Hawley, Brooks and several other members of the House have been saying they will object to force a discussion of fraud and irregularities in the election and a vote on the slate of electors in the contested states.
Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) claimed Hawley was trying to “turn America into a state akin to Russia or China.” Sen. Chris Van Hollen ((D-MD) called him “grossly irresponsible.”
But Hawley called out the Democratic hypocrisy.
“First of all, I don’t hear the Democrats making such outrageous claims when they were the ones who were objecting during the electoral college certification in 2004 and 2016. Democrats have done this for years to raise concerns about election integrity,” Hawley said on Fox News. “Now when Republicans and 74 million Americans have concerns about election integrity, we are supposed to sit down and shut up? Somebody has to stand up here.”
While Democrats are now attacking Hawley and the rest for using the rule to object, Democrats seem to forget that the last three times there have been Electoral College “objections,” they’ve all been from Democrats with far less cause than at present.
In early 2005 specifically, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., along with Rep. Stephanie Tubbs, D-Ohio, objected to Bush’s 2004 electoral votes in Ohio.
That forced the chambers to leave their joint session and debate separately for two hours on whether to reject Ohio’s electoral votes. Neither did. But the objection by Boxer and Tubbs serves as a modern precedent for what is likely to happen in Congress on Jan. 6.
Democrats including Van Hollen and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) praised them for bringing up the objection at the time.
“Today we are witnessing Democracy at work. This isn’t as some of our Republican colleagues have referred to it, sadly, as frivolous. This debate is fundamental to our democracy,” she said at the time. “The representatives of the American people in this house are standing up for three fundamental American beliefs: The right to vote is sacred; that a representative has a duty to represent his or her constituents; and that the rule of law is the hallmark of our nation.”
Democrats also raised objections in 2001 (against Bush) and 2017 (against Donald Trump), despite not having a senator sign aboard their objection so they couldn’t legitimately have a debate.
During the 2017 counting of the Electoral College votes, then-Vice President Biden became visibly agitated as he repeatedly needed to remind Democratic House members objecting to Trump electors that there was no debate allowed in the joint session and that they needed senators to sign their objections.
In one instance, after repeatedly banging his gavel as Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., objected to the results, Biden declared, “It is over,” sparking laughter and a standing ovation from the GOP side of the chamber.
At another time, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said: “I object because people are horrified by the overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in our election.”
There was of course no actual “Russian interference” in the election itself. But that apparently was okay.
But of course, suddenly when it’s not Democrats objecting, it’s no longer “democracy at work.”
Just shut up you 75 million Republicans. Democrats say you don’t count.
HT: Twitchy