Twenty years ago there were congresspeople who protested Al Gore’s electoral college loss even while he was certifying the electoral college decision. They protested, but because it required a senator to back them up, they were out of order. Gore, as head of the senate, had to shut them down, even as they were referring to him as the deserving winner of the race. I still remember it.
Now we are here again, and the protestors do have a senator to back them up, my own damn senator, Josh Hawley. Do we think Pence will uphold the constitution they way Gore did?
From the New York Times, 20 years ago:
The alphabetical roll call of states began with Mr. Gore handing the electoral vote certificates to four lawmakers to examine and read them aloud. In one moment of levity, when California’s 54 electoral votes were awarded to him, Mr. Gore playfully pumped his fist in the air …
The vice president told his supporters as they attempted 20 protests that under the rules they could not debate their points. Republicans loudly called for order.
Still, the dissidents managed to spit out pointed words before being gaveled down, reminding the chamber of complaints that newly registered black voters were turned away from the polls in Florida or that registration lists were flawed or that there was a sudden police presence in black neighborhoods.
Occasionally, Mr. Gore showed some humor. ”The chair thanks the gentleman from Illinois, but, hey,” he said at one point to Mr. Jackson. As the objections came near their end, Mr. Hastings called out to Mr. Gore, ”We did all we could.” With a smile, Mr. Gore said, ”The chair thanks the gentleman from Florida.”
In all situations, it doesn’t matter, because protests are very nice but certification isn’t needed to win an election. I mean, it’s needed for an orderly transfer of power, but ‘orderly’ is no longer a value with the current government.
4 responses to “Electoral Protest”
KC – there are rules and security protocols, but there are ways around them. I will bet you anything those missing laptops have porn on them. That will come to light.
The odds of any given laptop in the world owned by a male having porn on it: very high. (not sure what the stats are on women, but: not as high)
That said, after the whole probably-a-total-fraud “Hunter Biden child porn” thing, and after all the self-refuting election fraud claim pictures (admittedly, only self-refuting if you look closely enough at the pictures; at a glance some of them look maybe-reasonable; and then a few are just unclear rather than self-refuting), I’ll be pretty dubious about “scandalous evidence” from anyone who megaphoned any of those “alternative facts” until the presented evidence is confirmed by the FBI or similar (or, say, any of the agencies who *prosecute* for child porn, etc.).
(okay, *or* if someone protests in a manner that clearly indicates that the heart of the argument about the evidence is accurate, as Trump helpfully confirmed the accuracy of the Georgia Secretary of State phone call recording by suing him for releasing it, instead of suing him for libel or whatever the appropriate thing would be if it was a fake. If there are self-convicting lawsuits or explanations like “there are actresses who are over 18 who are dressed up and made up to look like they’re 10 years old, but it’s totally legal because they’re over 18!” – then I would also tend to believe laptop content claims.)
KC – I wasn’t thinking about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Now that you mention child porn I’m thinking about Anthony Weiner’s laptop, though.