THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA
December 8 was the deadline for Georgians to register to vote in the January runoff race for two seats in the US Senate. If Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock win, the Biden administration will have the votes to pass legislation, appoint cabinet members, and seat judges. If Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler keep their seats, well…. Mitch McConnell will continue to reign supreme, and the Senate will continue to where legislation goes to die. Compare and contrast these two stimulus bills to see the difference between a congress that works (Democratic) and a gridlocked, corporate-owned, do-nothing, luxury retirement village (Republican):
With a key race at stake, the usual r/w media suspects are flooding the zone with misinformation, both about Georgia and about the presidential election results. Fox’s Hannity, Ingraham and especially Lou Dobbs are beating the drum for Trump’s claims that the presidential election was rigged and that proper investigation is being blocked or ignored. Hate radio’s Rush Limbaugh appears to have drunk his own Koolaid and is demanding that Trump display all the myriad proofs of fraud. Combined with rampant lies and rumors racing around social media, there is now a sector of the population that is delusional, and potentially violent.
Only 18% of frequent Fox News viewers say they accept the outcome of the presidential election and only 11% of them say it was conducted fairly. But to some denizens of MAGA-world, even Fox is too reality-based. They’ve moved on the completely unhinged, conspiracy-theory spaces online and on TV. Parler is full of incitements to violence, and Newsmax (TV’s up-and-coming, more-fascist-than-thou channel) has started pushing up against Fox in the ratings.
So how is this affecting the Georgia runoff? It’s possible the Republican Party might pay a price for all the lies, slanders and accusations they propagated and/or refused to deny. The most ardent pro-Trumpers, like Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, are testifying loudly on Fox and elsewhere about how corrupt and unreliable the election process is. Here’s Lucian Lincoln “Lin” Wood, Jr. lecturing the MAGA’s on the virtues of maybe not voting in the runoff:
The combination of RIGGED ELECTIONS FRAUD STOLEN VOTES ARGLE-BARGLE and the fact that the actual, real-life election process down in the Peach State seems to be going pretty smoothly, gives your MassMiss hope. There are come concerns about several counties cutting back on early voting sites which will inconvenience voters, especially voters of color. On the other hand, there have been many requests for mail-in ballots and these are being handled smoothly.
On the state level there are still Republicans with integrity managing elections: per the NYT, They refuted conspiracy theories, certified results, dismissed lawsuits and repudiated a president of their own party. And it really isn’t easy for them, they take a ton of abuse for doing the right thing. Hats off to Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia elections official and a Republican, who here gets pretty shirty about all the nonsense:
But you know who gets all the support from the top, and coverage from the press? People like Mellissa Carone, Rudy Giuliani’s star witness at the Michigan election hearing, a fiery train wreck from which you cannot look away. She claims that, while working as an IT contractor for Dominion Voting Services, she saw myriad violations of the voting process. So convincing!
Thanks to people like Mr. Sterling, and in spite of Trump, Rudy and Mellissa, your MassMiss is cautiously hopeful about the outcome in Georgia and the future of Democratic control of the Senate. Kelly Loeffler, a vastly wealthy Stepford-carpetbagger, is incredibly robotic and unappealing. David Perdue, a vastly wealthy corporate slimeball, is a coward who didn’t even show up for his debate. They are not likable, and polling indicates a Democratic win is possible.
And now, hoping that justice prevails, here is the real “Devil Went Down to Georgia”….
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