a Republican who did it.
PSAKI: Sure
RYAN: And that’s one of his pieces that he likes to tout when he talks about efforts in the black community, what's different with Republicans then and Republicans now when it comes to voting right?
It was left to Fox’s Peter Doocy to change the subject and break up the Democratic therapy session, wondering how Biden can blame all crime on a lack of gun control:
PETER DOOCY: You said yesterday the President feels a great deal of the crime as a result of gun violence. But the stats show it's not just gun crimes. So, why does the President think there has been a 30 percent increase in car theft in D.C., 47 percent in robbery in New York City, or a 98 percent increase in rapes in Atlanta?
Apparently Doocy didn’t get the memo. Psaki wants reporters to sympathize with her or plot strategy. Speaking truth to power isn’t what liberal journalists or the White House are interested in.
A partial transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more:
White House Briefing
6/22/2021
1:19
CECILIA VEGA: And just quickly if I could follow up on voting rights. Yesterday, you said there's more work to be done including engaging state legislatures. But the problem, as Democrats at least see it, is not problems in blue states, state legislatures. It's Republican-controlled states where many of these decisions are already being made. So what leverage do you actually have? And what realistically do you think you can accomplish in some of these red states?
KELLY O’DONNELL: You very ably went through the President's history on voting rights and related issues, and you laid out all the times he has spoken out. But this lectern is available to him today. We have not heard him talk about it. He has the biggest megaphone.
PSAKI: Aside from the Tulsa speech just a few weeks ago.
O'DONNELL: No, I’m talking about when the vote is happening, using the President’s time. Clearly the President is choosing not to do that now. Why? Where is the President on this issue on a day when they're voting?
1:27
PETER DOOCY: You said yesterday the President feels a great deal of the crime as a result of gun violence. But the stats show it's not just gun crimes. So, why does the President think there has been a 30 percent increase in car theft in D.C., 47 percent in robbery in New York City, or a 98 percent increase in rapes in Atlanta?
1:38
APRIL RYAN: As someone that was here when he [George W. Bush supported expanded voting rights] did it -- he was a Republican who did it.
PSAKI: Sure
RYAN: And that’s one of his pieces that he likes to tout when he talks about efforts in the black community, what's different with Republicans then and Republicans now when it comes to voting right?
