Why will Stacey Abrams be absent and GA activists boycotting Biden's speech in GA today?

[Ninga]

I searched DU and haven’t found a discussion. Maybe not discussion worthy?

[Geechie]

1. Sounds like a non starter:

[link:https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/589126-stacy-abrams-to-skip-bidens-voting-rights-speech-in-georgia-due-to?amp|]

[Geechie]

2. In other words, not really a boycott?

[ananda]

3. Bc they are overwhelmed with their own real work...

and realize that the ONLY thing that matters is a
working VOTING RIGHTS LAW.

[FBaggins]

14. ?? How does that make sense?

If it's the only thing that matters... then wouldn't you show up when the President of the United States pushes the issue?

[L. Coyote]

4. Why does your question state a falsehood? Abrams has a schedule conflict.

[Ninga]

10. She said conflict. They said boycott.

[L. Coyote]

30. I see you corrected your lie in the OP title.

[dumbcat]

32. Does anyone know what the scheduling confict is?

Has anyone said who might out-prioritize the POTUS?

[JustAnotherGen]

5. Scheduling Conflict - NOT a boycott

https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/the-jolt-stacey-abrams-wont-be-with-joe-biden-and-kamala-harris-in-atlanta-today/4MHFS3BTOJCPVMMCISG3LFHEX4/

[former9thward]

19. A scheduling conflict with the President and VP of the U.S.?

OK...

[FBaggins]

25. That's my thought as well

The President and VP are speaking on my signature issue in the state where I want to run for governor (with the primary in just four months)...

... The list of "scheduling conflicts" that would not get pushed aside for such an event is passingly short.

[dumbcat]

31. I would like to know

who she has on her schedule that she thinks out-prioritizes her being with the POTUS and VPOTUS. I'm just kinda curious.

[helpisontheway]

39. Probably does not want to be seen with them since they pushed for BBB

instead of voting rights. She knows Biden has lost support in Georgia so she needs to distance herself.

[demmiblue]

6. Here ya go:

Link to tweet

The fact that groups are not attending is getting considerable air play this morning.


And then you have the press doing this :

Link to tweet

Also, Stacey Abrams apparently has a scheduling conflict. One would think that the President and the Vice President would take precedence, but . She has warmly commented on the visit, though.

[Budi]

7. No. She said she has a scheduling conflict.

[Ninga]

9. Yes a conflict.However clearly a boycott as stated by by GA voting rights activists. Nt

[Budi]

16. I believe Biden & Harris can both appear at a gathering for voting rights, especially in GA, AND be

..in touch with those back in DC pushing for the vote.
This is a short event, they do have means of communicating with their leaders. Clearly if the vote wrre held today, they'd oth be in DC.


Btw. Latosha Brown is an organizer who is not a friend to Democrats nor Biden/Harris & that is why the press spread.
She is more of a Momentum Movement/Sunrise afgiliate & when have they ever not used the Press against Demicratic leaders.

The messaging has already taken false paths, so there's that. That's what Momentum does.

I fon't see any problem with this speech. It is necessary.
Biden/Harris & our Dem leaders have been supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Act long before this group existed.
John Lewis was always their solid friend, and to suggest they're dropping the ball by giving a speech in GA, of all places is rather suspicious

Leave it to Momentum organizers to dirty up a speech on voting rights.

🙄

[Ninga]

8. I read a Reuters piece on the same boycott. I was incorrect about Stacey Abrams "boycotting" but

I too see it as a head scratcher that when the Pres and VP come to town to speak, she bows out with a schedule conflict.


https://www.reuters.com/world/us/some-black-hispanic-voting-rights-groups-boycott-bidens-atlanta-speech-2022-01-10/

[Peregrine Took]

18. 1,000. Absolutely does not add up. David Ignatius said the activists in the Party

are frustrated with Biden.

[Budi]

29. The "Activists" are not supporting the Party. They are an organization created to..

..undermine the Democratic Party.

Momentum Movement

[Ninga]

11. I changed the OP from Stacey Abrams boycotting to Stacy Abrams absent. Nt

[niyad]

12. Stacey.

[Ninga]

13. Thank you.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

15. Their main concern is that they didn't want just another speech. They want action.

Their message was, "Instead of giving a speech, the senate should be voting."

[Budi]

20. Seems to me one is in sync with the other.

Why would anyone drag a Speech pushing for Voter Rights?
They could join in one large media protest for Voting Rights, and begin a national campaign that speaks to every State now engaged in supresding that right. OR they can boycot the President's speech & stop what could have been a national movement in support, that those in DC would hear loud & clear.

Isn't THAT a more effective show of unity & messaging, one that the media would engage in for the good?

Nope. They turned Biden's speech into a polittical wedge to lay at his feet, when this speech is EXACTLY what the nation needs to hear.

Way to STOP the momentum that Biden just handed you as a starting point, simply because the group would rather make political points against Biden/Harris than actually do what could have been a National movement FOR VOTING RIGHT LEGISLATION.

Makes ya wonder whose 'side' these protestors ate really on.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

23. .

Why would anyone drag a Speech pushing for Voter Rights?

Saying you're not going to attend is not "dragging."

They could join in one large media protest for Voting Rights, and begin a national campaign that speaks to every State now engaged in supresding that right.

Is Biden protesting, or giving a speech?

OR they can boycot the President's speech & stop what could have been a national movement in support, that those in DC would hear loud & clear.

OR they could continue doing the effective work they're doing AND Biden can give his speech AND life goes on.

Isn't THAT a more effective show of unity & messaging, one that the media would engage in for the good?

Being more concerned about "unity & messaging" than actual change isn't helpful for anybody.

