Early Saturday morning, I’ve got the TV on, with the volume turned way down. The family’s still asleep. I’m typing notes to myself, in my smart phone, as I’m watching political news.
The Pennsylvania lieutenant governor is talking about baseless voter fraud lawsuits.
Alleged voter fraud has been investigated and re-investigated in a number of states. Battleground states, mostly. What’s the tally? Sixty, or more, lawsuits? All of them, except one lawsuit, as I recall, or maybe a couple lawsuits, have been thrown out of court.
Ballots in various states have been recounted — how many times, now? — in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, and elsewhere? Three times, at least? Maybe more? How many recounts does it take to conclude that more voters — some seven million more — cast their ballots for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, than for Donald Trump and Mike Pence?
And now, there’s this growing brouhaha involving the Electoral College. The Biden/Harris electoral vote tally was 306, way more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.
All those lawsuits that various courts and various judges — many of whom, by the way, are Republican-appointed, conservative judges — tossed out! And why were they tossed? Because the lawsuits, basically, were, as they say in the legal profession, without merit. I believe that’s the term that applies to the outcomes.
On TV, Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman is describing the small number of people in his state, who had alleged election fraud, as “snake handlers.” We’ve got a few of them around here, he notes.
That’s one cool guy, the Pennsylvania Lt. Governor. He stands out in a crowd. He’s a big guy who played college football. He speaks his mind. He’s definitely not a cookie-cutter politician. That’s why he’s cool.
Later on, Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert is in the news. Politico has this headline:
Judge throws out Gohmert suit aimed at empowering Pence to overturn 2020 election results.
The Texas congressman actually wants Vice President Mike Pence to be granted the authority to overturn the election. To ignore the will of some 81 million people who voted for President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris.
That’s what Rep. Gohmert, and some others in the House of Representatives and the Senate, seem to be pushing for.
VP Pence will be presiding when Congress meets in a joint session, on January 6, to formally count the votes of the Electoral College, as submitted by the states. So, as in the past, the vice president, in his role as president of the Senate, is supposed to open sealed certificates submitted by each state, with the vote tallies. 306 Electoral College votes for Biden/Harris. 232 Electoral College votes for Trump/Pence… I read up on the procedure in an NPR article.
But rather than that, for the umpteenth time, Mr. Gohmert and the others, apparently, are mounting some kind of challenge, including even proposing to give VP Pence the authority to do whatever he might decide to do.
This would be totally weird and unprecedented in the nation’s history. That’s why the judge, thankfully, tossed out Congressman Gohmert’s lawsuit.
Maybe you remember the TV show, ‘Gomer Pyle’, about the misadventures of a bumbling U.S. Marine, with that fictional name… Gomer Pyle. The TV series debuted in 1964.
And, maybe it was Jack Parr, a TV comedian and talk show host — he hosted The Tonight Show in its early days — who once questioned whether the TV series about the bumbling soldier should be called the Gomer Pyle show, or pile of Gomer? Mr. Parr wasn’t a fan, apparently.
His quip stayed in my mind.
Maybe you know where I’m going with this? With pile of Gomer… and Gohmert?
But anyway, my bad! Should I be more understanding? Or should I get back to my notes in the phone, and to what I typed about Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who, according to news media, apparently, will also oppose the electoral vote certification, joining forces, in a way, with — forgive me! — pile of Gohmert.
So, about Senator Hawley, I wrote:
Senator Hawley… didn’t he attend Stanford and Yale? Which Stanford was that? And which Yale?
Again, you’ve got to forgive me, this is all just way too much!
I went on to type, in my high-tech shorthand:
Need to put the country on one of those lifts you see at auto repair shops. Pneumatic lifts, I think they’re called. Get the nation up on one. Drain the oil, put in fresh…check the fan belt, the carburetor. Total tune up needed!
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.