Topic: CNSNews.com
Even more than the first two, CNS' third round of pestering members of Congress with questions is pure gotcha. The setup was the first question: "Do you believe that someone should have to show their ID in order to buy alcohol?" With the inevitable yes answer to that question came the follow-up: "And what about to vote?" There's no equivalence between drinking restrictions and voting laws -- and CNS did not offer any -- but that's not the point. The reason for this line of questioning is partisan, of course, designed to attack the Democratic-promoted For the People Act, which according to CNS' boilerplate "proposes election reform by prohibiting states from requiring voters to show an ID at the polls. It would also require states to provide same-day voter registration and expand mail-in voting opportunities." Some articles cheered that Republicans "successfully filibustered" the bill.
Some articles noted other right-wing attacks on the law, and some interns gave members of Congress space to attack the proposed law. A few Republican congressmen were asked their opinions on colleagues declining to take the bait by saying "they support having an ID to buy alcohol but have refused to answer whether they support having an ID to vote."
So enamored was CNS by this question (and its pure-gotcha nature) that it was asked of 45 members of Congress -- meaning lots of work for its interns running between Capitol Hill and the MRC's offices in far suburban Washington, D.C. -- and rolled out over more than two weeks. First up, the senators:
- John Cornyn (R)
- Thom Tillis (R)
- Joe Mandchin (D)
- James Lankford (R)
- Josh Hawley (R)
- John Boozman (R)
- Kevin Cramer (R)
- Martin Heinrich (D) (who refused to take the bait, "did not respond and walked into an elevator")
- Gary Peters (D)
- James Risch (R)
- John Kennedy (R)
- John Thune (R)
- Joni Ernst (R)
- Steve Dailes (R)
- Marco Rubio (R)
- Todd Young (R)
- Cory Booker (D)
- Ed Markey (D)
- Elizabeth Warren (D)
- Ted Cruz (R)
- Mike Crapo (R)
- James Inhofe (R)
- Angus King (I)
- Jeanne Shaheen (D)
- Tommy Tuberville (R)
- Jerry Moran (R)
Now, the House members:
- Steve Scalise (R)
- Warren Davidson (R)
- Jerry Nadler (D)
- Joe Wilson (R)
- Ilhan Omar (D)
- Ronny Jackson (R)
- Neal Dunn (R)
- Jack Bergman (R)
- Barry Loudermilk (R)
- Eric Swalwell (D)
- Scott Peters (D)
- Dan Crenshaw (R)
- Pete Aguilar (D)
- Chris Stewart (R)
- Jim Hagedorn (R)
- Guy Reschenthaler (R)
- Adriano Respaillat (D)
- Suzanne Bonamici (D)
- Donald McEachin (D)
Remember: These loaded questions are designed to let Republicans virtue-signal about issues on their (and CNS') agenda, and to attack Democrats who decline to provide the conservatively correct answer.
