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© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.McConnell warns CEOs: 'Stay out of politics'
By LISA MASCARO WASHINGTON©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
70 Comments
GdTokyo
Um, isn’t that what the CCP usually says?
Whatever happened to Mitt’s “Corporations are people” line?
OHHHHHH. Now they are not on your side and being a supporter of voter-suppressing white supremacy isn’t such a great look for the brand.
Bob Fosse
He should be a tool for the people, not just a tool.
PTownsend
Money where your mouth is, Mitch. Return all the millions in campaign donations you've been given by corporations that have paid you well to do their political bidding for them. How are your wife's family business arrangements with China doing?
Wolfpack
The Democrat Party remain the party of Jim Crow using race to divide for political gain - as they have done for nearly two centuries. Whatever racial grievances they are able to stir up and use to pit people against one another. It takes a lot of arrogance to claim Georgia’s color blind voting law is racist right after passing a law with only Democrat votes explicitly excluding farmers from federal aid based on race. Many of the same provisions in Georgia’s law exist in states such as New Jersey - but false charges of racism are the only tool in the Dems toolbox so the cognitive dissonance never occurs to these idiots. The division Democrats have been sowing over the past ten years will have devastating and long lasting effects on American society. They were so convinced that they were right when they were the Klan and were pushing eugenics to reduces the black population in America. Now they are back at it again with a new target. The Democrats are destroying MLKs dream.
Desert Tortoise
Eh, I don't know that the Trump supporters like Mr.. McConnel at all. The most ardent Trump supporters in the House of Representatives revile him actually. When he advised the Senate not to challenge the election results many House members criticized Mr. McConnel bitterly. The Senate seems to have fewer ardent Trump supporters and even among those few the fire doesn't seem to burn as brightly as it does for those in the House.
Desert Tortoise
It is tough for a modern American corporation to remain politically neutral. There are constant demands to chose sides and many willing to lead boycotts against them if they chose to align themselves with the opposing side. There are several big corporations I won't patronize due to their political choices current and past. On the other hand twice in my life I after major earthquakes I have had to rely on Coca Cola to distribute free fresh water when the water and sewer pipes were busted and you could not be too sure what was coming out of the faucet at home. That earned my undying loyalty even as I seldom drink soft drinks. I would sincerely love to see Coca Cola trucks (Pepsi too) show up during the next election and hand out free water to people waiting in line to vote in Georgia. Big middle finger to these yahoos trying to deny the franchise to blacks. What a reprehensible thing to do!
Ah_so
I'm sure that no Republican politician would refuse money from a company seeking to influence gun law.
In fact, doesn't the gun industry basically keep the party afloat?
Desert Tortoise
Same for the oil, chemical and coal industries.
GdTokyo
“Stay out of politics!”
“Noted. We are suspending all political donations.”
”Wait! That’s not what I meant!”
Desert Tortoise
You are delusional if you think Georgia's new voting law is color blind. It is very precisely aimed at disenfranchising blacks, the poor and the disabled. Once upon a time the Democrats were indeed the party of Jim Crow but if you are for once in your life honest you will admit that Nixon's southern strategy combined with northern big city Democrats advocating against Jim Crow changed the nature of the Republican Party. Today it is the torch bearer for racial discrimination while the Democrats fight against it. I know why you left California. I get it. Just me but I would rather have a poor minority / immigrant as a neighbor than a white bigot with any amount of money. That's just me talking but I grew up with a family full of racists and know the code words, the dog whistles used by whites to signal their racism. Your arguments are not fooling anyone but yourself. You have a weight on your heart and you don't need to carry it. I figured that out a very long time ago.
Desert Tortoise
Most of his campaign money and personal wealth come from his father in law's shipping company.
Jsapc
I too agree that CEO's like Donald Trump should stay out of politics.
Jsapc
There, I fixed it for you.
u_s__reamer
To refute McConnell's self-serving rhetoric and expose his Machiavellian hypocrisy just two words: "Citizens United".
