Networks pounce on Republican redistricting. They didn’t care when Democrats did it
Redistricting is an issue for political junkies. Your average American doesn’t obsess over district maps, even when they help determine who’s in the majority. They passed a redistricting plan out of committee in Texas on August 2, prompting Texas Democrats to flee to Illinois and other blue states to deny a legislative quorum.
Parker Thayer of the Capital Research Center tickled me by tweeting: "Going to Illinois to protest gerrymandering is like going to Wisconsin to protest cheese." Redistricting in blue states is never national "news," because maximizing Democrat seats is considered wonderfully just and humane.
These networks aren’t referees or moderators or reformers who just want sensible districting in the public interest. They are a partisan adjunct that only consider gerrymandering outrageous when Republicans are accused of doing it.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT THREATENS TO REDISTRICT 8 SEATS FOR GOP IF DEM LAWMAKERS DON'T RETURN TO TEXAS
On November 23, 2021 – the Tuesday before Thanksgiving that year – Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed off on a redistricting map for Illinois that shamelessly gerrymandered out Republicans, especially poor Adam Kinzinger, who was busily doing Nancy Pelosi’s bidding on the stilted January 6 committee.
ABC, CBS and NBC aired nothing. Only the "PBS News" Hour touched it briefly. Their guest Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report was blunt: "This is a pretty aggressive Democratic gerrymander ... it just goes to show the lengths to which parties go to, to try and entrench their advantage."
Texas Democrats also traveled this week to New York, where Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul claimed "this is a war! We are at war." She’s not at war with criminals or terrorists. She’s at war with Republicans. She promised to redistrict New York. But wait – Hochul signed a gerrymandered map just last year – on February 28, 2024. Network coverage last year? Zero. Zippy.
ABBOTT, PAXTON LAUNCH LEGAL BLITZ ON FLEEING DEMOCRATS IN REDISTRICTING SHOWDOWN
On ABC’s George Stephanopoulos show on Sunday, there was panic over Texas. Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder warned "Our democracy is really threatened by what the Republicans are proposing to do in Texas right now." Stephanopoulos could only ask: "Is there any way to stop it?"
Democrats claim that democracy is strong or weak depending on whether they’re in power or not. When they lose, democracy is dying.
All three networks leaped on the Texas story on Monday morning. "CBS Mornings" queen Gayle King used the D-word: "Texas Democrats flee to Illinois over what they call a power grab by Republicans, a fight with huge implications for Congress and democracy. ... It’s a showdown that could have a big impact on democracy in this country."
ABC’s Jonathan Karl was the only one to note this isn’t just a Republican tactic: "Democrats have played the game, too, in the states they control. In deep-blue California, for example, 38% voted Republican last year, and out of 52 congressional districts, only nine are held by Republicans."
OBAMA LABELS TEXAS REDISTRICTING PUSH 'A POWER GRAB THAT UNDERMINES OUR DEMOCRACY'
On NBC’s "Today," co-host Craig Melvin announced: "Our top story on this Monday morning, that growing showdown in Texas over a controversial redistricting plan." The networks decide what is "controversial" and what is not. Anything they don’t like is "controversial." Everything they like is just fine, as fine as former President Joe Biden’s mental state.
At least Melvin asked reporter Ryan Chandler: "How much of this is just a stunt? "Or is there some indication that this move could actually work by Democrats?" Chandler said it’s only temporary, it won’t last.
On Monday August 4, Chandler led off by touting warnings from Democrat Governors Kathy Hochul and Gavin Newsom that they too would pursue new congressional maps to further skew toward their party … leaving out the fact that they’ve already tried to gerrymander to the max.
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On "CBS Evening News," reporter Ed O’Keefe noted what Democrats have done: "If you look here in Illinois, they have drawn their map in such a way that Republicans barely have any seats."
COLBERT CONFRONTS JB PRITZKER WITH MAP SHOWING ILLINOIS GERRYMANDERING
Bizarrely, the toughest broadcast pushback on Pritzker came from CBS comedian Stephen Colbert, who held up a map of Illinois’s congressional map and told Pritzker, "If you're considering doing a little more redrawing in Illinois, you already have some crazy districts in Illinois."
"PBS News Hour" is still drawing on taxpayer money as it promotes the Democrat party line, especially the part about how it’s "disenfranchising" minorities. On Monday, PBS’s Stephanie Sy relayed: "Besides what Democrats see as a brazen power grab, the new map could disproportionately disenfranchise Black and Latino voters."
On August 5, PBS anchor Geoff Bennett repeated it: "Some of the Democrats are in Illinois. They said today that the redrawn map would disenfranchise voters of color and that they're not backing down."
By this definition, if you’re Black and you don’t get to vote for Texas Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett, your voting rights are denied. It’s explicitly racial: if Blacks don’t get to vote for a Black Democrat, we’re back in Jim Crow times.
Polls show the Democrats are a mess. The socialist Bernie bros (and gals) hate the party establishment, because it’s never woke enough. It’s not destroying capitalism and police departments fast enough. It’s not resisting deportations enough. It’s not supporting Islamists against Israel enough. Now they’re in danger of not gerrymandering enough. But you can’t win a majority if your polls are in the toilet.