Louisiana Voice

 “Things are happening on our watch that are clear signs of authoritarianism, and we have to push back.”

—Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

“We have relied on democratic norms and expectations for years that now turn out to be very weak in the face of somebody with an authoritarian bent. The electorate is becoming more diverse, and one group is trying to hold on to power by making it harder for Black, Latino and other minorities to vote.”

—Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice.

“A set of actors in the Trump administration and the Republican party have made it very clear that their intention is to hold on to political power at the expense of democratic institutions. It sounds outlandish to say that in an American election one party would refuse to admit the legitimacy of the result, but that’s very much where we are and all the rhetoric right now is about creating the atmospherics that would enable that kind of power grab on 4 November. Distrust is being stoked and weaponized, and a huge chunk of the country has been primed to disbelieve the legitimacy of the result – whatever that result is.”

—Sabeel Rahman, president of the thinktank Demos.

“We have not seen this level of intentional overt exclusion since the 50s and 60s.”

—Derrick Johnson, NAACP president, on voter suppression efforts by the Trump administration.

LouisianaVoice‘s September fundraiser is one-third done and we’re still short of our goal of $5,000 that must last until our April drive.

You’ve probably noticed over the past several weeks that I’ve been posting quotations – actual statements, written or spoken – by various individuals that I believe to be especially relevant in this critical election season. I hope you’ve taken the time to read those remarks and to make note of who said them and when. Today’s post contains canned remarks by only one person – Louisiana’s junior senator John Neely Kennedy. His non-responses to legitimate questions are particularly revealing as to his loyalty to Donald Trump and what’s left of the Republican Party as opposed to his actual job description of representing the citizens of Louisiana.

The series of Notable Quotables does not mean that I’m not working on other important stories: I am.

To cover travel and legal expenses, and the cost of copies of public documents (there is usually a charge for them, ranging from 25 cents to a dollar per page) for the next several months requires money and $5,000 is not excessive for six or seven months.

If you can afford to help (and ONLY if you can afford it – I’m not asking sacrifices from those who may have lost their jobs during the coronavirus shutdown), you may contribute by clicking on the yellow DONATE button in the column to the right of this post. It looks like this: , or if you prefer, you may mail a check to:

LouisianaVoice

P.O. Box 922

Denham Springs, Louisiana 70727

Those contributing $100 or more will receive a signed copy of my latest book, Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption (be sure to include your mailing address and instructions for signing). If you already have a copy of the book, you may receive another to give to someone.

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As always, I am humbly grateful for your continued support for the past ten years.

There are several individuals who could poster children for term limits (preferably a single term). Reps. Clay Higgins and Steve “Sleazy” Scalise of Louisiana come immediately to mind, as do grandstanders like Reps. Devin Nunes (California) and Jim Jordan (Ohio), Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Mitch “the Turtle” McConnell (Kentucky), Tom Cotton (Arkansas) and Susan Collins (Maine), and Attorney General William Barr, to name just a few. But topping the list should be Louisiana’s junior senator, John Neely Kennedy. The following interview with CNN’s Pam Brown is a classic example of a politician who has his talking points and is determined to recite them by rote, even if they make his fealty to Donald Trump painfully obvious:

Pam Brown Senator, President Trump told Bob Woodward the first week of February that he knew the coronavirus could be spread through the air and that it was more deadly than the flu. But two weeks later, he said at a rally that coronavirus was the Democrats’ new hoax. Is that acceptable to you? Is that misleading the public?

John Kennedy: You’re talking about the Woodward book?

Brown: Yes, the Woodward book.

Kennedy: Yes. All I can do is share with you my point of view, Pamela. These gotcha books don’t really interest me that much.

Brown: He’s on the record. He’s on the record.

Kennedy: These — these gotcha books don’t really interest me that much. There will be a new one out tomorrow.

Brown: But this is different. He did 18 interviews with Bob Woodward.

Kennedy: Right.

Brown: So, you — he’s — he’s recorded. You hear his voice. And you’re seeing that, and you’re contrasting that with what he says to the public. Wouldn’t that be something of interest to you, as a United States senator?

Kennedy: Well, let me — let me answer you again. Brown: Yes, the Woodward book.

Kennedy: Yes.

All I can do is share with you my point of view, Pamela. These gotcha books don’t really interest me that much.

Brown: He’s on the record. He’s on the record.

Kennedy: These — these gotcha books don’t really interest me that much. There will be a new one out tomorrow.

Brown: But this is different. He did 18 interviews with Bob Woodward.

Kennedy: Right.

Brown: So you — he’s — he’s recorded. You hear his voice. And you’re seeing that, and you’re contrasting that with what he says to the public.

Wouldn’t that be something of interest to you, as a United States senator?

Kennedy: Well, let me — let me answer you again. These gotcha books don’t really interest me. There will be a new one out tomorrow.

[If there is a more cowardly member of Congress, I’ve not seen him. Kennedy is an embarrassment to Louisiana on a level of Clay Higgins and Steve “Sleazy” Scalise. So, What would it take to offend Kornpone? If Trump would butter his butt and call him a biscuit? Nope, he’d probably crawl in the oven and turn on the gas for Trump – He’s just that much of a sycophantic lap dog. Here is the link to the entire interview. Be sure to watch and listen to the entire video – if you can stomach it.] https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/politics/john-kennedy-woodward-rage/index.html

It was back on March 13 that Donald Trump was asked if he felt any responsibility for the inadequate response to the coronavirus.