Forget the "Moscow" and follow the "Beijing": McConnell needs to get the serious attention of the DOJ because it stretches the imagination to infinity and beyond to believe that the Kentuckian with his long career in grimy money politics and a Chinese wife with dubious bizness dealings has a clean shirt or linen. Biden must nudge the AG to take the McConnells more seriously and take them out (of politics) if they have conspired to defraud the US Treasury or found otherwise to have sold their souls for filthy lucre to finance their political ambitions.
PTownsend
Mitch is biting the hands that have fed him for decades.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/americas-top-ceos-are-opening-up-their-wallets-for-mitch-mcconnells-re-election-campaign-11603820924
Desert Tortoise
Don't be too sure. I am not quite as old as Mr.Biden but I can remember the "sunset towns" in the LA area (cities that would arrest blacks out after dark, Glendale CA even posted signs to that effect), segregated facilities and housing. The deed to my parents old home in LA clearly stated it could not be sold to "negros". That was common covenant in LA area deeds and indeed LA was one of the most segregated cities in the nation. it didn't end until the US Supreme Court outlawed housing segregation. Few are aware today but LA had riots during WWII as blacks came to work in the many defense plants and found they could not rent or own homes in much of the city. Jim Crow California style. Latinos and Asians fared little better. LA was marketed in the Midwest particularly as a America's whitest city. That was the attraction. Mr. Biden, being much older than I would be well acquainted with those days.
theFu
If Mitch McConnell wants companies to stay out of politics, then Congress should make a law that companies aren't people and can't provide funding/gifts for anything related to politics. Actually, I hope Congress does just that.
If we keep treating companies like "people", with political rights, then we need to find a way to put the people responsible for illegal actions carried out by a company in jail much easier.
The existing whistleblower statutes are not sufficient. We need personal liability for company heads (all BoD and C-Suite people) AND for politicians who lie.
Strangerland
The right-wing woke cancel culture speaks again. CEOs better not speak out, or the right will cancel them.
Just another example proving that the right hates free speech.
PTownsend
Recall, however, in defense of their wack brand of free speech they've claimed in court 'reasonable' people would NOT believe them.
It's clear the wack right want to cancel the free speech of all who question them.
Numan
McConnell is scared because he knows karma is coming for him!
Happy Day
Who’s going to listen to this guy? His wife and her family are on the CCP gravy train, uh, I mean they were conveniently placed on the boards of Chinese companies after Trump was elected.
Desert Tortoise
The saddest fact is that the company owned by Elaine Chao's father James S. C. Chao, called the Foremost Group, buys its ships from China's massive state owned shipyards with money lent to them by the Bank of China (and on the governing boards of both the shipyard and Bank of China sits Elaine Chao's sister), hauling bulk iron ore and bauxite primarily to China on ships registered mostly in Liberia with crews sourced from many nations, but since he gained US citizenship circa 1959 or so and has a small office and mailing address in New York the company is an "American" company.
SuperLib
What a silly thing for McConnell to say.
Wolfpack
Which provision of the law is targeted at black citizens? Voter ID? New Jersey, Virginia, and California have voter ID laws - are they disenfranchising black voters? Georgia has expanded early voting by four days - you consider that racist? These states also do not allow voting outside their home precincts or allow voters to receive duplicate mail-in ballots. That’s the new Jim Crow? New Jersey requires drivers license number or last four of ssn to register online. The state with the toughest signature verification rules is Colorado- is this emerging Dem stronghold racist? Poll closing times in Georgia is 7PM - same as California, Delaware, Massachusetts and Rhode Island? Racist? No - just race baiting. There is no provision in Georgia’s elections law that isn’t also in force in a blue state somewhere in America.
The Dems are stoking racial polarization because it works to get them elected. Racial polarization has always worked for the Dems - that seems to be the reason they keep doing it.
Wolfpack
The Dems keep hyping Nixon’s election as proof of racism. They fail to acknowledge that Democrats also won the Southern states - Carter, Clinton, Obama as if the former Klan members are only racists when Republicans win but become multi-cultural Progressives whenever a Dem wins. The truth is that more Republicans than Dems voted for the civil rights legislation that ended Jim Crow. Only two Dixiecrat’s switched to the Republican party. The vast majority of segregationist Dixiecrats returned to the Democrat party. The last segregationist( Hillary Clinton’s mentor) was Robert Byrd a long serving and revered member of the Democrat party.
