NYT editorial board member suggests some GOP lawmakers opposing McCarthy were elected due to racism



New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay suggested on Thursday that some of the Republicans opposing Kevin McCarthy's bid for the House speakership were elected due to racism.

During an appearance on MSNBC, Gay claimed that some of the Republican figures were "elected based on a litmus test to stop the tide of diversity in the country, the browning of America, the fears that surround that."

Earlier in the segment, host Nicolle Wallace had described the deadlock as a "tragedy for American democracy."

\u201c"Some of these individuals were people who were really only elected based on a litmus test to stop the tide of diversity in the country, the browning of America, the fears that surround that. So, they were not elected to go do the work of government"- @MaraGay w/ @NicolleDWallace\u201d
— Deadline White House (@Deadline White House) 1672963836

While a significant majority of the House GOP has been backing McCarthy, more than a dozen Republicans have been been opposing him, preventing McCarthy from gaining the speaker's gavel. So far, McCarthy has come up short in a whopping 11 votes, including three on Tuesday, three on Wednesday, and five on Thursday. Democrats have been voting for Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

In many of the votes this week, the Republicans opposing McCarthy have voted for Byron Donalds of Florida, who is black — Donalds voted for McCarthy twice, but has since been voting against him.

Democrat Cori Bush of Missouri, who is black, has described Donalds as a "prop."

"FWIW, @ByronDonalds is not a historic candidate for Speaker. He is a prop. Despite being Black, he supports a policy agenda intent on upholding and perpetuating white supremacy. His name being in the mix is not progress—it's pathetic," Bush tweeted on Wednesday.

Former President Donald Trump has called for Republicans to rally around McCarthy, but Matt Gaetz of Florida asserted that Trump's support for McCarthy represents "the worst Human Resources decision President Trump has ever made," while Lauren Boebert of Colorado has said that Trump should call on McCarthy to withdraw from contention. Gaetz voted for Trump to be House speaker during some of the votes on Thursday.

MSNBC host suggests US needs foreign election monitors, claims GOP is trying 'to destroy our democracy'



MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace suggested Monday that foreign election monitors should oversee American elections, declaring the Republican Party is trying "to destroy our democracy."

But her guest, Democratic Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), immediately shot down her proposal.

Wait, what did she say?

In countries where questions of legitimacy hang over elections, election monitors, often sent by legitimate democracies and non-governmental organizations, conduct oversight and record questionable practices.

According to Wallace, the U.S. needs such monitors to provide oversight of our elections.

"We're so focused on our own pretty splendid efforts to destroy our democracy from the Republican Party in this country that we forget there are foreign actors that represent a grave threat as well," Wallace said on her MSNBC show.

"The threats to our elections in what, 2.5 weeks, are so pervasive, and they’re so dire, and they include violence — I mean, do you think it’s time to ask for friends and allies to come over and help us monitor our elections?" she went on to ask Himes. "We used to do that in other burgeoning and threatened democracies."

\u201c"At some point the U.S. is going to need to collectively decide that not only are we going to oppose Russians and Chinese and North Koreans and Iranians messing around with our elections, we're not gonna allow the Republican Party to do it either" - @jahimes w/ @NicolleDWallace\u201d
— Deadline White House (@Deadline White House) 1666649422

Himes, though he agreed with Wallace's concerns, promptly explained he does not share her solution.

"No, Nicolle, I’m not there yet, and I know why you’re asking what you’re asking and you’re not wrong," Himes responded.

"I mean, the kind of intimidation that is threatened around polling places. You’ve seen the pictures of the guys with assault weapons near boxes — that stuff is intimidating," he added without evidence. "That used to be the province, I hate to use the term, third-world countries that didn’t care about democracy.

"But no, look, this is something for us to work out ourselves," Himes said.

Despite heavy-handed rhetoric from Democrats and media members that American democracy is under threat, the democratic processes that guide America through elections have not failed — not even once.

Rep. Himes: The U.S. Has To Decide We Won’t Allow The GOP To Mess With Election www.youtube.com

MSNBC host wants Obama-run 'democracy commission' — but Democrat quickly shoots her down



MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace suggested Monday that former President Barack Obama needs to establish a "democracy hotline" to protect elections from Republicans.

But her suggestion was immediately shot down — by a Democrat.

What did Wallace say?

