When Republicans nominated or endorsed 2020 election deniers for public office in states like Colorado and Michigan, the media went into red alert mode. Fair enough. It's disturbing to see a political party deny the legitimacy of American elections when they lose, and the installment or advancement of would-be election officials who indulge or embrace conspiracies isn't a healthy sign.
I look forward to the journalist class sounding similar alarms over this development:
President Biden's recent nominee to serve on the Federal Election Commission represented a Stacey Abrams-backed nonprofit in a lawsuit that made several unproven allegations of voter suppression. Nominee Dara Lindenbaum also signed on to court papers alleging voting machines "switched" votes during the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race. The Senate Rules and Administration Committee held a confirmation hearing for Lindenbaum, a lawyer with the Washington firm of Sandler, Reiff, Lamb, Rosenstein & Birkenstock, to be a commissioner on the FEC. Days later, the Georgia trial for Fair Fight Action and Care in Action v. Raffensperger began in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. Lindenbaum's name appears as the third signature on the original complaint in the lawsuit alleging voter suppression in the race that saw then-Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp defeat Abrams by 55,000 votes statewide in the governor's race.
Georgia Republicans are correctly appalled:
"The U.S. Senate must reject this nominee," Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, said of Lindenbaum. "The FEC is supposed to be a neutral body that instills confidence in our elections," Carr told Fox News. "She has spent the last four years making fake claims of voter suppression and pushing conspiracy theories. This has been a four-year fundraising effort for Fair Fight Action assisted by Ms. Lindenbaum." ... Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asked about the matter during the confirmation hearing April 6...Cruz asked if claiming an election is stolen undermines faith in democracy. "It can, I think it depends on the context involved," Lindenbaum replied.
Ah yes, the "context." Abrams lost, fair and square, in 2018. Brian Kemp just beat her. She could never bring herself to admit this fact and concede the race. Instead, she's been peddling conspiracy theories for years, painting herself as a victim. Virtually every major Democrat in the country has embraced her baseless nonsense, catapulting her to partisan stardom and personal wealth. She's a celebrity. She'll be her party's nominee again – and she might have a chance to win this time if petty grievances depress Georgia GOP turnout, yet again, in November. Her conduct has been rewarded because the incentives are rotten – and many of the very people who freak out over false stolen election claims by Republicans are happy to cheer on the same phenomenon on their side. The double standard is real and galling. And it comes from the same hypocrites who don't actually value free speech that they can't control:
If you want to oppose free speech and support censorship, please do so without gaslighting people with the claim that the meaning has suddenly changed. https://t.co/hjJUQS0P3J
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 30, 2022
CNN's David Zurawik: "Dangerous" with Elon Musk buying Twitter, we need to look to Europe.
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 1, 2022
"You need regulation. You cannot let these guys control discourse in this country or we are headed to hell. We are there. Trump opened the gates of hell and now they’re chasing us down." pic.twitter.com/QubyKZwVCQ
It's frightening and somewhat surreal seeing journalists leading the charge for censorship. And, of course, the people who warn about the dangers of misinformation are often the same people who falsely identified the COVID lab leak theory as "misinformation," and wrongly insisted the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian "disinformation," worthy of aggressive censorship. They have no credible authority to be the arbiters of such things, yet they expect to be taken seriously, and melt down when their grip on power and control loosens. I'll leave you with this – does anyone believe this man, who insists the southern border is secure, and that the crisis is being managed "effectively?"
"Will American citizens be monitored?"
— CNN (@CNN) May 1, 2022
"No."
CNN's @/DanaBashCNN presses Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the department creating a disinformation governance board that he says is meant to "address the threat of foreign state adversaries." @CNNSotu #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/JLDNnbtsc7