You will notice that Democrats to this day have never taken responsibility for slavery, the KKK, and Jim Crow. They work overtime to deflect their guilt upon a party that has never supported racialized policy. The guilt is too much for them to face up to.
Attilathehungry
The big problem with corporations wading into political issues is that they leave themselves vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy. OK, so for example MLB cancelled the All-Star game in Georgia. Great. Yet... an MLB team plays 81 games in Georgia every season! Any discussion of getting that franchise to not play there? Somehow I don't think that will happen.
As for the politicians, President Biden's home state of Delaware already has more restrictive voter laws than the current proposal in Georgia. Yet the issue has never come up with the President, in spite of him being a senator from that state for centuries.
Numan
@Wolfpack
How many current Democrats in office can be seen taking photos with white supremacist leaders, speaking at White Nationalist conventions, protesting at the White nationalist march in Charlotte, and attending the riot at the Capital this year?
Ans: None! The nation has seen current Republican politicians and GOP party members at these events!
What is your excuse for their actions and decisions, again?
Numan
@Atilia
Your faulty logic relies on the premise that Georgia did not already have ID before 2020 which they did. It also relies on the premise that POC, Democrats and anyone that did not vote for trump broke the law last year and voted illegally which they did not!
trump lost and lost BADLY (trump voice)!
Desert Tortoise
The identification requirements for mail in ballots overwhelmingly effect black voters more than whites. Where I live signature matching is used for mail in ballots. About 200,000 adults in Georgia have no state ID. If you are disabled and don't drive, or elderly and don't drive why does one need an ID? And for those in that situation obtaining one will be difficult.
Waiting in line; based on data gathered by Georgia Public Broadcasting measured wait times averaging 51 minutes for polling places in predominantly black voting precincts while the wait at precincts that were 90% white was 6 minutes. Georgia has closed many polling places in minority areas deliberately to increase wait times. Now they add insult to injury by making it a misdemeanor to give or sell food or drinks to those standing in line to vote. Again, this affects black voters, not white voters whos lines are very short.
Provisional votes cast after 5pm when most working class blacks will vote are now to be thrown out.
Drop box times are limited to 9am to 5pm, times when blue collar working blacks are, guess what, they're working and unable to use them on their way to or from work. Whites working in professional jobs don't have these restrictions. Blacks are statistically more likely to work more than one job further restricting their time available to vote and that rolls into the problem with the time limit on provisional ballots.
The mobile voting units employed by Fulton County and heavily used by black voters are now banned.
Jsapc
I am happily making those accusations.
What does banning giving out water in long lines at the poll have anything to do with voter fraud? Absolutely nothing. The only purpose of that law is to make it harder for some people to vote. Long line at the polls are predominantly in minority neighbourhoods -and this is already by design from the GOP-.
But there's a very simple way of proving this isn't all completely racist : give us proof of the massive voter fraud that warrants any new voting law in Georgie or anywhere else.
I'll wait.
Attilathehungry
Desert Tortoise: people need ID for myriad things. Buying alcohol or tobacco. Opening a bank account. Obtaining virtually any government service from welfare to health care. Plus the state of Georgia will issue a FREE state ID for those who need it.
Wolfpack
Can you be more specific than generalities? I don’t make excuses for racism - I have been subjected to discrimination myself. But the accusations must be honest and factual. All the Left has is mischaracterizations, deflection, and false charges.
Numan
@Wolfpack
That right there shows you are not telling the truth or have no idea what you are talking about!
Focusing solely on Southern Democratic politicians who officially switched parties -- instead of ordinary voters, as scholars emphasize -- intentionally misses the thrust of the party realignment on matters of race and civil rights. But, sure, let's ignore what scholars have written on this and meet this question on Wolfpack's own chosen ground -- racist Southern Democratic politicians who switched to the GOP.