In the case of an election where the outcome is not known on Election Day, Wallace suggested Americans need a "democracy hotline" to protect them from Republicans, who she claimed intend to sow chaos in elections.

"I think we have to have a conversation as a country about how we might not know the next morning what happened," Wallace began. "We might not know the day after that — and that is their point! That is their point!"

"They're not all running to win — some of them will, unfortunately," she claimed. "They are running to sow discord in America. And it will change everything."

Fanning the flames of hysteria, Wallace even claimed "Election Day" may be renamed "Election Week" because of that alleged Republican chaos.

"What we are watching, and because it’s so slow, it’s so slow, we don’t cover it as a five-alarm fire, but it is," Wallace said. "We are watching Republicans not just destroying democracy in the dark, breaking into election offices and plugging stuff in, we’re watching them do it from rally stages, debate stages. That’s where they’re doing it."

\u201cMSNBC's @NicolleDWallace: How about we create an Obama-led "democracy commission" to save America from Republicans?\u201d
— Tom Elliott (@Tom Elliott) 1665435809

The solution? According to Wallace, Obama needs to establish a "democracy commission" in which Chris Christie and Ben Ginsberg, two Republicans, man a "democracy hotline" akin to other crisis hotlines.

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D), however, was not buying what Wallace was trying to sell.

"It doesn't take a commission," she immediately told Wallace. "It just takes Republicans that have some character and integrity standing up [to those who question election outcomes]."

No word yet if Wallace believes Democrats — who openly questioned the 2000 and 2004 presidential election outcomes, among others — also require a hotline to ease their consternation with losing elections.

MSNBC anchor says the 'dehumanization' of GOP parental rights bills is comparable to Russian soldiers raping children in Ukraine



MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace said that the "dehumanization" of of LGBT children by parental rights bills put forth by some Republican governors is comparable to the war atrocities where Russian soldiers reportedly raped Ukrainian children.

Wallace made the comments on Wednesday while speaking to Bulwark writer Tim Miller about parental rights bills passed by some Republican governors to ban teachers from talking about transgender and other sexual topics in early public school education.

"And I worry that in covering [Virginia Gov.] Glen Youngkin (R) and his politics of parental choice, all the focus was on how well it worked, and even in our conversations about [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis (R), it's about how well they're serving him," Wallace said.

"The truth is dehumanization is a tactic for politics is from war, dehumanization is a tactic, that's being used right now, the Russians get their soldiers to rape children by dehumanizing them," she continued emphatically.

"Dehumanization as a practice, is a tactic of war, it's being deployed in politics, and people like you and I sometimes lose the plot, and admits its effectiveness, its, not its substance, but even the analysis of these tactics loses sight of what, of what, this speech bring us back to, which is, dehumanization has a cost right now, right now, as its deployed," Wallace added.

"And, and, Chasten Buttigieg made this point when 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was introduced, kids will die!" she concluded.

Miller agreed with Wallace and registered no opposition to her overheated rhetoric.

"Yeah, I think that’s right," Miller responded. "Their cruelty and inhuman behavior is inexcusable."

Among the many reports of war crimes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there have been some unconfirmed claims that Russian soldiers are sexually assaulting children.

Here's the video of Wallace's comments:

A smug @NicolleDWallace accuses Governors Ron DeSantis and Glenn Youngkin of "dehumanization" and compares them to "Russians [who] get their soldiers to rape children."pic.twitter.com/cwRTPERk6Z
— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1650485759

MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace says 95% of Americans will agree with Biden's speech on Afghanistan debacle



MSNBC host Nicholle Wallace claimed that 95% of Americans would agree with President Joe Biden's speech on the debacle in Afghanistan and accused the media of unfairly criticizing him.

Biden addressed the nation from the White House about the disastrous military retreat from Afghanistan as more horrific reports and videos surfaced showing the Taliban overrunning the country and taking over.

Wallace said that the vast majority of Americans would agree with the president.

"95% of the American people will agree with everything he just said. 95% of the press covering this White House will disagree," Wallace claimed.

"And for an American president to finally be completely aligned with such an overwhelming majority of what the American people think about Afghanistan is probably a relief to the American people," she added.

Biden in his speech placed much of the blame for the disastrous retreat on the Afghan people themselves.

"Afghanistan's political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight," the president said.

