Today, from Rep. Anne Wagner (r):

WAGNER STATEMENT ON THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE CERTIFICATION VOTE
Jan 4, 2021
Press Release

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Ann Wagner (MO-02) released the following statement on the Electoral College Certification vote:

“On January 3, 2021, I took a solemn oath before God and Country to, ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States.’ I have faith in our nation’s legal process, believe in the rule of law, and will always uphold that oath to support and defend the Constitution.

“Article II of the Constitution and the 12th Amendment are clear. The power to elect the President of the United States lies with the States and the People, not Congress. Specifically each State ‘shall appoint, in such Manner as the (State) Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors’ and ‘the person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President.’ It is time for Congress to count the electoral votes from each State and fulfill our Constitutional duty.

“I cannot and will not unconstitutionally insert Congress into the Presidential election in this manner. This would amount to stealing power from the People and the States. It would, in effect, replace the Electoral College with Congress, and strengthen the efforts of those who are determined to eliminate it or render it irrelevant.

“At this point, all States have certified their election results and electors and alleged irregularities have been taken to State and Federal court over five dozen times and rejected, even by judges appointed by President Trump.

“I even signed on to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States asking the Justices to examine the election changes made by several States and determine if they went beyond the scope of the Constitution’s State legislative requirements. The Supreme Court made a ruling and rejected the merits of our filing in an exceptionally expeditious manner.

“Although some States needlessly injected controversy into this year’s election by making last minute ballot changes and casting doubt over the management and integrity of their election process, that controversy must be decided either by the States themselves, or the Supreme Court. Both avenues have been tried, the legal process followed, and with that comes a finality that Congress and our nation must respect.

“While I may not like the outcome of the election, that does not mean I can, nor should I, try to usurp the powers of the individual States of our republic. To allow Congress to alter the decided outcome of the election would irreparably damage our system of government and defy the Constitution. It is for these reasons I will not support any objection to the certification of electoral college results.”

Apparently sedition is too much for some republican members of Congress.

Then again, right wingnuts on Twitter are another matter:

These irregularities have never been heard in our corrupt courts. They have merit but no standing means you have a case but we won’t hear it.

So it’s ok to tamper with voting? There needs to be someone to look out for us and if it’s not our elected representatives, who will?

Thank you for doing…your job?

RINOs like this only want to appease and fly under the radar. They think striking back at their party wins them favor with the so called moderate. It doesn’t. And she’s foolish.

good luck in your primary

Pass the popcorn.

Straddling the sedition fence.

I just read your statement on this Election Fraud.
Missourians hear you are OKAY with this Fraud.
The constituents who elected you, do not think this is OKAY & you need to follow @HawleyMO, do your Constitutional duty, & denounce this certification.
There is evidence of FRAUD.

You are a coward. This election was fraudulent and it’s your job to protect the process from fraud. This isn’t about inserting Congress into the process. This is about protecting the vote from fraud.

Buh-bye Ann!! You and many other weak politicians won’t EVER get my vote again!! The day calls for bravery and you clearly have none!!

You are aware the Constitution provides for this right? It’s called “checks and balances”. I hope you get primaried

Well, if you live in the district, go ahead, knock yourself out.

You’re on the wrong side of this fight.

Supporting the fraud makes you complicit and a traitor to those of us who elected you.

No, seriously, tell us how you really feel.

so fraud is ok with you ?

I read your statement. If you do not stand up against election fraud you are condemning the constitution not following it. Do you damn job and stop being a coward. You will be dealt with in the primaries if you shirk your constitutional duties you swore to uphold.

Sounds a mite bit touchy there.

You are a failure as a representative of the People. With so much event fraud and massive irregularities, you turn a blind eye the very system of law and the Constitution you allegedly support. You would allow the criminals of the Democratic Party steal what is rightfully ours.

Shame on you…you will be out of office soon…

Glad didn’t vote for you last time around. Coward.

Very disappointed in your stance. I live in Wildwood Mo and will actively help the republicans to primary you. You have done nothing the entire time you’ve been in public office. You could have when the country needed you.

Support the Constitution or get out. Who’s paying you? Who owns you? You are there to uphold the Constitution on behalf of others. Share your bribe, b!tch.

Baskets of deplorables.

Weak sauce Ann. I’ve supported you but felt you weren’t strong. I will no longer support you. If you cannot see with your own eyes the degree of election manipulation, that tells me you’re looking out for someone other than the people and our Republic. Very disappointed in you.

Bye bye. Enjoy your last term.