First and foremost, of course, there's Strom Thurmond, the Dixiecrat presidential candidate, who was welcomed into the GOP in 1964 -- and, importantly, allowed to keep his seniority and thus all the power that came with it in Congress. (No other Southern Democrats were.)
But before Thurmond, John Tower left the Democrats in the early 1950s and won election as the first GOP senator in the modern South. Tower spoke out against civil rights, joined with S. Dems to plot filibusters, and voted against the Civil Rights Act & Voting Rights.
State legislatures had more switches. Again, this isn't what historians stress in party realignment, but yes, it happened. For some examples in state legs:
SC Rep. Arthur Ravenel Jr.
SC Rep. Floyd Spence
Texas Rep. Jack Cox
Mississippi Sen. Stanford Morse
Alabama Rep. Albert Goldthwaite
Louisiana Rep. Roderick Miller
South Carolina Sen. Marshall ParkerEtc etc.
Wolfpack
Elections officials can provide food and water at the polls. There is no ban. However, most states have laws against electioneering within a certain distance from the polls. It is not reasonable for political parties and partisan interest groups to be allowed to advocate for candidates at polling places. This applies to all polling places equally - even to those in places more likely to serve white voters. This is not a racist provision.
The problem with this claim is that local county election boards control the number and location of polling places. So if there are long lines at polling locations in Atlanta, for example, that is the fault of the Democrats who run the county. Not the State legislature.
There is very little confidence in the elections system in America. After 2016, Dems insisted, without evidence, that Trump stole the election. Hillary stated as much immediately after and as recently as last year. After 2020, there were similar claims from the other side. Something needs to be done to restore trust in the process. I hardly see how Georgia adopting election regulations very similar to California and New Jersey can constitute evidence of racist intent. Do you believe that similar laws in these states are racist? That’s a serious question that I doubt you have a good answer for.
Numan
@Wolfpack
The US government has already confirmed that Russia interfered with the 2016 and 2020 elections.
Which candidate ran in both elections? Which candidate did Russia favor in both elections, again?
Wolfpack
I did not focus solely on politicians. I specifically made the point that Democrats won in southern states after Nixon. Landslide victories for Nixon based on the racist former Democrats theory could not magically result in victories in the South for Carter, Clinton, and Obama. Nixon campaigned in cities like Raleigh and Atlanta that were trending away from the Democrats racist past. Let’s not forget that affirmative action racism started under Nixon - hardly an act that would garner support from old Democrat klansman. Contemporaries of the current president, Senators James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman E. Talmadge of Georgia remained solidly in the Democrat party camp. Biden announced that he was proud to work with these Southern Democrats. Certainly the politics of the civil rights era are a lot more complicated than the Left purports it to be.
Jsapc
Yes, and that has absolutely nothing to do with people giving out water to the elderly folks waiting in line for 3 hours to vote. So why are you bringing this up?
Are you conveniently forgetting that the GOP-led local administrations have been closing thousands of polling stations in black neighbourhood for years now?
https://www.governing.com/archive/sl-polling-place-close-ahead-of-november-elections-black-voters.html
This a complete lie. There is only "very little confidence" in the election system for people who watch fox news. The only reason republican voters think that the system if weak or fruadulent is because Hannity, Carlson and their other TV dads keep saying it to them. And it has no basis in reality, as you very well know and can not deny.
Again, please provide us proof of the massive voter fraud that would be the basis for any need of election law reform.
Wolfpack
The US government has also confirmed that Russia interfered in elections prior to 2016. Does that make Obama’s election suspect? Of course not. There is no proof that Trump colluded with Russia. You can’t blame Trump for what Putin did or did not do. The accusation was meant to destroy his presidency and it largely succeeded in that.
Clearly PM Trudeau supported Biden in the 2020 election. That doesn’t mean Biden is guilty of anything.
Numan
That logic makes no sense like the statements you made earlier. You said on two Dixicrats became Republicans nad the rest of the racits stayed in the Democratic party. I jus proved you wrong!
Is there another Wolfpack?
