(Deroy Murdock, Headline USA) If Democrat hypocrisy were an energy source, Americans could leave the lights on around the clock and never see a bill.
Democrats are roasting Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri for objecting to the Electoral College votes of Arizona and Pennsylvania due to serious questions about ballot-box irregularities.
Democrats have reported these two lawmakers to the Senate Ethics Committee for their Jan. 6 legislative intervention, which, unfortunately, coincided with the US Capitol riot.
Some Democrats aim to expel congressional Republicans who challenged Electoral College votes at last month’s certification ceremony.
Moreover, Democrats likely convinced corporate Cancelistas to terminate PAC donations to as many as seven Republican senators and 138 GOP House members who opposed electors from one or more states among Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Harvard students, too many of whom resemble Mao Zedong’s Red Guards, even demand that university officials yank diplomas from alumni Ted Cruz and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY.
There are two massive problems with the Left’s jihad against these Republicans:
First, these GOP lawmakers’ actions were perfectly legal. Article II, Section I, Clause 3 of the US Constitution and the Electoral Count Act of 1887, 3 US Code § 15, both governed their objections to states’ electors.
Second, Democrats repeatedly have resisted electors, starting four years ago. When Democrats do this, it epitomizes public service. When Republicans do this, it’s Kristallnacht.
Indeed, President Joe “Unity” Biden compared Cruz and Hawley to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda and public enlightenment.
As the Congressional Record confirms, during the Jan. 6, 2017 quadrennial joint-session/certification ceremony, seven House Democrats challenged electors in 10 states.
Among these objectors: Maryland’s Jamie Raskin, now the lead impeachment manager.
“I have an objection because 10 of the 29 electoral votes cast by Florida were cast by electors not lawfully certified because they violated Florida’s prohibition against dual office holding,” Raskin complained.
Democrats understandably balked at electors from Michigan and Wisconsin, which Trump won by 0.3% and 1.0%, respectively.
Whatever these Democrats believed went wrong could have been decisive. However, Democrats also opposed electors from Alabama (where Trump outran Hillary by 28.3%), West Virginia (42.2%), and Wyoming (47.6%). This was recreational obstructionism.
No senator joined the fun. So, House Democrats’ objections went nowhere.
On Jan. 4, 2013 and Jan. 9, 2009, Republicans raised no objections whatsoever to Obama’s Electoral College votes.
But on Jan. 6, 2005, Democrats were back at it.
Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio objected to George W. Bush’s Electoral College votes from her state. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California concurred. As was the case on Jan. 6, 2021, the House and Senate parted to debate this challenge separately.
Representative Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., praised the 31 Democrat objectors for “speaking up for their aggrieved constituents” during “their only opportunity to have this debate while the country is listening.”
Nonetheless, House Democrats’ challenge fizzled,31 yeas to 267 nays.
“The fight for electoral justice,” Sen. Boxer argued, was “worth a couple of hours to shine some light on these issues.”
Boxer’s objection bellyflopped—her aye to 74 nays.
On Jan. 6, 2001, 13 House Democrats, including five current incumbents, focused their fire on Florida’s electors for G.W. Bush.
“Mr. Vice President, I rise to object to the fraudulent 25 Florida electorial [sic] votes,” said Representative Maxine Waters, D-Calif. “The objection is in writing, and I do not care that it is not signed by a Member of the Senate.”
Vice President Albert Gore, the loser of the presidential race, dryly replied: “…the rules do care, and the signature of a Senator is required.”
No senator stepped forward, and House Democrats’ challenge foundered.
Unlike today’s unfairly excoriated Republicans, Democrats faced zero repercussions when they exercised over and over again their constitutionally protected and statutorily permitted power to object to Electoral College votes.
Democrats should abandon their congenital hypocrisy and recognize their Republican colleagues’ right to behave like Democrats.
Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News Contributor, a contributing editor with National Review Online, and a senior fellow with the London Center for Policy Research.
