Eric Boehlert: Georgia nightmare -- what if GOP tries to overturn Democratic wins?

[babylonsister]

Georgia nightmare — what if GOP tries to overturn Democratic wins?
Here we go again
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago


snip//

That scenario looks like this: In a stunning setback for the GOP, Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff both pull off upset wins in the Georgia runoffs this week. Turning aside half-a-century of Republican dominance in the key Southern state, the Democratic wins mean the party effectively seizes control of the U.S. Senate, giving Vice President Kamala Harris the tie-breaking vote on any 50-50 votes.

But both Ossoff’s and Warnock’s victory margins, which have been confirmed via a recount, are tiny: Five thousand and nine thousand votes, respectively. Furious, the GOP declares war. Led by Trump, who insists Democrats "stole" the runoff elections, the Republican Party and the right-wing media noise machine unleash a relentless and brutal misinformation war, accusing Democrats of widespread corruption, and attacking Georgia election officials for covering up the concocted crimes.

After watching large portions of the Republican Party actively support Trump's delusional and dangerous attempt to steal a presidential election he lost by seven million votes, there's little doubt Trump would dispatch an army of lawyers committed to throwing out as many legitimate Georgia votes as possible. (A federal judge last month already denied a GOP attempt to make voting more difficult during the runoffs.)

In the light of that onslaught, will Georgia state officials, who stood up to the Trump barrage and endured death threats, have the fortitude to relive that personal nightmare? Or will they cave in to the relentless attacks on free and fair elections? And has the press learned anything over the last two months while covering the GOP's increasingly seditious, fascist attempt to overturn Joe Biden's election victory?

Indications are that the news media have not learned. On Sunday, while describing the move by 11 extremist Republican senators to challenge Biden's certified win this week, the New York Times suggested the GOP's push to demolish election integrity merely reflects "polarized politics of Capitol Hill." Reuters gently described the Republican strategy to invalidate tens of millions of vote as simply a "long-shot" challenge. Meanwhile, for weeks, the Beltway press falsely assured news consumers that Trump’s election fraud crusade was "performance art" and "bad sportsmanship," and that Republicans would never go along.

more...

https://pressrun.media/p/georgia-nightmare-what-if-gop-tries

[2naSalit]

1. K&R!!

[Voltaire2]

2. NYT: normalizing fascism is what we do!

[bucolic_frolic]

3. That may well be the GOP end game here

makes sense

[Atticus]

4. Remember the three monkeys that depicted "Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil"?

They were "journalists".

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I know whatever the outcome

the results WILL be contested and who knows how long it will take for any seating.

I am hoping it doesn't drag on as long as Al Franken's recount.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. If the Democrats win, I expect a year of challenges and then

Mitch refusing swearing them in until the last one is finished.

[gab13by13]

7. We all need to call out what is going on by its real name, a coup.

Maybe if Democrats when speaking with the MSM called it a coup it would catch on a bit more.

It's much more than election tampering, it's a coup and it's going on right now.

[beachbumbob]

8. how about if we try to overturn GOP wins if they win??

[BarbD]

9. Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

[tinrobot]

10. Just look to what happened with Al Franken.

Very similar. Upset in Senate race with a close result.

I forget the timing, but the challenges took weeks/months.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. One thing I missed was this - "Turning aside half-a-century of Republican dominance"

I know time is flying but not quite a "half-a-century"...yet...

[Celerity]

15. far less than that

Saxby Chambliss (seated January 3rd, 2003 in the seat Perdue holds atm) was the FIRST ever Republican elected to that Senate seat in the history of the State.

Up until then we held both seats, but Zell Miller (who spoke at the Rethug 2004 convention, so not much of a Dem by then) retired and Johnny Isakson won in 2004 and was seated January 3rd, 2005. That seat did have 3 Rethugs before, Joshua Hill for a brief time during reconstruction, Mack Mattingly, a one termer who road Reagan's coattails in 1980 and then lost in 1986 to Dem Wyche Fowler, and finally Paul Coverdell, who beat Fowler in 1992, but who then died in office in 2000, after winning re-election for a 2nd term in 1998 (Miller took over then)

Governor-wise, there had never been a Rethug in office (except for 2 back to back very short termers during Reconstruction, Rufus Bullock, who resigned after 3 and a half years, and then Benjamin Conley who was in office for less than 2 and half months) until Sonny Perdue was seated in January 2003.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. It was always a "dixicrat" state

and held onto that as long as the old incumbents were around.

They did give their vote to Carter in 1980 as well -



AND to Bill Clinton in 1992 -



But not in 1996 and since until this past year.

[IronLionZion]

17. And Clinton won Georgia in 1992

That state is an interesting case where they stayed blue much longer than other Dixiecrat states. They've also had people moving in from other states plus record high turnout of African Americans thanks to Stacey Abrams.

It would be sweet if Warnock and Ossoff won. GOP will bloviate about fraud but at least we can get some legislation passed through the Senate.

[OhNo-Really]

12. At this point, we can expect shenanigans but the legal jeopardy for GA players is huge

I wouldn’t think Kent SoS would dare.

Lives were lost fighting against fascism.

Surely any thinking politician can foresee the dangers to their own progeny if they corrupt the vote

[relayerbob]

13. What if?

Who would think that they won't? This is Georgia, where voter suppression has become a fine art. Fortunately, we have the rare GOP SoS who has both a moral streak and a spine.

[Griefbird]

14. Would Trump even care?

It's not about him.