Yes, it could if more people or groups that were historically marginalized began to vote more. The whole reason that Black codes, Jim Crow laws and Republican ID laws existed were to stop POC particularly Black people from participating in the election process and remaining second class citizens after the South lost the Civil War. Georgia voted for Biden 4 years later when it voted for trump in 2016!
Attilathehungry
JSAPC' voter fraud doesn't need to be 'massive' to have an impact on elections. Look how many races were decided on mere tenths of a percent, if not less. Besides, what is your definition of 'massive'? It would help to know what standard you expect before trying to provide evidence.
There is nothing intrinsically racist or wrong with simply requiring a person to demonstrate their qualification to vote. AFAIK, such laws are in place in every other G7 country. Again the Democrats are displaying what former President Bush so eloquently called the "soft bigotry of low expectations", assuming that POC aren't capable of even making the effort to obtain free state issued ID cards in order to vote. IF the Democrats and their ilk truly wanted to help, they would organize grassroots campaigns to help people of all ethnicities and backgrounds get registered and IDed. Not waste their time on hyperbolic and false dog whistling.
Numan
@Wolfpack
Yeah, again in elections to favor Republicans. You are not helping your case.
Trudeau "supporting" Biden is not the equivalent of interfering with hacking, misinformation and trump's quid pro quo!
That is GOP, US Christian conservative and Q Anon logic at its finest!
Your "What about......logic" does not work!
Wolfpack
Because you tried to make a point by stating that food and drinks cannot be given to voters in line at the polls. Why bring it up that this is somehow voter suppression when it’s not even true. Elections officials can provide these things.
Actually that’s not what the article says. The article states:
You are not being completely truthful about the contents of the article. The white consultant is not identified as a Republican and the jurisdiction is not identified as being controlled by Republicans. It appears from the editorial that whomever was running the jurisdiction closed polling places to save money. Most jurisdictions with large black citizen populations are controlled by Democrats. If it were a GOP consultant and GOP controlled jurisdictions why would an editorial advocating for the Left leave that out of the article? Probably because it isn’t true.
Numan
@Wolfpack
Biden was not trying to do anything with Trudeau. Like, the trump administration tried to create a back channel to talk to Putin and sent several Republicans to Russia on his behalf with a message from trump to Putin. Not to mention, the NRA associates (Republican supporters) were literally in bed with Russia.
False equivalency!
SuperLib
So why do you think black people overwhelmingly support the racist Democrats while shunning the righteous Republicans?
Jsapc
OK, then please provide us proof that there is enough voter fraud to warrant changes in the laws.
Jsapc
Except it is, and you have done nothing to disprove it.
Water is usually given out at polling stations with very long lines.
Very long lines almost exclusively happen in neighbourhoods with a lot of minorities (who incidentally vote democrat).
So how can this particular law not be anything but anti-minorities?
That is EXACTLY what the article says.
In the five years since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key parts of the Voting Rights Act, nearly a thousand polling places have been shuttered across the country, many of them in southern black communities.
Also, still waiting on proof of voter fraud, which is, after all, the most important thing to debate here.
Wolfpack
Come on man! You are taking part of what I wrote and accusing me of leaving out the rest. What do you gain by that form of argument?
So you are saying that historically marginalized groups voted less when Nixon won, more when Carter won, less when Reagan won, less when HW Bush won, more when Clinton won, less when W Bush won, more when Obama won, less when Trump won, and more when Biden won. How does that make Republicans racist?
What Trump quid pro quo? You are in the fever swamps of conspiracy theories. Pushing ideas that undermine the election system is not cool. Russia was attempting to hack American elections before Trump and will be after Trump. If it were discovered that Putin hacked the 2024 election in favor of Harris would that delegitimize her candidacy? Come on man!
Wolfpack
You are exactly right. Isn’t it true that in most cases you are required to show a photo ID to get a covid vaccine. You cannot get a check from Biden’s covid relief bill without a verifiable identification, or Obamacare, Medicare or Medicaid. Are you telling me that black citizens are incapable of obtaining an ID to take advantage of these government programs? The very idea is itself racist.