Nope. They turned Biden's speech into a polittical wedge to lay at his feet, when this speech is EXACTLY what the nation needs to hear.

I mean, I know Abrams and her fellow activists are doing strong work, but their skipping the speech will not keep the nation from hearing it if it wants to.

Way to STOP the momentum that Biden just handed you as a starting point,

Any momentum state-level activists have comes from what they themselves have generated, not from the president.

simply because the group would rather make political points against Biden/Harris than actually do what could have been a National movement FOR VOTING RIGHT LEGISLATION.

Disagreeing is not making "political points against" someone.

Makes ya wonder whose 'side' these protestors ate really on.

Lol at "protestors." Amazing.

[Budi]

26. Yup. Their opportunity to support Biden's speech today on Voting Rights was stopped rather than ..

..taken it on to a National Campaign to Support the President & VP.

They chose to stop the momentum needed as a show of National unity.

They chose to protest the President's speech on Voting Rights when they should have made it as the starting point for a much needed national campaign.

Because THAT wad the real intent of this "protest".
To stop Biden's momentum & flip it into a political protest AGAINST his call for The John Lewis Voter Rights Act.
Because it's Biden & Harris.

Because THAT is what Momentum Movement has consistantly done since way back in 2013.

It is a protest against the progressive works of the Democratic Party.

They chose to stop Biden's call for unity on Voter Rights, rather than show the fk up & support a National Protest against those States & legislators refusing to honor our most basic right as a Democracy.

[kacekwl]

17. I don't understand any of this nonsense. Can't

we ever show a united front for goodness sake ?

[Budi]

21. Nope. Not when one considers who organized the protest.

This could have been the starting point for a National Protest aginst those engaged in destroying voter rights across the board. A show of unity, as you say.

But that isn't the actual mission of the group that organized it. Their mission is to stop Biden's momentum.

[pecosbob]

22. It was on Rachel Madddow last night, ya'll.

In a nutshell some of those working on voting rights in Georgia have elected to pass on the upcoming Biden/Harris speech today. They said their time would be better spent continuing their work as opposed to listening to more speeches.

"We don't need even more photo ops," Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, told reporters during a press conference on Monday. "We need action, and that action is in the form of the John Lewis Voting Rights [Advancement] Act as well as the Freedom to Vote Act, and we need that immediately."

LaTosha Brown, another co-founder of the group, echoed that message, saying: "We're beyond speeches."

Black Voters Matter is part of a civil rights coalition that is urging Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to stay out of Georgia until they have a substantive plan to overcome the Senate's 60-vote filibuster rule and push voting rights legislation through Congress.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/11/georgia-voting-rights-groups-boycott-biden-speech

So, no...this did not come from Stacy Abrams, et al.

[Ninga]

24. They are activists she is a candidate for Gov and the

National face for voting rights. It is not a stretch to think while she’s not boycotting she’s not supporting the President and VP coming to GA with an appearance.
She is a brilliant woman who is not tone deaf.

[Budi]

27. She's not picking sides ffs.

Expect the driven Media to offer nothing but more division because THAT is what they do.

[L. Coyote]

34. A very few activists grabbing attention are doing more harm than good to their own cause.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[MOMFUDSKI]

28. I simply say:

Whatever it takes to keep our democracy.

[manicdem]

33. Mind boggling

I looks very suspicious. Usually when there's a scheduling conflict, they'll say what the conflict is and it's a more important issue. Canceling a speech for a terrorist attack or war breaking out somewhere? Ok. Life and death family emergency? Ok. Emergency disaster response. Ok. It's hard to top something more important than voting rights and the US Pres.

We need unity more than anything now.

[Budi]

36. "We need unity more than anything now."

So why the division from the protest organizers?
Why wouldn't they support Biden's voting rights speech & take their voting rights campaign nationally? They'd certainly make a grander statement than protesting this speech.
Unless the intent is to undermine Biden & Harrris' worth by protestung AGAINST the man & woman who are taking the JL Voting Rights Act straight to the heart of Georgia.

The media spectacle will not be focused on the speech nor the words of unity. Instead they will once ahain focus on the disrupters.

Because that is precisely the intent of this particular anti-Democratic protest organization. They've been doing this same thing since 2013.
They organize to undermine the Democratic Party & our leaders, and they bring their camera & media people along for the show.

They are Momentum Movement, organized by Waleed Shahid & Zack Exley to destroy the Democratic Party "from within".
They are funded by the likes of Libertarian Peter Theil & billionare techs of Silicon Valley & of course have their beginning ties to Russia.

Yes. They are all well documented.
We would never have had President Trump if not for their help.

They are not protesting the call for Voting Rights, so much as undermining Biden & Harris themselves.

Because that is what they organize for.
Anyone supporting this protest is supporting the end of US Democracy.
THAT has been their intent since before 2013 when Zack Exley, a self proclaimed Communist made his prlgrimage to Russia ... and what this country is now, is rooted in Mr Exley's determined effort to "destroy it from within".

They are not any sort of Democrats nor Progressives.
That is the Big Lie that supported the rise of Donald Trump..
It could not have been accomplished without 1st destroying the Soul of America, the Democratic Party.

This protest/boycott is simply more proof of their real goal.

[SYFROYH]

35. I don't know but its weird.

Voting rights is Stacey's signature issue and there is no bigger pulpit than Biden's.

[Rhiannon12866]

37. Apparently some did: GA Voting Rights Groups Boycott Biden Speech - The Mehdi Hasan Show

LaTosha Brown joins Mehdi to weigh in on why she wasn’t in the audience for Biden’s Atlanta voting rights speech. 01/11/2022.

[Tribetime]

38. I'm sure whatever she want to beside Biden today was more important than his speech