Orlando Sentinel Takes Back Endorsement Of Dipsh*t GOP Congressman, Because Of The Seditious Treason

It's a shame, we loved Michael Waltz in Inglourious Basterds.

The Orlando Sentinel   announced in an editorial today that, despite endorsing him in the general election, it has no choice but to break up with Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Florida), after Waltz joined eight other Florida Republicans in supporting the unbelievably dumb Texas lawsuit aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election. The Sentinel's editorial board apologized to readers for endorsing Waltz, explaining that the editors "had no way of knowing at the time, that Waltz was not committed to democracy," adding that they clearly hadn't vetted Waltz thoroughly enough.

During our endorsement interview with the incumbent congressman, we didn't think to ask, "Would you support an effort to throw out the votes of tens of millions of Americans in four states in order to overturn a presidential election and hand it to the person who lost, Donald Trump?"

Our bad.

But don't worry, the editorial went on, that sort of question is likely to become a standard part of election endorsements now, since voters will probably want to know in advance whether candidates — especially Republican ones — actually agree that Americans should choose their leaders by electing them instead of by throwing out election results that don't favor the party in power. We should definitely know that before we keep any of these people in office.

Haha, as if voters' preferences matter! That's the whole point, isn't it?

The editorial does at least acknowledge that the 106 Republicans who believe Texas can nullify other states' elections have a powerful motivation:

They want to undo 231 years of election tradition and norms so their guy, Donald Trump, can have another four years in office. And so the president won't send out a mean tweet that might torpedo their chances for reelection.

You have to admit it's a compelling case. And surely the people of Florida, many of whom are big fans of the state's "stand your ground" law, will understand that self-defense is a legitimate reason to kill democracy.

For Florida voters keeping track, the other eight Republicans who love not being on the receiving end of a mean tweet more than they love America itself are Gus Bilirakis, Mario Diaz-Balart, Neal Dunn, Matt Gaetz, John Rutherford, Ross Spano, Daniel Webster, and Ted Yoho.

Waltz explained to the Daytona Beach News Journal that his support for negating the votes of people in four states was in fact a very principled stand for democracy. He insisted there were LOADS of "voting irregularities" in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia:

For those who are saying this is threatening democracy, I think ignoring them or sweeping them under the rug is bad for our democracy and restoring the confidence by working through these issues is what's good for a democracy.

The editorial points out there's a bit of nothing to that claim, what with some 55 state and federal courts ruling there wasn't any credible evidence of fraud, or even "irregularities" that would justify throwing out the election results.

The editors felt particularly betrayed by Waltz's putting party over country because he'd seemed such a nice bipartisan fellow in the past, and had "established a strong working relationship with fellow U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a Democrat. It was encouraging to see members of different parties trying to find common ground."

Wow, and we thought David Brooks was a dreamy bipartisan romantic.

LOL don't be silly, we never thought that.

But what about the serious constitutional issues here, like the assertion, in yet another nutball amicus brief , that the elections in the four states don't really reflect the will of the voters, because the "principal" of America's "republican form of govern" is now threatened by "credible allegations of cabal and oligarchy in the four Defendant states"?

If there's oligarchy and cabal, the election must fall! The voters' true will must be measured not by elections, which got all caballed to death, but by the Republican state legislatures, who you can trust are legitimate because they were elected by We The Right People. (You shouldn't question whether those elections were fair, because after all, the Republicans won.)

Ergo, it only makes sense that the legislatures must protect the real will of the people by rejecting their votes, because this is a republic, not a democracy, and we have to throw out the ballot in order to save our precious form of self-governance, amen.

Still, the Sentinel' s editorial board cling to another belief that may be just as antiquated as the idea of democracy: the hope that shame might actually mean anything.

Everyone who supported Michael Waltz for Congress should feel a deep sense of remorse and regret.

We do.

That would be nice! Not gonna happen among today's GOP (or for that matter, the GOP since at least Newt Gingrich, or perhaps Richard Nixon). But yes, it would be nice.

[ Orlando Sentinel ]

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