Numan
@Wolfpack
I highlighted the part that was false. Then I clearly explained why it was false. Your rebuttal is "Come on man! "
People who try to deceive others attempt to mix lies with facts to appear credible.
Why did trump's DOJ make an announce that they had no credible evidence of widespread election fraud that impacted the outcome of the election?
Why did trump fire his AG out of retaliation for Barr making that announcement?
The quid pro quo that got him impeached the first time!
Are you going to start resorting to amnesia as your defense for your incorrect information?
Lazarus Knows
Republicans: The market must decide. Politicians interfering in the market is the worst thing.
The market: We don’t like this racist law:
Republicans: The market must be subservient to the will of the Republican Party.
Jsapc
Hilariously, that is EXACTLY how two democrats got elected in Georgia during the last election. You can thank Stacey Abrams and "her ilk".
lincolnman
Dang straight - be fair now....
Don't blow off Trump's decades old business relationship with the CCP where he gives them millions and they make his Trump Collection clothing line, cheating US garment workers out of jobs...
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-event-touted-made-america-goods-lot-his-merchandise-couldn-n893656
And no forgetting the 18 trademarks the CCP awarded to Ivanka in 2018....
https://apnews.com/article/0a3283036d2f4e699da4aa3c6dd01727
bass4funk
Well, Kemp will put Abram’s fire out next election
Even offering gifts won’t help next time around.
viking68
Short answer, the GoP is upset because there is too much voting going on, by voters and companies, and it is hard for the GoP to remain relevant and regain power if people can vote.
Can't say that I ever liked Citizens United, but corporations making decisions to move out of places like Georgia makes me feel a little better about the decision.
Of course Citizens United isn't directly working here, it allowed corporations to contribute to campaigns as a legal "person."
Corporations are only doing this because of the current cancel culture and hedging against the risk of being black balled by internet activists. One potential positive of social networks.
Jsapc
Are you accusing Stacey Abrams of bribing voters? Can you provide proof?
Busby
McConnell warns CEOs: 'Stay out of politics'
CEOs warn McConnell to stop supporting insurrectionists...
Attilathehungry
Jsapc; if that is what they did, good for them and congratulations. I think they also benefitted from having two fairly terrible candidates against them who ran crap campaigns. Especially Loeffler.... IMHO the Republicans just got lazy and arrogant and assumed they could put up anyone as a candidate.
As for the fair Stacy, she does a bit more than that. She is part of the hyperbole bandwagon, calling the law "Jim Crow redux". Granted that is at least a comprehensible opinion, if not accurate. Far better than the President and his "Jim Eagle" mumblings.
Busby
Hmmmmm......
bass4funk Oct 29 02:08 pm JST
trump is set to lose in Georgia, yes Georgia!!!!!!
Doubt it.
nishikat
Don't forget Trump people, this gross behavior in the South evicted Trump and the whole party out of power.
bass4funk
Not me, but a lot of news outlets did, so who knows for sure, if you ask my personal opinion....but that’s irrelevant, the point is, Kemp and the Republican assembly will make sure what happened last year doesn’t happen in that State again and good on them.
nishikat
What? Lose? This gross behavior of accusing Biden and ANTIFA of stealing the election made them lose in the first place. They should respect the system. Then Trump people are the ones who tried to steal the election and that's why they lost so badly.
Kaerimashita
Farcical that all of these ructions are based on wilful misreading of the law. Poor America with this level of idiocy running the country
Busby
Just when you think things can't get any worse for the GQP....
They hook their horse to a failed businessman and former reality TV host and lose the WH, Senate, and House...
That loser then tries to execute an armed insurrection against our democracy...
That causes the party to engage in civil war with Liz Cheney and others calling the Trump-wing anti-American...
Now they rant against America's big corporations who will cut their contributions and financial support...
Just like any other cult, they are self-imploding...
Lazarus Knows
"The GOP will stop people from voting, and I like this" - a cool opinion from someone who loves democracy.
Jsapc
A lot of news outlets saif that Stacey Abrams bribed voters? Did they have proof? If they didn't, then they're not "news outlets".