"If anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision," he continued. "American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves."

Wallace went on to praise Biden for his statement, but admitted her two points were difficult to say aloud.

"He also went a long way to really fleshing out a Biden doctrine. And there are questions about whether he can achieve what he set out. But there is no equivocation, there is no lack of confidence that this is the right decision," she continued.

"And what he has going for him is a vast majority of Americans in both political parties," Wallace concluded.

Fellow MSNBC host Joy Ann Reid appeared to agree with Wallace's assessment.

"I have my issues with President Biden. Especially on voting rights and this obsession with 'bipartisanship.' But he is an entire grown-up and that speech just now shows it," Reid tweeted.

Here's the video of Wallace's comments:

MSNBC host @NicolleDWallace: "95% of the American people will agree with everything [President Biden] just said. 95… https://t.co/1zYdtlUM0G

— The Recount (@therecount) 1629145991.0

Post-debate media roundup: The fly dominates the debate. Also, Mike Pence is sexist.



Wednesday night's vice presidential debate was a substantive, issue-driven, coherent political debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and a significant amount of the media discussion about and reaction to the debate focused on a fly.

During the debate at Kingsbury Hall, Salt Lake City, Utah, a fly landed on Pence's head and sat there for about two minutes.

A fly lands on Vice President Pence during #VPDebate. https://t.co/i0O2K6N9Yy
— CSPAN (@CSPAN)1602124116.0

And for a time, the fly dominated debate discussion.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the fly that perched on Mike Pence’s head during the debate. 🤪 https://t.co/PsY2FI12DL
— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@Jon Cooper 🇺🇸)1602123806.0
Fly wins the night and probably the most memorable thing that happened.
— Chris Hayes (@Chris Hayes)1602123619.0
Forever more this debate will be known as “The Fly Debate “. I feel bad for Pence
— Mark Cuban (@Mark Cuban)1602123635.0
“The fly is the October Surprise.”~@JonLemire
— Joe Scarborough (@Joe Scarborough)1602123692.0
the fly has won this debate
— John Harwood (@John Harwood)1602123552.0
this fly on his head is distracting me!!!! #VPDebate https://t.co/gd6jfXv3yR
— philip lewis (@philip lewis)1602123547.0
Oh my God.He’s so full of crap, a fly has landed on his head. https://t.co/f61K9oIvKa
— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@Ana Navarro-Cárdenas)1602123621.0

Daily Caller reporter Andrew Kerr called out the media for its triviality.

Nobody gets to complain about civility in politics anymore.We just witnessed the only coherent debate of the pres… https://t.co/zxh9wlikye
— Andrew Kerr (@Andrew Kerr)1602126370.0

Aside from the fly, immediate media reaction to the debate focused on the performances of the two vice presidential candidates. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow remarked that the debate reminded her of what politics used to be like, before criticizing the Trump administration.

“It was like a visit to normal politics land,” @maddow says of #vpdebate, "which is fine and to be expected when it… https://t.co/nOT73aalVL
— MSNBC (@MSNBC)1602125396.0

Maddow led a panel with MSNBC contributors Nicole Wallace and Joy Reid.

Reid, after mentioning the fly, criticized Pence for interrupting Harris, accusing him of "doing a softer version of what Donald Trump did last week."

"He repeatedly interrupted her, he demanded, well, he also repeatedly interrupted the other woman in the room, which is the moderator who seemed to at some point lose control of him, and he also continually demanded that Kamala Harris answer his questions," Reid said. "She was not there to answer his questions."

After Reid noted how Pence apparently steamrolled the moderator and Harris, which she said will hurt Trump with women, Wallace said his performance was "flaccid and anemic," which she says will hurt Trump with men.

"Vice President Pence appeared flaccid," @NicolleDWallace says of VP Pence's #vpdebate performance. "The only time… https://t.co/cwF2wML5JB
— MSNBC (@MSNBC)1602125539.0

Former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill later joined the MSNBC panel and called Pence "patronizing" and "boring."

"Let me start with Pence. He was patronizing, which drove all the women crazy. And he was boring, which lost most o… https://t.co/eqKLr10Cus
— MSNBC (@MSNBC)1602126717.0

Pence was criticized by other commentators for interrupting Harris. According to CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter, CBS anchor Norah Odonnell claimed that Pence interrupted Harris "twice as often" as Harris interrupted Pence.

