SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe's move to reinstate voting rights to former felons, whether Donald Trump has been putting on an act as a presidential candidate and whether Sen. Bernie Sanders will stay in the Democratic race.
Amen, a man of principle. Rehabilitation does NOT work without some reward.
Excerpt
SUMMARY: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a sweeping order Friday to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 convicted felons within the state. McAuliffe described the action as an effort to reverse decades of voter repression, but state Republicans accused the governor of abusing his powers to help Hillary Clinton win a valuable swing state. McAuliffe joins Judy Woodruff for more.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a sweeping order today to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 convicted felons after their release from prison.
Republicans in the commonwealth quickly accused the governor of abusing his executive power to help Democrat Hillary Clinton win a battleground state.
Governor McAuliffe joins me now from Richmond.
Governor, welcome.
Why the decision to overturn something that's been in place in your state since the Civil War?
GOV. TERRY MCAULIFFE (D), Virginia: Well, let's be honest. We have had a bad history here on voting rights in Virginia. 1901, 1902, they put in the poll tax. They put in literacy tests. And they had a horrible disenfranchisement for felons.
So, what I did today was to erase 114, 115 years of a really, really repressive tactic used to deprive people their right to vote.
JUDY WOODRUFF: You included convicted felons who were accused of violent crimes, murder, rape. You didn't make any exceptions. Why not?
GOV. TERRY MCAULIFFE: Nope. Why should I?
Once you have served your time, once you have paid your debt to society, the judge, jury have determined what your sentence would be, once you complete that, why should you not be back in?
When these people, even if they have committed heinous crimes, but once they have finished serving their sentence, they go back to their communities, they get jobs, they have family members. You want them, Judy — I want everybody back getting a job. I want them paying taxes. I want them feeling good about themselves.
HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour): They say that the third time is the charm, and that’s what voters are being asked to consider in Providence, Rhode Island, as the twice former mayor runs again, despite his two previous felony convictions and a prison term.
The NewsHour‘s Domenico Montanaro takes us there with this report.
VINCENT “BUDDY” CIANCI, Independent Mayoral Candidate: How you doing?
MAN: How are you, Buddy?
BUDDY CIANCI: Good. Nice to see you.
DOMENICO MONTANARO (NewsHour): In Providence, the improbable. Former Mayor Vincent Buddy Cianci, whose previous two reigns were each cut short by felony convictions, is running again.
WOMAN: We hope you win again.
DOMENICO MONTANARO: To the shock of his detractors.
WOMAN: I think it’s an embarrassing disgrace.
DOMENICO MONTANARO: The delight of his supporters.
MAN: The perfect candidate to bring Providence back to where it needs to be.
DOMENICO MONTANARO: The amazement of nearly everyone.
MAN: Some of this stuff is kind of like out of “Alice in Wonderland.”
DOMENICO MONTANARO: He’s leading in the polls.
MAUREEN MOAKLEY, University of Rhode Island: He’s not only back. He’s not only running. But he may indeed win.
MIKE STANTON, Author, “The Prince of Providence: The Rise and Fall of Buddy Cianci”: Absolutely, he could win.
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
*Anti-First Amendment policies that attempt to turn America into a theocracy by enshrining ANY religious belief as law.
* Any attempt to suppress human or Constitutional rights.
* Any law or policy that supports discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, race/color, gender, sexual orientation, or any law that does NOT support Equal Treatment under the law.
*Any law or policy that attempts to suppress Freedom of the Press or Free Speech.
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