Politics

‘It Just Really Makes Me Want To Heave’: Sen. Kennedy Says Commissioner Has Turned MLB Into A ‘Blue Sport’

Fox News

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said Wednesday that it makes him sick to hear Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manfred “turn baseball into a blue sport.”

“I try to see grace wherever I can find it. But the decision by Mr. Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, to turn baseball into a blue sport, it just really makes me want to heave,” Kennedy told Fox News’ “The Faulkner Focus.”

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“I mean … whether you agree or disagree with the Georgia law, I don’t think any of us — I know I don’t — want to have to think about politics when we watch baseball,” he continued. (RELATED: ‘Biden’s Credibility Is In Tatters’: Newt Gingrich Says Biden Needs To Apologize For ‘Lies’ About Georgia Election Law)

MLB yanked its annual All Star Game out of Atlanta in protest over Georgia’s new election integrity law. Meanwhile the league has partnered with Chinese media.

The senator said he is equally disturbed because Manfred has not tried to explained “why  he thinks that Georgia’s law, which I think was an honest effort toward election integrity, is racist.”

Kennedy suggested Manfred make an appearance on a Fox News program “not just for three minutes but for 30 minutes. I think he needs to go to Amazon, buy a spine online and come on your show maybe with [Georgia] Gov. Brian Kemp and let Commissioner Manfred explain why millions of Americans who support election integrity, are racist.”

Kennedy insisted that President Joe Biden also needs to speak “unscripted for 30 minutes.”

“Now, the president has made a very serious accusation. He has said everybody who believes in having an I.D., showing an I.D. before you vote is a racist,” the senator noted, adding that by implication, Biden was accusing anyone who opposes ballot harvesting of being a racist.

“Not an honest disagreement: you are a racist,” he said, recalling that he objected to then-Sen. Kamala Harris accusing Biden of racism because he did not support school busing in the 1970s.

Georgia’s SB 202 became law March 25, in part limiting the number of drop boxes that can be used during an election and requiring voters to have identification whether they submit ballots in person or by mail. (RELATED: ‘Jim Crow 2.0’: Critics Compare Georgia’s Voting Integrity Bill To Racial Segregation)

US President Joe Biden speaks about the March jobs report in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

US President Joe Biden speaks about the March jobs report in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden criticized the legislation in a written statement, falsely claiming, “among the outrageous parts of this new state law, it ends voting hours early so working people can’t cast their vote after their shift is over.”

Biden also said the Georgia law was “Jim Crow in the 21st century,” in reference to the notorious segregation laws that prevailed throughout the south until the mid-1960s.

Former President Donald Trump called for a boycott of the MLB Friday after the organization pulled the All-Star Game from Atlanta.