Board index › General Discussion › News and Current Events

McConnell: Black people vote at similar rates to ‘Americans’

Page 1 of 5 [ 72 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next

Previous topic | Next topic

ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 37,914
Location: Long Island, New York

22 Jan 2022, 9:22 am

AP

Quote:
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is drawing criticism for comments he made shortly before the GOP blocked a federal elections bill, when he said that “African American” voters cast ballots at similar rates to “Americans.”

The minority leader made the remark at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, when he was asked about concerns that people of color have about voting rights.

“The concern is misplaced because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans,” McConnell said.

The comment implied that Black voters are somehow not American and underscored the concerns of voting rights advocates that Republicans in state legislatures across the country are explicitly seeking to disenfranchise Black voters. The timing was also notable, coming the same day that McConnell engineered a filibuster to block voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights leaders say is vital to protecting democracy.


McConnell responds to uproar over comment about Black voters
Quote:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed back Friday against the uproar over a comment he made about African American voters, calling the criticism directed his way “outrageous.”

“I’ve never been accused of this sort of thing before, and it’s hurtful and offensive,” he said. “And I think some of the critics know it’s totally nonsense.”

He also defended his record on race by noting that he attended the Rev. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington in 1963. He also said he helped organize a civil rights march at Kentucky’s state Capitol and was present when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

When asked what he would say to those who had been offended by his words, McConnell said he would discuss his record relating to voting rights, and brought up his role as a mentor to Kentucky’s Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is Black and one of many Republicans who came to the minority leader’s defense this week.

Charles Booker, a Kentucky Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, had been among many who had blasted the Republican earlier in the week. Booker, who is Black, did not back down from criticizing McConnell on Friday.

“Mitch McConnell wants you to know it’s fine for him to block Voting Rights because he has Black friends,” tweeted Booker, who unsuccessfully ran for McConnell’s seat in 2020 and is challenging GOP Sen. Rand Paul this year.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


Aspiegaming
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 Sep 2012
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,996
Location: Hagerstown, MD

22 Jan 2022, 11:40 am

Could the Freudian Slip be more obvious? Why can't these people just come out and say what they hate? Knock knock, we know they're in the racist closet. They can't keep up this charade forever. They're getting sloppier with age.


_________________
I am sick, and in so being I am the healthy one.
If my darkness or eccentricity offends you, I don't really care.
I will not apologize for being me.

There is no such thing as perfect. We are beautiful as we are. With all our imperfections, we can do anything.


goldfish21
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Feb 2013
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 22,612
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

22 Jan 2022, 12:44 pm

After 4 years of trump I guess it’s all too easy to continue saying the quiet part out loud.. oops!

Almost none of these people belong in positions of power. Bernie Sanders and that nice lady that chews out corporate finance dbags with math and facts can stay. 8)


_________________
No :heart: for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.


txfz1
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 13 Dec 2021
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,411
Location: US

22 Jan 2022, 1:18 pm

Interesting that people will not give McConnell the benefit of doubt while ignoring the potus own statements where there is no doubt in the context.



funeralxempire
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Age: 40
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 33,022
Location: Right over your left shoulder

22 Jan 2022, 1:54 pm

txfz1 wrote:
Interesting that people will not give McConnell the benefit of doubt while ignoring the potus own statements where there is no doubt in the context.


Who says Biden deserves much benefit of the doubt on similar slips? :chin:


_________________
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. —Malcolm X
Real power is achieved when the ruling class controls the material essentials of life, granting and withholding them from the masses as if they were privileges.—George Orwell


VegetableMan
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 11 Jun 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,208
Location: Illinois

22 Jan 2022, 2:23 pm

McConnell and Biden are old as f**k and suffering from cognitive decline. You know their handlers are clenching their butt cheeks when they speak in public.


_________________
What do you call a hot dog in a gangster suit?

Oscar Meyer Lansky


naturalplastic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Age: 70
Gender: Male
Posts: 35,189
Location: temperate zone

22 Jan 2022, 3:05 pm

Innocent malapropism?

Freudian slip?

Or Sign of senility?

Hard to say.

Either of the last two would be of serious concern.

The year was 1968. A climatic year of riots and assassinations. A demonstration outside of the Democratic convention in Chicago turned into a riot. Some said the police sent in actually caused the riot.

Chicago mayor Daley said "not only has the entire civilized world deteriorated in the last few weeks, but so has the Democratic Party!"

Daley, like George W. Bush, was known for malapropisms. So his accidental exclusion of the Democratic Party from the "civilized World" was probably neither Freudian nor a symptom of Senility.

