Michael Barone writes at Real Clear Politics about the president’s latest prevarication.
The big lie works — until it doesn’t.
The big lie in this case is Joe Biden’s charge that the changes in Georgia election law passed by the majority-Republican legislature and signed by Republican Governor Brian Kemp on April 1 being are “Jim Crow on steroids.” This was doubling down on his March 25 press conference statement that the law “makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle.”
This isn’t the first time Biden has charged Republicans with racism. During the 2012 campaign, he told a predominantly black audience that Mitt Romney “wants to put y’all back in chains.”
That of course was wrong, and so was Biden’s claim that the Georgia law closed off voting after 5:00 p.m. Even Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler awarded Biden the maximum four Pinocchios.
That didn’t stop Atlanta-based CEOs from gratuitously adding their voices to the chorus. …
Piling on was Major League Baseball CEO Rob Manfred (total 2019 pay $11 million), prompted perhaps by Biden’s statement that he would “strongly encourage” moving this summer’s All-Star Game out of Atlanta, who did just that.
Never mind that the Georgia law authorizes 17 days of no-excuse-required early voting, which is exactly 17 more days than provided in Joe Biden’s Delaware or Major League Baseball’s home state of New York. …
… To say that anyone in public life wishes to bring back Jim Crow is a despicable lie. It’s a libel against the American people. …
… To declare that provisions like requiring voters to show picture identification and limiting no-excuse early voting to 17 days amount to a return to Jim Crow is disgraceful, whether you’re the president or you’re $46 million worth of CEOs.
It’s also not clear it’s politically helpful. A Morning Consult poll shows 42 to 36% approval of the Georgia law. A CNN poll shows approval on Joe Biden’s “handling racial injustice” is just 47%, below his overall job rating.
