We recently discussed the false statement made repeatedly by President Joe Biden about the Georgia election law, which Biden has called “Jim Crow on steroids.” Biden falsely claims that the law closes polling places earlier, a claim that even the Washington Post decried as false. Biden has not only repeated his earlier false claim but added a new one in supporting a boycott of the state of Georgia by Major League Baseball. It is a common false claim made about denying water under the law to people standing in line to vote. What is astonishing is that the media itself has fueled this false narrative and it is being used as a key claim in boycotting the state.
During an interview on ESPN, Biden again declared the law as “Jim Crow on steroids” and added:
“I think that today’s professional athletes are acting incredibly responsibly. I would strongly support them doing that. People look to them, they’re leaders. Look at what’s happened with the NBA as well. Look at what’s happened across the board. The people who’ve been victimized the most are the people who are the leaders in these various sports and it’s just not right. Imagine passing a law saying you cannot provide water or food for someone standing in line to vote, can’t do that? C’mon! Or you’re going to close a polling place at 5 o’clock when working people just get off? This is all about keeping working folks and ordinary folks that I grew up with from being able to vote.”
Indeed, it is hard to “imagine” because it is not true and the White House knows that it is not true. If a president is going to accuse a state of passing a Jim Crow law (let alone supporting a boycott), there is an expectation of a modicum of accuracy and fairness. Otherwise, it degrades not just the movement for voting rights but the Office of the Presidency itself.
I will not repeat the clearly false claim about closing polling places early. As the Washington Post noted (and repeated after this latest interview), “the net effect [of the Georgia law] is … to expand the opportunities to vote for most Georgians, not limit them.” The use of the provision to suggest a reduction in voting hours was a knowing misrepresentation by those seeking to justify the federalization of election laws in Congress. Despite being called out on the false statement, President Biden continues to repeat it.
The water claim is equally disingenuous and false. The law does not prevent people from giving water to those standing in line. The law allows “self-service water from an unattended receptacle” for voters waiting in line. It also allows anyone to give water or food to any voters outside of limited area around the polling place.
It is common to bar any political campaigning or activities within a certain number of feet (often 150 feet — or a shorter distance from any line extending beyond that area).
Here is the provision:
“(a) No person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person distribute or display any campaign material, nor shall any person give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector, nor shall any person solicit signatures for any petition, nor shall any person, other than election officials discharging their duties, establish or set up any tables or booths on any day in which ballots are being cast
(1) Within 150 feet of the outer edge of any building within which a polling place is
(2) Within any polling place; or
(3) Within 25 feet of any voter standing in line to vote at any polling place.”
The bill then allows for “self-service water from an unattended receptacle to an elector waiting in line to vote.” It also does not limit any poll workers from supplying water to voters.
Georgia officials said that the impetus for the rule was that various political organizations in 2019 circumvented the no politicking rule by handing out food and water with actual food trucks set up for this purpose. The rule is designed to close that loophole. If campaigns or others are really concerned with just getting water to voters, they can still do so. They simply cannot take credit for it or directly engage voters in the limited area next to polling places.
Even Politifact (which as been criticized by conservatives for bias) recognized the water can be given to voters while finding that it is untrue that only political organizations are barred. Politifact also acknowledges that water can be supplied within the protected area of the polling place.
None of that has stopped the reckless rhetoric. Vanderbilt University Professor Michael Eric Dyson joined MSNBC’s host Joy Reid in pushing this false narrative in pushing for the federalization of election laws and added “These are the kind of people that would pass a law to keep Jesus from getting a cup of water while he’s dying on the cross.” Actually, if Jesus was voting from the cross, he would have ample water availability under the law though it would seem a stronger case for absentee voting under Georgia law.
So why would there be such outrage if the interest is only the comfort of voters? As long as you do not seek to have direct campaign contacts with voters at polling places, you can supply as much water as you want either just before the protected area or through apolitical open receptacles.
The level of misrepresentation of these provisions in the media has been chilling. The narrative has overwhelmed the news on the factual basis of these claims.
This column was updated.
If they bring you water while you’re in line to vote they can tell you who to vote for.
Like:
Don’t change Dicks in the middle of a screw! Vote for Nixon in twenty twenty two.
(music to tune of Four Dead in OHi O)
This summer some Georgians are coming..
They’re probably on their way.
This summer I fear them rumbling…
They got guns and hay.
Gonna get down to it!
Georgians are cutting us down!
How can you run when you know?!
So Biden tells a lie and in his defense the posters here tell us that Trump lied too. Before the election the were telling us that once Joe Biden was elected the lying would stop. Now, not being able to defend their hero the fallback argument rather than calling for more virtue by their great leader is Trump lied too. Secretly, they must have been expecting so much more in justification of their vote. There must be secret leftist tears falling to the ground. Then again, maybe not.
