The way we hate now (Stacey Abrams edition)

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams came up short in her race against Republican Brian Kemp. She got around to saying as much in what should have been a concession speech yesterday, but neither Abrams nor her most visible public supporters are in a mood to concede anything. So she gave a language lesson in lieu of a traditional concession (video below) — a language lesson in which she testifies implicitly to her superiority. She is suffused with the warm glow of her own virtue. How great she is.

Translate this:

I acknowledge that former secretary of state Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial elections, but to watch an elected official who claims to represent the people in the state baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote has been truly appalling. So let’s be clear. This is not a speech of concession, because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true, or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that.

Ms. Abrams vowed to fight on with a new group and a big lawsuit, details to come. I suppose it beats looking for a new job in the private sector or “conceding” that she’s biding her until she can challenge Georgia voters to prove that they are big enough to put her over the top next time.

Quotable quote: “Stoicism is a luxury, and silence is a weapon for those who would quiet the voices of the people, and I will not concede because the erosion of our democracy is not right.”

Via David Rutz/Washington Free Beacon.

FOOTNOTE: Michael Warren’s Weekly Standard article “The Truth About Georgia’s Voter-Registration Kerfuffle”” looked at the pre-election claims that Abrams had been making against Kemp and that she reiterates in substance in her speech. Interested readers will find it useful. Warren concluded: “If Kemp edges out Abrams by just a few thousand votes—a quite plausible outcome, given the polls—the perception that Kemp suppressed more than enough minority votes to put him over the top could threaten the legitimacy of the election in the minds of many Georgia voters. Kemp’s critics argue this is precisely why a spotlight on the registration issue is so important. But without the context and with hyperbolic rhetoric, the claims of voter suppression aren’t much different from the demagoguery Democrats decry from the likes of Kemp and Donald Trump.”

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses