Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:24 am
Rachel Maddow discussed that along with other implications of the map that Virginia’s Republicans gerrymandered during the Inauguration and on Martin Luther King Day with Virginia State Senator Donald McEachin.
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Monday was Martin Luther King Day, as well as Inauguration Day. Virginia State Senator Henry Marsh, civil rights veteran spent the day at Barack Obama’s Inauguration. Marsh’s decision meant taking part in a historic moment. Little did he know that his district would look very different when he returned from Inauguration Day festivities. It also meant the 20-20 divide between Democrats and Republicans tipped in the Republicans’ favor. If Republicans had tried to redraw the map when Marsh was present, he would have voted against it. The result would have been a vote 20-20. The Lt. Governor, Bill Bolling would have voted against the gerrymandered map, meaning defeat for the Republicans. This is why it’s dangerous to leave Republicans in control of anything, especially without sufficient adult supervision.
To say that Republicans in the state senate took advantage of the situation would be an understatement. They took out their gerrymander crayons to redraw the state’s electoral map carving into Marsh’s district while he was at Barack Obama’s Inauguration. The redrawn map would make it structurally impossible for Democrats to win more than 13-16 of a possible 40 seats in the state’s senate. Like spoiled children, these Republicans took their loss last November out on the electoral map, without considering the consequences. They sprung their plan on the Democrats in classic Republican form by claiming they just redrew the map to create another black majority district – without mentioning that it would create even more Republican controlled districts.
They also took away one Democratic district completely, and made it structurally impossible for Democrats to regain control of the Virginia Senate, no matter how blue the state will go. As if that wasn’t enough gerrymandering to accomplish in relative secrecy and on a day that was both a celebration of a true civil rights hero and the President’s inauguration, these Republicans also gerrymandered the Electoral College – as has been occurring in other Republican controlled states.
When asked about the new map, Governor Ultrasound expressed surprise. While saying he thought this was a ‘bad way to do business” – not once did Governor Ultrasound McDonnell say he opposed the new map. Then he proceeded to talk about his new transport bill, perhaps hoping that will distract people from the Sovietization of our electoral system.
This is true to form for Governor Ultrasound, who was also “surprised” to learn that a trans-vaginal ultrasound is an invasive procedure and as we all know, he still signed the bill.
By some estimates, the new map would leave Democrats with 13-16 winnable seats out of a total of 40.
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