But later in the speech he said "I did not send in the cops to create disorder, but too....um...um.... preserve....um...disorder." THAT might have been a telling slip- of the tongue revealing his actual reasons for sending in the cops (to create, or maybe at least to preserve, and prolong...disorder).

Mitch McConnell is not known for making Dubya/Daley type malapropisms all of the time. So one cant help but wonder it isnt his racism showing, or his senility showing, or a little bit of both. But maybe we should give him the benifit of the doubt.



Dox47
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,670
Location: Seattle-ish

22 Jan 2022, 3:46 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
Who says Biden deserves much benefit of the doubt on similar slips? :chin:


The entire Democratic party and their media apparatus?


_________________
Your boos mean nothing, I've seen what makes you cheer.

- Rick Sanchez


txfz1
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 13 Dec 2021
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,411
Location: US

22 Jan 2022, 3:49 pm

funeralxempire wrote:

Who says Biden deserves much benefit of the doubt on similar slips? :chin:


Main street media people



funeralxempire
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Age: 40
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 33,022
Location: Right over your left shoulder

22 Jan 2022, 8:11 pm

txfz1 wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:

Who says Biden deserves much benefit of the doubt on similar slips? :chin:


Main street media people


Not exactly paragons of credibility.


_________________
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. —Malcolm X
Real power is achieved when the ruling class controls the material essentials of life, granting and withholding them from the masses as if they were privileges.—George Orwell


txfz1
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 13 Dec 2021
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,411
Location: US

22 Jan 2022, 8:31 pm

That’s true for some people and tbh media has never been credible, I just have a hard time accepting it. It’s more quantity than quality.



Tim_Tex
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Jul 2004
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Posts: 46,349
Location: Houston, Texas

22 Jan 2022, 11:12 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
Innocent malapropism?

Freudian slip?

Or Sign of senility?

Hard to say.

Either of the last two would be of serious concern.

The year was 1968. A climatic year of riots and assassinations. A demonstration outside of the Democratic convention in Chicago turned into a riot. Some said the police sent in actually caused the riot.

Chicago mayor Daley said "not only has the entire civilized world deteriorated in the last few weeks, but so has the Democratic Party!"

Daley, like George W. Bush, was known for malapropisms. So his accidental exclusion of the Democratic Party from the "civilized World" was probably neither Freudian nor a symptom of Senility.

But later in the speech he said "I did not send in the cops to create disorder, but too....um...um.... preserve....um...disorder." THAT might have been a telling slip- of the tongue revealing his actual reasons for sending in the cops (to create, or maybe at least to preserve, and prolong...disorder).

Mitch McConnell is not known for making Dubya/Daley type malapropisms all of the time. So one cant help but wonder it isnt his racism showing, or his senility showing, or a little bit of both. But maybe we should give him the benifit of the doubt.


The irony is that in his early years in the Senate, Mitch was a moderate, pro-abortion, the works. A complete 180 from being the "Grim Reaper" we all know (and some people love) today.


_________________
Who’s better at math than a robot? They’re made of math!


DW_a_mom
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Feb 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 13,689
Location: Northern California

23 Jan 2022, 12:20 am

txfz1 wrote:
Interesting that people will not give McConnell the benefit of doubt while ignoring the potus own statements where there is no doubt in the context.


Doesn't Biden usually admit that he misspoke? It's a life long joke that he misspeaks often, and he generally tries to play along and be "in" on the joke. It makes it easy to give mistakes an innocent attribution.

What McConnell should have done, IMHO, is say that he misspoke and is sincerely sorry for the very important but negligently omitted words"all____combined."

He isn't used to being in this position, I guess, and seems to be taking cues from Trump's approach, instead of Biden's. Only one is the winning approach, IMHO. I can't stand it when people are so afraid to admit their mistakes that they double down and try to prove the mistake wasn't one. Weirdly, half the country seems to prefer the double down. I'll never get it.


_________________
Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).


auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 114,762
Location: the island of defective toy santas

23 Jan 2022, 12:50 am

naturalplastic wrote:
maybe we should give him the benifit of the doubt.

fkkk that [and him] all to hell. :x he is the single biggest impediment to progress in this country.



TheRobotLives
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 7 Dec 2019
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,092
Location: Quiet, Dark, Comfy Spot

23 Jan 2022, 1:55 am

The title is misleading since what he said was "African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans".

This is basic math.

Subset X has a characteristic that is the same as superset Y.


_________________
Then a hero comes along, with the strength to carry on, and you cast your fears aside, and you know you can survive.

Be the hero of your life.


auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 114,762
Location: the island of defective toy santas

23 Jan 2022, 3:16 am

plus what he said sidesteps the point that his party on a nation-wide basis is busy passing laws designed expressly to reduce the % of POC/old people/women/pofolk who can successfully be voting.