This piece misrepresents the Politifact ruling:
“ Even Politifact (which as been criticized by conservatives for bias) has contested this water narrative in a column entitled “A Georgia law has not ‘criminalized giving people bottles of water.’ It pertains to political organizations.”
Politifact’s ruling is that it is FALSE that the law only pertains to political organizations. The narrative Politifact contested was NOT the narrative that one cannot give water to people waiting in line, as this article suggests. The narrative Politifact contested is that ONLY political groups are barred from directly giving water to electors.
How apt that you would publish this ridiculous persiflage on April Fools’ Day.
You used to be a respectable public intellectual. You’ve devolved into a sad joke.
HW:
“How apt that you would publish this ridiculous persiflage on April Fools’ Day.
You used to be a respectable public intellectual. You’ve devolved into a sad joke.”
**********************************************
And yet still your read, cogitate, devise and comment with “ridiculous persiflage.” Who’s the joke you say?
Ad hominum without a shred of a valid controverting point. Saul Alinsky would be so proud of you…
Nancy is that you, dear? How’d that whole Russian collusion thing work out for you, babe?
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
– Alexander Tytler, Alexis de Tocqueville, Henning W. Prentis
_______________________________________________
Severe voting restrictions are innate, imperative and inarguable in the United States of America, a republic and form of democracy.
Restrictions on the vote were first implemented by the Greeks, then the Romans and finally the American Founders.
An election is a fraud in the absence of definitive identification and total control at a polling place on “…the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.”
Turnout was 11.6% by design in 1788.
The American Founders required voters to be male, European, 21 with 50 lbs. Sterling or 50 acres.
The American Founders required citizens to be “…free white person(s)…,” a de facto vote restriction.
_______________________________________________________________________________
“the people are nothing but a great beast…
I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value.”
– Alexander Hamilton
_________________
“The true reason (says Blackstone) of requiring any qualification, with regard to property in voters, is to exclude such persons, as are in so mean a situation, that they are esteemed to have no will of their own.”
“If it were probable that every man would give his vote freely, and without influence of any kind, then, upon the true theory and genuine principles of liberty, every member of the community, however poor, should have a vote… But since that can hardly be expected, in persons of indigent fortunes, or such as are under the immediate dominion of others, all popular states have been obliged to establish certain qualifications, whereby, some who are suspected to have no will of their own, are excluded from voting; in order to set other individuals, whose wills may be supposed independent, more thoroughly upon a level with each other.”
– Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 1775
_______________________________________
“[We gave you] a republic, if you can keep it.”
– Ben Franklin, 1787
________________
“[We gave you] a republic, if you can take it back.”
– Ben Franklin, 2021
________________
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
– Declaration of Independence, 1776
I’m confused. The title of the Politifact article is called “A Georgia law has not “criminalized giving people bottles of water.” It pertains to political organizations.” The same article then concludes: “We rate this statement Mostly False.”. Isn’t this the opposite of what this column says?
The paragraph in question:
Even Politifact (which as been criticized by conservatives for bias) has contested this water narrative in a column entitled “A Georgia law has not ‘criminalized giving people bottles of water.’ It pertains to political organizations.”
Lordbunnington, it is not just politifact that has rated Joe Biden’s water statements false but also the Washington Post. You get to bring food and water to the people standing in line with a Maduro button sorry I meant to say Biden button on your lapel. See, Biden gives you food and water and the Republicans want you to die of thirst. Oh my goodness I,’m being overcome by the vapors. You should vote for the man who is keeping you from dying of thirst in the desert. Here, take some home to your family. You should be glad that we rescued you right at the door before you go in to vote for the man who saved your life and the great nation of Venezuela, oops slipped up again. I of course I meant to say the USA.
Nice to see that JT has a problem with presidents misrepresenting the truth. Too bad he is figuring this out 4 years too late.
Golly Molly
Left wing Folly
Not one fact
Nor one clue
Whats the Comrade
Going to do?
For left wing folly
And an April Fool.
What’s most astonishing is that the WaPo fact checked China Joe honestly. I suspect someone at WaPo will get fired over this.
“Despite being called out on the false statement, President Biden continues to repeat it.”
Sounds terrible when you put it that way. Can you think of any other examples of a President being called out on a false statement and then continuing to repeat it? I mean, anytime over the last four years or so? Even regarding Georgia’s elections in particular, or on many, many other topics? I mean, every Trump rally was basically Trump spending an hour repeating false statements that have already been repeatedly debunked. Even his recent wedding toast means he is still doing it.
So spare me the outrage at Biden here.
When Trump said his 5th Ave home was being spied on, was that a lie?
When he said the Steele Dossier was untrue, was that a lie?
When he called the Russia statements made a hoax, was that a lie?
When he said his conversation on the phone re Ukraine was appropriate, was that a lie?
We hear that Trump lied a lot, but there is a lot of spinning in politics and no doubt Trump did some himself, but he actually was more truthful than any president in recent history. He ran on a platform that was mostly kept despite the political hinderance from the left.
