The Bennie Thompson Affair

American Thinker.com ^ | March 10, 2021 | Sally Zelikovsky

[Kaslin]

Sometimes, the greatest gifts arrive in the most innocuous packaging.

Late into the night of March 3rd on a partisan vote of 220-210, the Democrats passed the Orwellian-designated “For the People Act” (or H.R. 1) -- with all Republicans voting “nay” save for two who did not vote and all Democrats voting “yea” save for one lone stray. That stray Democrat is none other than Representative Bennie Thompson for Mississippi’s 2nd congressional district -- not exactly a household name but a House lifer since 1993, nonetheless.

Now, Bennie is no ordinary stray. Although not as visible nationally as other progressives, he was an original cosponsor of H.R. 1 which only makes his change of heart all the more breathtaking. A dutiful foot soldier in the progressive movement for close to 30 years, govtrack ranks Thompson 37th among the most politically left representatives -- right up there with the most pious Poputchiki (fellow travelers) of the American left: Ocasio-Cortez, Jackson Lee, Grijalva, Jayapal, Schakowsky, Tlaib, and so forth and so on. You can view Thompson’s full report card here.

What caught my attention is his reason for switching to a “no” vote. In comments to Fox News, Thompson explained “My constituents opposed the redistricting portion of the bill as well as the section on public finances” and "I always listen and vote in the interest of my constituents."

[Liz]

Benny Thompson's reason for switching to a “no” vote WRT the Orwellian-named “For the People Act” (H.R. 1):
"I always listen and vote in the interest of my constituents. My Mississippi constituents opposed:
<><> the redistricting portion of the bill, <><> as well as the section on public finances.”

[PGalt]

That and the old ‘rats are getting very old, forgetful and smelly and the young rats are a joke...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4YlW2ix3zo

[sphinx]

I’ve not studied his district but my first thought is that Bennie’s calculation is simple. He has a majority minority district gerrymandered to give him a black supermajority and a noncompetitive seat for life. Any serious redistricting reform would put Bennie in a more competitive district. Even from a narrowly partisan democrat perspective, people like Bennie are hoarding democrat votes whose absence weakens democrats in surrounding districts. This is the twist that Lee Atwater famously recognized after the 1980 census, when Republicans didn’t resist the Democrats’ majority-minority gerrymandering. The democrats now have a host of senior members who haven’t seen a competitive election in 30 years and who like it that way.

[Gay State Conservative]

Just checked out “Govtrack” briefly. It's a Maoist site,referring to Republicans as conspirators,etc. It's an offshoot of the Amazon Compost's “fact checker” operation.

[MuttTheHoople]

Bennie Thompson has always been out for Bennie Thompson. Once, the Mississippi Democrat party asked Thompson if they could move his district a little bit to make it more competitive. Thompson, not liking the reduction of a 63% majority black district to a 58% majority black district, declined.