As more and more Democrats embrace reforming or eliminating the Senate filibuster Republicans are pushing back hard. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last week threatened to go "scorched earth" against Democrats if they kill the filibuster. He was asked Tuesday about the device, which was used repeatedly in the Jim Crow era to block civil rights legislation.
The filibuster, McConnell told reporters, has "no racial history at all. None. There's no dispute among historians about that."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: The filibuster has "no racial history at all. None. There's no dispute among historians."
(This is exceedingly untrue.) pic.twitter.com/8K44VydQNl — The Recount (@therecount) March 23, 2021
The 79-year old who has been the Republican Senator from Kentucky since 1985 is wrong – and many took to social media to explain just how wrong he is.
Adam Jentleson, the former deputy chief of staff to former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid wrote a book on the Senate and the filibuster. He supports killing it.
The filibuster is not racist, argues Senator McConnell on the Senate floor today. Take it from him. pic.twitter.com/3oHruYPQGH
— Adam Jentleson 🎈 (@AJentleson) March 23, 2021
Great question. McConnell's answer is false. His office is trying to clean it up but he said what he said. For more than a century the filibuster was widely understood to be primarily dedicated to maintaining white supremacy and blocking civil rights. Here's Russell in 1949. https://t.co/A5GLiPDzbg pic.twitter.com/BRAfQrFV5c
— Adam Jentleson 🎈 (@AJentleson) March 23, 2021
Here's what others have to say:
The filibuster is a relic of Jim Crow and was used to block civil rights progress. Read @AJentleson's book KILL SWITCH and also catch up on history. Currently, McConnell has used it to obstruct the majority's agenda which reflect the will of most Americans. #EndTheFilibusterNow https://t.co/Jw9gWzHvDU
— Wajahat "He's Muslim" Ali (@WajahatAli) March 23, 2021
McConnell is a student of history in general and Senate history in particular. He surely knows the racial history of the filibuster full well.
— Michael Rapoport (@rapoportmike) March 23, 2021
Mitch McConnell on the filibuster: "It has no racial history at all. None."
The racial history of the filibuster: pic.twitter.com/k28LvReySC — The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 23, 2021
Moscow Mitch McConnell ignored the Boulder mass shooting to say a lie about there being no racial history with the filibuster.
A reminder that he posed for a photo smiling and standing right in front of a giant confederate flag. He IS racist history. — Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) March 23, 2021
South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond's 24 hour & 18 minute filibuster of the Voting Rights Act of 1957, the longest 1-person filibuster in history, begs to differ. And I've got more. https://t.co/6UUVki9g7c
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) March 23, 2021
McConnell: “The filibuster has no racial history."
History: Strom Thurmond filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 - Wikipedia https://t.co/YHmlj4TVoV — ℝ𝕠𝕓𝕪𝕟 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕥 💛💙✊🏾ImBlackEveryMonth (@gimli0413) March 23, 2021
Mitch McConnell: Senate filibuster "has no racial history"
History: -Filibuster used in 1922 to stop anti-lynching bill -Strom Thurmond filibustered Civil Rights Act of 1957 for 24 hrs -Btwn 1870s & 1964, the only bills that were stopped by filibusters were civil rights bills — Doug #DCStatehood Foote (@FooteSteppes) March 23, 2021
Mitch McConnell: The filibuster has "no racial history at all. None. There's no dispute among historians." Strom Thurmond. #MoscowMitch pic.twitter.com/SDzoG0swG1
— Ethos Wear Apparel (@EthosWear) March 23, 2021
McConnell can pack sand with his no racial history nonsense regarding the filibuster.
— CydeDish (@Cyde_Dish) March 23, 2021
I read this Mitch McConnell quote saying the filibuster has "no racial history" and it took me seconds to find a 1948 article about Senate Dixiecrats threatening to filibuster a defense bill unless it included separation of the races in the military. McConnell is full of crap. https://t.co/N2wmN3LB2v
— Mark Jacob (@MarkJacob16) March 23, 2021
If McConnell doesn't recognize that the filibuster was intertwined with Racist motives, that makes him a RACIST.
— Renee Jacobs (@ReneeJa96696863) March 23, 2021
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