We heard about cages and saw pictures of the cages during the Trump administration yet those pictures came from the Obama Administration. Was Obama lying? Today the over crowding and the same cages are being used by Biden and our southern border is being overrun while Biden stopped the wall from being completed. Biden talks about Covid and the left in various places keeps schools and businesses closed but at the same time permits Covid cases to cross the border and be distributed in various locations in the country. We hear all sorts of statements by Biden trying to convince us that nothing is amiss. That is lying.
“When Trump said his 5th Ave home was being spied on, was that a lie?
When he said the Steele Dossier was untrue, was that a lie?
When he called the Russia statements made a hoax, was that a lie?
When he said his conversation on the phone re Ukraine was appropriate, was that a lie?”
Yes, to all of them.
EB
Then you are deluded and delusional…
Dear Elvis Bug, you should catch up. Even people on the left such as Matt Taibbi, Glen Greenwood, and Jimmy Dore have said that Russiagate was a hoax. Even just a little dose of intellectual honesty would be appreciated. I’m beginning to believe that you are actually James Clapper disguised as Elvis Bug. I must be wrong. James Clapper when placed under oath said he has no evidence of Trump Russia collusion, but EB clings to the delusion. It must be his psychological necessity.
,Even people on the left such as Matt Taibbi, Glen Greenwood, and Jimmy Dore have said that Russiagate was a hoax
Go to the source. There are dozens of documents, make public, from the FBI and DoJ that inform us there was NEVER any accusations of President Trump ever having anything to do with Russia concerning the 2016 election. The investigation was empty. See letter dated January 4, 2017, laying out the conclusion there was no derogatory information ever found to continue Crossfire Hurricane, or Crossfire Razor.
How many lies does that make for EB and the others snakes of the regressive liberal socialist far left who have NEVER offered a single fact in supporting their commie crap? Not one just a pile of PCRap.
Bug all that tells us is that you are living in a world that doesn’t exist or you want to parse words and make nonsense out of a discussion. If you want to be real then expand and debate each and every point.
SM
“We heard about cages and saw pictures of the cages . . .”
Gotta love their faux outrage. “Kids in cages” (allegedly) is barbaric. But kids in sardine cans is just fine.
I miss the old socialists, who at least were sincere about their (irrational) convictions. Today, the Left has elevated phoniness into a pathology.
“Today, the Left has elevated phoniness into a pathology.”
Exactly. That is what happens when one believes a dream is reality.
Did, Trump had an endless supply of fact checkers for his statements. Professor Turley’s point is that there are very few in the media willing to call out Biden’s potato-head pronouncements. It is left for independents like Professor Turley to correct the record. Professor Turley believes the media can do a better job.
Do you disagree that Biden has too few critics in the media?
Your insipid whataboutism has been duly noted. Thought Dementia Joe was supposed to be so much better than Trump. Guess not…
“Even regarding Georgia’s elections in particular, or on many, many other topics?”
Boy, are you in for a very unpleasant surprise, troll.
The political left will continue to present their false propaganda regardless of actual truth and only retract falsehoods when they are forced to but mostly they just stop repeating the false propaganda it after it’s already done damage to their target.
The political left in the United States started a irrational propaganda war, yes war, in the 21st century, more specifically sometime in 2008, and hasn’t let up since. They started this propaganda war for for pure partisan political purposes. For the political left it’s become increasing clear that they believe that the ends justifies the means and the truth be damned and what’s worse the left leaning media is a willing Pravda like active part of the propaganda.
Propaganda Is Destroying Trust In The Fourth Estate and Wreaking Havoc On Society
Try 1909 or thereabouts under Woodrow Wilson and his Socialist Progressive Liberals who to this day have never been Democrats nor democratic when they stole that name. Who started all the wars since WWI to day present, invented Income Tax at 5% for rich people and jumped it to 90% in ten years and have failed at everything including being regressive socialists
I agree that the GA election law is being badly misrepresented. It actually makes just small changes to GA election la
Regarding the section of the law relating to handing out food and water to people in line, I have to disagree. No doubt the law was aimed at stopping political organizations and candidates from using food and water giveaways as an excuse to engage with people in line, the legislature did not include limiting language and wrote it such a way that the ban applies to everyone except for election officials.
While claiming the ban prevents people from being given food and water while in line to vote is not accurate (because poll workers can provide food and water) it is likewise not accurate to say the ban only applies to candidates and political organizations. There is no such limitation in the law.
One might think it almost impossible to be a worse President than BHO or Jimmy Peanuts, but Doofus Joe is a shoein.
Arthur, you obviously have forgotten the extreme incompetence of the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, who wasn’t qualified to run a 7/11 much less be President of the United States.
Seig Us No Heils Comrade Collective, And take a hike out of our Constitutional Republic to your POW commie mommie nazi paradise.