Hey rep Ann you know what irreparably damages our government? A stolen election. You are on the wrong side of history. Your time in congress will be short

[says the account with a troll avatar]

Shame on you. Enjoy your time in Congress because you will never get elected again. #WeWillNEVERForget

How is it possible for someone to be this stupid? I’m gobsmacked at your horrific stupidity. Objecting would cause irreparable damage? Are you f*cking joking?! And accepting criminal election fraud won’t?! You are yet ANOTHER obscenely corrupt 3rd world banana republic politician

Supporting and verifying criminal election fraud CAUSES IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO OUR COUNTRY. TO DEMOCRACY. TO OUR CONSTITUTION. TO OUR LAWS. Fighting against it is vital to protecting our country. How in the holy hell are you this f*cking stupid?

I can only conclude either you are horrifyingly stupid or you are owned. How much did Dominion pay you? How much did China pay you? I simply cannot believe someone can be so horrendously stupid as to think accepting criminal election fraud is good for the country

Your career is over.

How very disappointing to read this.
With this statement (and after just voting for you again, and many times before), there will be no “next time”. You’ve given up, and gave in. How can I stand for you, if you will not stand for our Constitution, and fair elections? I cannot.

NOT GOOD. The People will remember what a coward you are.

You are a psychological experiment at this point. I’m sincerely concerned for your mental health. One question – do you believe accepting criminal election fraud will sh*t rainbows and unicorns on this country?

Is that performance art?

Your complete trash. Most Missourians were so proud of Josh Hawley. We know who the real traitors are to our republic! You Anne, are one of them. You need to resign or go to prison.

Really, pass the popcorn.

The constitution allows exactly what will on the 6th. The people in this country know their votes were stolen. No court allowed the presentation of evidence. It will happen on the 6th. Those who do not represent the Trump voters are traitors and their political careers are over.

It’s a sad state of affairs when overwhelming evidence of electoral fraud is ignored by the very people we entrust to defend it. Seven states have submitted disputed electoral votes, because of this overwhelming evidence. You choose to kick the can down the road? ByeBye GOP.

I think you will be looking for a new job in 2 years, MS Wagner. I am not from Missouri; I think Josh Hawley has a great abundance of courage and doesn’t back down from what is right. You have watched President Trump badgered for the last 4 years and you don’t have the nerve.

Not from Missouri, eh?

You don’t even care what your voters think. Your a republican and most republicans believe there is Fraud. You are a FRAUD and will lose . You will go down in history as a LOSER/ your not alone on the soon to be island of forgotten traitors.

That’s right next door the Island of Never Learned Grammar.

Your analysis of the constitution and facts about the election are completely wrong. You have gone on record with your mistake and will not listen to further reason or evidence in chambers. Only one conclusion is left, you will be VOTED-OUT!

57% of Missouri voted for Trump!

There’s no accounting for taste.

Another RINO that chooses to not only accept a fraudulent election in those 6 states, but also doesn’t advocate for an audit commission to investigate the fraud that occurred in the Presidential election.

You will be primaried in 2022, Ms. Wagner.

I’m a Missourian and can’t wait to help end your career

Primary 2020

Uh, too late?

Did you read and listened to all of the evidence? There was MASSIVE FRAUD!!!!!!!!!

Where?

You can kiss your political career goodbye

It is also your duty to protect our votes. So even in the face of blatant voter fraud you are going to stand down. Then there is no reason to vote for you again if you believe it’s ok to let it be stolen away.

You may not like your when your term is done. Your term is complete it’s time for you to go. You going against what We The People want. This election was stolen

You’re traitor !!

Your political career is over soon.

You suck! Remember, your political career lies in OUR hands and without helping President Trump, you’ll be gone in a heartbeat.

Primary this swamp coward.

You helped build this, Ann.

Previously:

Fascist is as Fascist does (January 1, 2021)

On Monday, in Jefferson City:

Meeting Notice
Office of the Missouri Governor
Electoral College of Missouri
Date: Monday, December 19, 2016
Time Begin: 2:00 PM
Venue: Senate Lounge
Missouri State Capitol
201 West Capitol Avenue
Jefferson City, MO 65101
[….]

The Electors will cast their votes for President.

As near as we can tell there are going to be separate (but probably merged) silent protest groups on the sidewalks of the Capitol starting at 8:00 a.m. and going until 2:00 p.m.

Via David Weigel, find below the first map of the electoral college for the 2012 election produced by Carl Rove – who Weigel notes, has been surprisingly accurate in the past.  Weigel observes that it is “more optimistic than some Democrats I talk to are willing to be,” adding the parenthetical “Rove, you prince of trickery!” I wonder what he could possibly mean?

Of especial interest: Rove considers Missouri to be a toss-up, which, if it pans out, should be good news for Claire McCaskill. There’s nothing like a good set of coattails (and “toss-up” constitutes better coattails than “leans Romney” – which better conforms to conventional wisdom).  Of course, as far as McCaskill’s chances go, there’s also nothing like a set of potential opponents who are, as Ed Kilgore puts it, engaged in “one of those look-at-me-I’m-the-craziest GOP primaries.”

