Liberal media use Martin Luther King Jr. day to push election legislation, claim 'voting rights under assault'

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Media top headlines January 18

In media news today, CNN’s Paul Begala says Democrats don’t have ‘bad leaders,’ they have ‘bad followers,’ CDC Director Rochelle Walensky admits to poor messaging on COVID guidance, and Spotify remains silent after Joe Rogan critics call for change to prevent COVID ‘misinformation.’

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was marked with the usual moving remembrances of the civil rights champion, but some in the media used this year's holiday to push the Democrat-led voting legislation, which would result in an overhaul of elections.

The White House and congressional Democrats have been pursuing passage of two elections bills: The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. But the votes aren't there to break a Senate filibuster, and its proponents both in politics and in the media used Monday to hawk the pair of bills. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is forcing votes on the election bills and a potential carveout of the filibuster this week. Moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have consistently opposed any efforts to end the filibuster that creates a 60-vote threshold to advance the bills, which all but kills any hope for the legislation.

Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., his wife Arndrea Waters King and daughter Yolanda Renee King take part in a Peace Walk on the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge to urge Democrats to pass a law protecting voting rights during Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in Washington, U.S., January 17, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)

Democratic leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., used their MLK speeches to press for the bills and accusing filibuster supporters of "dishonoring" his legacy. Her narrative was reiterated by the liberal media.

CNN's Victor Blackwell suggested Monday that Democrats should hold a vote on voting rights every six months.

"Should the party do this every six months?" Blackwell asked liberal commentator Bakari Sellers. Sellers said they should be doing it even more often: every 30 days.

(Original Caption) 11/3/1964-Atlanta, GA: Dr Martin Luther King Jr votes as his wife, Coretta Scott King, waits her turn. (Getty Images)

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"The View" spent several minutes linking the holiday to the voting legislation. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg was especially fired up about the bills, accusing Republicans of trying to "block" her and many other American citizens from voting.

"We fought you before many times, and we'll fight you again," Goldberg said. "Because we are America. And we are not putting up with this."

"And that's what I think of when I think of MLK," she later added.

Co-host Ana Navarro also propped up the legislation, asking guest Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., what he thought the civil rights icon would make of the stalled effort.

"King lived and died for this cause," Navarro said. "He's someone who preached the fierce urgency of now…What would Dr. King make of the fact that we're still fighting for voting rights all these decades later? And arguably, some would say, going backwards." 

"It's disheartening and I have to be honest, I'm saddened by where we are right now," Warnock said. He added that "fear and bigotry" were thwarting Democrats' efforts and that the GOP was placing "power and politics over a commitment to democracy."

Demonstrators hold signs during a march for voting rights, marking the 58th anniversary of the March on Washington, Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

"This Monday is MLK Day. Let's honor Dr. King's legacy and get voting rights done now," Warnock also tweeted last week.

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One chyron on MSNBC's "The ReidOut" Monday read, "Voting Rights Under Assault On MLK Jr. Day," as Bernice King, daughter of MLK, Jr., told host Joy Reid, "I think it's time for there to be massive civil disobedience and massive noncooperation with evil."

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel urged his followers to contact their senators to pass the bills as a way to "honor" Dr. King's legacy.

When President Biden's signature Build Back Better bill failed in Congress, Vice President Kamala Harris immediately pivoted to voting, telling CBS' Margaret Brennan that if they didn't pass the legislation, the U.S. would be "off the map as a role model."

"We have been a role model saying, 'You can see this and aspire to this and reject autocracies and autocratic leadership,'" Harris said. "Right now, we're about to take ourselves off the map as a role model if we let people destroy one of the most important pillars of a democracy, which is free and fair elections."

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Harris also hawked the voting rights bills during her MLK address on Monday, saying Democrats were fighting against an "assault on voting" in their efforts to pass the legislation.

"The United States Senate has the opportunity and, I daresay, the responsibility to pass these bills through Congress, so the president can sign them," she said. "And the resistance to doing that will not deter us from our commitment to getting it done."