>> @NorahODonnell on CBS: "Our team was following it very closely, and the VP Mike Pence interrupted Sen. Kamala Harris twice as often."
— Brian Stelter (@Brian Stelter)1602124731.0

MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski complained that Pence overran his time and was not controlled by moderator Susan Page.

Why cant Susan page control this debate. She is getting run over??? Why ..
— Mika Brzezinski (@Mika Brzezinski)1602123735.0

MSNBC's Chris Hayes made the interruptions a gender issue.

The gendered dynamics of interruption and the power to interrupt is always so in your face in these settings. My god.
— Chris Hayes (@Chris Hayes)1602122521.0

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos brought sexism into his analysis, accusing Pence of "mansplaining" to Harris.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos:"A lot of people were noticing some mansplaining going on tonight." https://t.co/5FtQlyxL9p
— Daily Caller (@Daily Caller)1602125358.0


But two independent reviews of the speaking time reveals that Harris had equal time with Pence, if not more.

Pence and Harris had almost exactly the same amount of speaking time, per @CNN https://t.co/NQn43YRd1k
— Andrew Solender (@Andrew Solender)1602126237.0
unofficial speaking times -Pence: 35:22Harris: 38:48 via @Kjwalsh_news
— Rick Klein (@Rick Klein)1602124720.0

Ben Shapiro said that Pence's performance was "effective," which is why commentators assumed he spoke more.

But everybody thought Pence spoke more. Which demonstrates how effective he was. Harris' performance, which will be… https://t.co/7TZOZMhwo0
— Ben Shapiro (@Ben Shapiro)1602125252.0

Others said Pence performed well. CBS' Norah O'Donnell said Pence was "masterful."

"You may not agree with anything his administration does, but in terms of his debating style he repeatedly did not answer the question that was posed to him about the record of the Trump administration on a number of issues, he pivoted and used the time to deliver a direct attack against Joe Biden's long record in Washington. And I was stunned because I thought that Kamala Harris, the former prosecutor and skilled debater ... would be able to make sure it was the Trump record that was on defense."

"Many times it seemed like Kamala was on defense," she added.

CBS’s Norah O’Donnell says Vice President Pence’s debate performance was “masterful.”He “used the time to deliver… https://t.co/bTFlnLtLzl
— Trump War Room - Text TRUMP to 88022 (@Trump War Room - Text TRUMP to 88022)1602126453.0

ABC News newscaster Linsey Davis said Pence "really held [Harris'] feet to the fire" on the Supreme Court.

ABC News’ Linsey Davis: Vice President @Mike_Pence “really held her feet to the fire,” especially on the Supreme Co… https://t.co/QOlanXCFog
— Steve Guest (@Steve Guest)1602126591.0

ABC News contributor Sara Fagen said Pence "did a great job."

ABC News contributor Sara Fagen on Vice President @Mike_Pence: “he did a great job”https://t.co/UnPPEjg7Y6 https://t.co/NY6CKEm9Ds
— RNC Research (@RNC Research)1602126716.0

CNN contributor Van Jones said Harris was "run over" and said Pence was "masterful" and "made conservatism seem normal again."

CNN's Van Jones is big mad that Mike Pence "was masterful in normalizing conservative ideas." 😂😂😂😂#VPDebate https://t.co/6z5LdMB6ve
— Curtis Houck (@Curtis Houck)1602126492.0

Harris was criticized for missing opportunities to attack the Trump administration and for dodging some questions.

NBC's Lester Hold and Andrea Mitchell noted Harris "didn't score" on the issue of masks.

On NBC, Lester Holt and Andrea @MitchellReports regretted Harris “left on the table” anti-Trump points, “surprised… https://t.co/iV8ycYPT1O
— NewsBusters (@NewsBusters)1602125484.0

CNN's Jake Tapper criticized Harris for dodging a question on packing the Supreme Court.

CNN’s Jake Tapper: Sen. Kamala Harris didn’t answer questions about packing the Supreme Court, “that’s significant,… https://t.co/Sy0r22RVjd
— RNC Research (@RNC Research)1602125989.0

Conservatives, for the most part, say Pence won the debate. Progressives say Harris won. But if debates are won on memorability, we should all acknowledge the fly as the true winner.