Addendum: Missouri’s toss-up status probably explains why Carl Rove’s Crossroads GPS is ginning up its ad campaign against McCaskill once again:

Crossroads GPS, the nonprofit affiliate of the GOP-aligned super PAC, is launching an $1.2 million ad blitz against five Democratic Senate candidates on Tuesday, using its early financial advantage to attack the candidates’ records on spending and taxes.

The ads are targeted against Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., former Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, and former North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp.

Be prepared for some big time lies – and remember there’s lots more $ where these ad buys come from.  

By now everyone knows that Missouri has lost sufficient population that the state will lose an electoral vote and the concomitant seat in the House of Representatives. The loss means, of course, that Missouri will wield just that much less political clout.  As State Democratic Chair, Susan Montee, puts it in a Politico article:

That missing Missouri vote will make a big difference sometime over the next 10 years – whether it is a Democratic vote or a Republican one.

Several political scientists quoted in the same article note that the loss of an electoral seat packs a psychological wallop since it suggests that the state is in decline.

Which leads us to the fact that in the coming months we can expect to see the change spun in a number of agenda-driven ways. For instance, columnist Michael Barone tried to use the population shifts revealed by the 2010 census to fuel the rightwing tax-cutting bandwagon, claiming that low taxes lead to population growth. Missouri doesn’t seem to have gotten that message since it lost population despite its relatively low tax rates – although I expect to hear the state’s GOP make the same argument in order to cut corporate and upper bracket taxes even further, or to buoy up efforts to institute regressive sales taxes, the so-called “fair” tax, in place of income taxes.

What may be the most extreme as well as the funniest effort to spin the situation to the benefit of a particular political hobby horse was presented in the letters section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (“Behind the numbers,” Dec. 27). The letter writer does his best to lay the blame on – ready for this – the prevalence of abortion in blue states:

A review of the Centers for Disease Control Abortion Surveillance Report for 2006 reveals that, when measured per 1,000 live births, there are often 1.5 to 2 times as many abortions in the most reliably “blue” states versus the most reliably “red” states. The most marked example: Utah had 67 abortions per 1,000 live births and New York had 488. As a result, House seats, electoral votes and federal funding are shifting.

While there might be a certain intuitive appeal to this argument for those with anti-choice proclivities, it falls apart when one delves a little deeper. Apart from the two extremes, Utah and New York, that the writer cites, his red state/low abortion rate,  blue state/high abortion rate doesn’t seem to correlate convincingly to the winners and losers in the 2010 census. For example, during the year cited above, 2006,  the percentage of abortions to total births was between 15-25% for most of the states that experienced significant change in population, whether they lost or won electoral seats; Missouri, with 15.2% of pregnancies in 2006 terminated by abortion, falls into this group. Louisiana, a red state with a relatively low percentage of abortions for 2006 (8.9%), still lost an electoral seat, while states like Washington and Florida, with a higher percentage of abortions (22.2% and 28% respectively) gained seats.  

All this ponderous analysis is silly simply because the reason Missouri lost population is staring us in the face; no one needs to cook up some tortured correlation to random social phenomena to explain it. Think jobs; think about the state’s lackluster job creation record even before the recession. Then consider that CNBCs Top States for Business Survey ranks Missouri 49th for quality of life – widely acknowledged to be a major consideration when it comes to business or personal relocation. Among some of the factors contributing to the low quality of life in the state:  

–Missouri ranks 39th on health related issues such as public health policies, community environmental conditions, and health behaviors. (This while our legislators prance around, threatening to “nullify” health care reform.)

–Missouri receives consistently low scores for its public educational system, falling among the lowest scoring 10 states in the 2009 Quality Counts Report with a rank of 40 and a grade of C-. Evaluations of higher education in Missouri find it to be both mediocre and, relative to other states, expensive.

Add to such facts the state’s  significant unmet infrastructure needs along with a legislature that wants to cut public spending even further, decimate labor protections with a “right-to-work” law, while handing tax cuts to the wealthy (most recently via the aforementioned “fair” tax proposal), and it should be very clear why Missouri may indeed be in a period of decline. Third world political, economic and social structures  yield third world living conditions that will attract few outside of those interested in setting up sweat shops.

 

Near the end of the Q & A period when Dr. Terrence Jones’ spoke to the West County Dems, an audience member asked if there was any chance of getting rid of the electoral college:

And, finally, Jones commented on the difficulty of convincing CEOs that universal health care makes good economic sense. After his remarks, an audience member offered an interesting idea for phasing in universal health care.

Jones’ response to the woman’s idea was that he doesn’t know enough about health care policy to comment. He said that if people keep asking questions about a topic on which he’s not an expert, then by, say, the fourth question, they’ll get beyond the realm of his knowledge.

That last questioner had done so. But that’s all right. Regardless of whether he could comment, it was an idea worth hearing explained.