“I don’t take responsibility at all,” Trump said. You can read that story by Politico HERE.

The same question of responsibility might well be posed to author Bob Woodward after his jarring revelations in his new book RAGE.

Trump is now characteristically calling the book a ”POLITICAL HIT JOB”, never mind that it was based on 18 separate recorded interviews with Trump.

(As an aside, it’s entirely fair to also ask that question of Nancy Pelosi who, despite a shutdown of businesses during the pandemic, nevertheless used her position to wrangle an appointment to have her hair done at her favorite salon and then whined that she was “set up” when the owner of the salon videotaped her.)

But back to the Woodward book. Woodward is a Pulitzer Prize-winner who, along with fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, was as responsible (there’s that word again) for the downfall of the morally and legally corrupt Nixon administration.

Trump confided to Woodward way back on February 7 that he knew the coronavirus was “deadly stuff” with the potential to be five times more deadly than the flu but that he wanted to ”PLAY IT DOWN” in order to avoid creating a public panic.

There’s plenty of blame to go around on this fiasco. White House trade adviser PETER NAVARRO and Chief of Staff MICK MULVANEY warned Trump as early as Jan. 29 of a “full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans.”

National security adviser ROBERT O’BRIEN told Trump in late January that the coronavirus “will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency.”

In fact, Trump received more than half-a-dozen WARNINGS from various other members of his administration of the potential dangers of a pandemic, but nothing was done.

But as a grizzled old reporter with more than half-a-century of writing under my belt, I must admit I have a lot of problems with Woodward, who I admired for the work he and Bernstein did 46 years ago. I have both the book and the DVD of All the President’s Men. I even reviewed the movie for the Baton Rouge State-Times back in 1976 and in my naïve exuberance, predicted it would an Academy Award. (It didn’t.)

Like the public officials we report on, we share a responsibility to keep those who trust us fully informed of the truth. Woodward is no less guilty in failing to do that than Trump.

It is my conviction that Woodward can justifiably be classified with the likes of John Bolton, who refused to testify in hearings leading up to Trump’s impeachment even as he was preparing to launch his tell-all book about the Trump administration, putting his personal financial considerations above those of American citizens. Bottom line, he came off as fearing the sales of The Room Where It Happened might be dampened if he were to reveal what he knew in congressional testimony.

Likewise, Woodward knew as early as Feb. 7 that the corona virus was a deadly threat to not just America, but to the world. Yet, he said nothing. His justification of his silence being that he had no idea of the source of Trump’s information and that he was unsure of Trump was lying about that as he has so many things is a bit weak in retrospect, especially given the time span between Feb. 7 and the publication of his book.

It was Woodward, after all, that relied to heavily on his “Deep Throat” source, who turned out to be FBI agent Mark Felt (as revealed by Felt himself shortly before his 2008 death) for much of his material while working with Bernstein on the Nixon Watergate stories. So, if he could rely on unsubstantiated information back then, what prevented him from going public with information so crucial about the coronavirus pandemic?

I can come up with only one logical reason and it doesn’t reflect well on Woodward.

If politicians are to be held accountable by the media, the media should be no less accountable to the public and in this regard, Woodward failed because like Bolton, he appears to have placed his financial interests before those of the American people.

Some of the blood for more than 190,000 deaths is on his hands.

“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu. This is deadly stuff. I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down. Because I don’t want to create a panic.”

—Donald Trump, in interview with Bob Woodward for his upcoming book Rage. [Shouldn’t Woodward share some responsibility for his failure to alert the public of this admission by Trump? Just sayin’.]

“This is really troubling. As journalists we’re supposed to work in the public interest. I think there’s been a failure here.”

—Scott Nover, a reporter for the journal Adweek. [Perhaps Woodward’s book will turn the short attention span public’s focus back to Trump’s failure to effectively address the pandemic and away from his diversionary, bombastic rhetoric about being a “law and order” president.]

“No. You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you? Just listen to you. Wow. No, I don’t feel that at all. I’ve done a tremendous amount for the Black community. And, honestly, I’m not feeling any love.”

—Trump, to Woodward when asked if he had a responsibility to better ‘understand the anger and pain’ felt by Black Americans. [It’s always been obvious that Trump’s only concern is Trump. No one else matters. No one.]

 “It was improper to hold a vetted intelligence product for reasons [of] political embarrassment. Instructions (to stand down on giving intelligence analysis on the threat of Russian interference in the 2020 election because it made the president look bad) specifically originated from White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.”

—Whistleblower complaint filed by Department of Homeland Security official Brian Murphy who claims he was pressured to turn attention away from Russian interference to perceived (by Trump) interference from China and Iran. [A story overshadowed by revelations in Bob Woodward new book (but which shouldn’t be). Trump can’t claim this came from an “anonymous” whistleblower, so it’ll be interesting to see how he tries to discredit this report.]