In the past couple of weeks, CNN put on full display its double standard in condemning Republicans for drawing congressional districts in their favor, but ignoring New York Democrats trying to gerrymander aggressively against Republicans until it backfired and hurt Democrats instead.
Since last fall, CNN’s Neue DayCNN and MSNBC regularly devote segments to discussing different phases of Republican mapmaking in the states of Texas, Florida (Ohio), Tennessee, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas and others. In some cases, this includes the creation of the maps and the final passage as well as legal challenges.
However, when Democrats have passed more aggressive gerrymanders, such as in Illinois and New York, these cases are often only mentioned occasionally, with some suggestions that Republicans deserve it. CNN largely ignored Illinois Republican Adam Kinzinger’s gerrymander announcement and focused its coverage on Kinzinger’s opposition to Donald Trump.
But after New York’s Democratic state legislature sabotaged the bipartisan redistricting commission and, in late January, passed a map aiming to cut the delegation to just four Republicans with 22 Democrats, CNN barely touched the story. John Avlon, a “Reality Check”, was discussing Republican map-making in Alabama. He noted that New York’s map would hurt Republicans and said that you reap what your sow.
Bianna Golodryga was the CNN fill-in host on daytime. She seemed to justifiably justify this double standard. Jim Sciutto asked Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democratic Congressman, if Republicans “deliberately targeted race” when drawing maps.
After several courts in New York struck down the Democrat gerrymandered, and ordered a brand new map by a special master to be drawn, Democrats began throwing allegations of racism at each other. White Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney, who was placed in the same district as black Democrat Mondaire, and decided to challenge his black counterpart.
Hakeem Jeffries, a veteran Democrat, used “Jim Crow”, to attack the court-backed map. However, almost all of the involved judges were appointed by Democrats.
CNN, however, is a great source of information. Neue DayThe regulars were quick to react by appearing to worry about the fact that certain veteran Democrats would need to contest one another’s election. Errol Louis, who defended the long-standing racial gerrymandering of race and the fact that some veteran Democrats would have to run against one another as the panel called the court’s antigerrymandered map an “overcorrection”, argued for the right.
CNN and MSNBC both have a long history of advocating gerrymandering in favor of Democrats, while simultaneously claiming they oppose it.
Hallie Jackson, a MSNBC host, incorrectly implied that Democrats had not been allowed another chance to redraw the map. Democrats appealed to higher courts but were still permitted to submit a second map. This was identical to the original gerrymander. A judge warned Democrats that they could be worse off for their persistence in appealing to the judges.
Fox News and the other right-leaning media, however, covered the New York case beginning to end. They even displayed the strangely drawn 10th district. The court redraw has forced veteran Democrats Jerry Nadler, Carolyn Maloney and others to compete against one another.
Contrast this with the week before, where a court attempted to stop the Florida’s arguably anti-gerrymandered maps pushed in by Governor Ron DeSantis. CNN and MSNBC anchors panicked and repeated the same misinformation that they had pushed previously. MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez compared the Republican governor with Fidel Castro (an ex-communist dictator). John King and Don Lemon of CNN made it clear to viewers that DeSantis’s judge had been appointed by Governor. However, the fact that almost all the judges who struck down the New York Gerrymander were Democrats wasn’t considered newsworthy.
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These transcripts are available:
CNN’s Neue Day
April 17, 2022
Eastern at 6:27
JOHN BERMAN : We have two New York State’s most respected political journalists here. It’s why it’s so interesting to talk about what happened in New York to redistricting. It’s the first time I’ve seen something explode like this.. They did — they were Democrats in the State A very positive congressional map was drawn, as many parties do.In states. Let me show you how their original proposal was rejected by the judges. Now, a special master is suggesting a new proposal.
Democrats desired a proposal which would most likely win them 22 of these congressional seats. The Democrats now see a map with around 15. This new map shows that five — five Democratic incumbents won’t be able to live in the areas they have to run. These incumbents have been redrawn from their districts. With these maps there’s now four ways to mash up incumbents. This is almost an infrequent occurrence at this stage of redistricting. Errol, Is this really happening?
ERROL LOUIS – CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR There’s political redistricting and there’s also anti-political. This is closer to the former, where there are communities of interests that have been long recognizedIt is the United States’ sole predominantly Jewish district. The district also includes the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to Congress. This seat was previously held by Shirley Chisholm in Brooklyn.
