Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy ripped Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred for pulling the All-Star game out of Georgia due to the state’s new election law.
In a Tuesday appearance on Fox News, Kennedy was asked about Manfred’s decision to pull the game out of the state of Georgia, to which he responded by saying the Democrats want to expand elections from one day to an entire month and slammed Democrats for opposing the new law, which requires, among other things, that voters provide a photo I.D. such as a driver’s license when they submit an absentee ballot.
“Let’s talk baseball first, Martha. Forget Mars. We need to search for intelligent life in the Major League Baseball commissioner’s office. I have never seen anything like this. You know, commissioner Manfred has a fiduciary responsibility to major league baseball. His job is to do the very best that he cannot to suck. He has failed that. I mean, think what he’s done. Major league baseball is losing popularity to football and other sports. His job is to grow it. So what is the first thing he does? He decides to get involved in national politics and to alienate hundreds of millions of Americans who actually like the Georgia bill and think that it is an honest effort for election security,” Kennedy said.
“Well, no disrespect, but that is just a special kind of stupid. This has nothing to do with Jackie Robinson. It has nothing to do with race. Here’s what this is about. The Democrats want us to have an election month. The Republicans don’t. We want to go back to an Election Day. The Democrats oppose requiring an I.D. before you can vote. Republicans think we should in the interest of ballot security. Democrats want to make legal ballot harvesting. Republicans don’t. Ballot harvesting is where you pay somebody to go around and ask people to vote by mail and you collect their ballots and then you bring them to the ballot box. I’m is not saying it’s inherently fraudulent, but fraud can occur. That’s all this dispute is about.” Kennedy added. (RELATED: McConnell Blasts Corporate Response To Georgia’s Voting Laws)
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“He hasn’t bothered to explain why he thinks the bill is racist. I mean, the only excuse I can think is he made all of these decisions after his morning beer. I have never seen anything like it. It costs $150 to attend a major league baseball game in some cities. Is this going to encourage people to go? I just don’t think so,” Kennedy added. (RELATED: ‘Grow A Spine’: Former Rep. Doug Collins Says Stacey Abrams, Warnock And MLB Owe ‘Georgia An Apology’)
Two of the largest companies based in Atlanta, Delta and Coca-Cola, along with a range of other corporations have criticized the new law.
The MLB announced Tuesday that they would be moving the All-star game to Denver, Colo.