Democrats in the House are about to make an important decision that will have long-lasting implications for them. And, no, I'm not talking about the recent resolution to expel Marjorie Taylor Greene, which got 72 co-sponsors. That trailer-park trash has overstayed her welcome and should be given the boot as soon as possible. Every day she is allowed to remain in Congress is a stain on the institution itself. Even her own party can't stand her. Seriously, when you make Louie Gohmert look good, you're in a league of your own.
No, the decision I'm talking about has to do with whether the results of a hotly-contested House election in the Iowa 2nd Congressional District, in which Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks beat Democrat Rita Hart, should be overturned by the House.
After a recount narrowed Miller-Meeks margin of victory to a paltry 6 votes, the results were then certified by the state canvassing board in November. Hart is maintaining that there were 22 ballots that were ruled ineligible that had they'd been allowed to count would've given her a 9- vote margin of victory. But rather than make that argument in a state court, she has opted instead to appeal directly to the House, which, oddly enough, does have the authority to rule in her favor and reverse the outcome of the election.
And that's where this gets sticky for Democrats. You'll recall, it was a combination of 147 House and Senate Republicans who made that very same argument when they contested the counting of the certified electoral votes of several states on January 6. The insurrection that took place at the Capitol that day was one of the darkest chapters in American history.
Yes, I am aware that the two disputes are not the same. For instance, in the Iowa House race, Miller-Meeks and Hart are separated only by a handful of votes; in the presidential election, the margin between Biden and Trump in the two contested states was tens of thousands of votes. Also, in the latter, more than sixty lawsuits were brought by the Trump campaign and its surrogates to overturn the results. All but one concerning late-arriving cured ballots were dismissed.
Still, the optics here are terrible for Democrats. They've spent the last two and a half months lecturing Republicans for not respecting the will of the people, and now, when it suits them, they are toying with the idea of ignoring that very same will in an attempt to pad their narrow majority. Nancy Pelosi, when asked whether she might remove Miller-Meeks and seat Hart, replied "there could be a scenario to that extent."
This is insanity, pure and simple. Let me be as clear as I can. If Democrats go ahead with this stunt - and it is a stunt - they will live to regret it, and soon. Barring a miracle, Republicans will most likely retake the majority in the House in 2022. Imagine what a Speaker Kevin McCarthy might do should one or more aggrieved Republicans wish to contest their election loss to their Democratic opponents. The pandora's box that Pelosi and her caucus will have unwittingly opened up here could haunt them for years to come.
And to what end? To defend a candidate who elected to skirt the legal remedies available to her in the hopes of getting preferential treatment from her own party? That's the sort of dick move we've come to expect from the other side, and it's a move Democrats should never countenance among their own.
With the plethora of voter suppression bills that are advancing in Republican-controlled legislatures across the nation, Democrats can ill afford is to be seen as sore losers. And that is precisely what will happen if they overturn this election. The electorate will view them as little more than the moral equivalent to the GOP. That would be inexcusable.
Look, the Iowa 2nd was a winnable race to be sure. Losing it by 6 votes was a tough pill to swallow, but it's not the end of the world. As every Mets fan knows all too well, there are four words that are embedded into our collective consciousness. And they are as follows: "Wait until next year."
If Mets fans can accept that simple logic, Democrats have no excuse not to.
Comments