They have been scattered — incumbents have been thrown against one another — Wall Street is the only district without an incumbent. There is no resident at the moment — there’s no incumbent. It is quite remarkable. It’s amazing to see. Communities of interest, which are recognized by the Supreme Court to be a — as a basis for drawing a district with unusually-shaped boundaries — were completely ignored in this instance.So, evidently, there was much of the political elite screaming and hooting in an attempt to prove a point, to try to end this. But it might be done by Friday.
KAITLAN CELLINS, FILLIN CO-HOST : It’s more than just the possibility of senior House Democrats competing against each other in primaries. This has major implications for their control over the House.
MAGGIE HABERMAN – CNN POLITICAL ANALYST : This has enormous implications for the House’s control. This is the thing about The first thing you’ll hear privately from Democrats in the state is that initial maps were too broad — that there was an error, that there was no way to know. This version — I believe your term — is overcorrection.
It is going to hinder their efforts. As you can see, the DCCC chair has to debate which district he is running for. This is the most bizarre thing I have ever seen — there’s a lot more news like it. It is unimaginable that two Manhattan residents of long standing will be running for each other.
BERMAN: Jerry Nadler, Carolyn Maloney.
LOUIS – The Chair of Oversight is running into the chair Of Judiciary.
BERMAN: Written into or drawn into the exact same district. Hakeem Jeffreys, who was able to be Speaker or Minority Leader of the House, has since moved out of the area he lived. This is just the beginning. This seems to be a major blow for Democrats.
COLLINS: It’s like saying, “Oh, that’s a New York Democrats issue,” but what does it mean for them and their potential fate?
HABERMAN: Correct. Kaitlan is right. And this especially comes when there are fewer seats than Republicans want in the fall because of gerrymandering. This, in light of the fact that Democrats all over the country have a bad political climate. The only thing that saved Democrats was the belief they would do well in New York and other places. That is obviously absurd.
BERMAN Others states may have different laws. This is how Republicans have been able, when they are in power in states, to gerrymander even more. This is something to behold. Maggie Haberman, ErrolLouis, thanks so much.
(…)
MSNBC Reports With Hallie Jackson
May 20, 2022
Eastern Time: 3:50 PM
HALLIE JACKSON: We’re also watching this other one related to more domestic politics and this potential new congressional map in New York kind of creating chaos among Democrats in that state with black legislators saying it could jeopardize their spots in Congress and maybe disenfranchise the black communities they represent. The idea for the project began with a very ambitious plan — let’s just call it “The Map”What you see here drawn up by New York’s Democratic-controlled state legislature. New York’s state courts quickly declared the maps invalid and declared them unconstitutional. Here’s the catch: Instead of telling lawmakers to go back to the drawing boards and asking them to try again, the court appointed an independent mapmaker.Finish the job.
This mapmaker, also called a “special master”, went to work, releasing the map this week. However, lawmakers were not enthusiastic, particularly those in the Congressional Black Caucus, like Hakeem Jeffries.
AUDIO OF HAKEEM JEFFRIES IN AD: Now, they’re trying to move the table, drawing a congressional map that robs us of power and takes a sledgehammer to black districts. That’s enough for Jim Crow to blush.
JACKSON – You probably can figure out the reason Jeffries is so angry. Multiple Democratic incumbents will now need to prepare themselves for intense primaries against one another. This brings us back to the chaos that we spoke of earlier. Black lawmakers from adjacent districts are now joined together by veterans members of Congress to form one huge matchup. Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney is the leader of Democrats’ powerful political arm. He must choose between two new black Democrats, Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire. A finalized map will be released by the special master today. John Allen is a senior reporter for NBC News. This is his job. John — I love — It’s drama. That’s exactly what it is.
(…)
MSNBC’s MTP Daily
May 20, 2022
Eastern at 1:51 pm
CHUCK TODD: As we mentioned before the break, the likely New York congressional map has exposed some deep cracks in the Democratic party overall as some establishment incumbents are being forced to face off against each other. For this, we will need our top Capitol Hill correspondent. You love to cover House races. But this race could break down leadership. Hakeem Jeffreys is in leadership — New York City Democrat — Sean Patrick MaloneyHudson valley Democrat. DCCC chair. It’s a disaster. This is a mess.
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