Obama Slams N.J. Gov. Candidate For Not Knowing He Was At ‘Stop the Steal’ Rally: ‘This Isn’t a Neighborhood Barbecue’
Former President Barack Obama rebuked the Republican candidate for New Jersey governor on Saturday, over claims that he didn’t know he was at a “Stop the Steal” rally.
“When you’re standing in front of a sign that says Stop the Steal and there’s a guy in the crowd waving a Confederate flag, you know this isn’t a neighborhood barbecue,” he said in a speech.
Obama’s comments came while campaigning for former New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), amid Murphy’s bid against Republican Jack Ciattarelli.
In his speech, Obama focused on Republican opposition to the Freedom to Vote Act and continued allegations of widespread voter fraud from GOP members.
“Just this past week Phil, every Democrat in the Senate supported a bill that would protect the right to vote and ban partisan gerrymandering and reduce the influence of dark money in our politics, and every Republican voted against those reform measures,” Obama said to the Newark crowd, prompting booing. (Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also voted against advancing the bill due to procedural concerns.)
“Hey, don’t boo. Vote. Booing doesn’t do nothing,” Obama responded. “You know, booing is like — you send out a Twitter, blah, blah, blah. No. Go out there and vote. Go vote. You got to ask yourself though, why is it that Republicans don’t want people voting? What are they so afraid of?”
He then went on to slam Republican contestants for doubting election results when they lose.
“I lost a congressional election back in Chicago,” he said.”…I didn’t know I could just like after I got beat, I could just get up and say, ‘No, I didn’t get beat. No, no, no, no. The machines were broken.'”
“You know what I did?” he continued. “I said, you know what, let me think about how I can be better so that I can win the next time… That’s what I did. You know, I don’t know what loyalties are around here, but like the Yankees, they lost in the playoffs. They didn’t say, hey, wait minute, we didn’t lose.”
He noted he will “applaud” those who voted for a Republican but acknowledge a Democratic winner, adding that “you’ve got to give them credit because they get threatened just by telling the truth.”
Obama then turned his attention to criticize Ciattarelli.
“When you’ve got a candidate who spoke at a Stop the Steal rally, you can bet he’s not going to be a champion of democracy,” he said, referring to him attending a rally in support of former President Donald Trump.
Ciattarelli has acknowledged Joe Biden as the legitimate president and claimed that he was unaware people were protesting about “Stop the Steal” while he spoke at the rally.
“Apparently Phil’s opponent says, well, he didn’t know it was a rally to overturn the results of the last election,” Obama added. “He didn’t know it. Come on. When you’re standing in front of a sign that says Stop the Steal and there’s a guy in the crowd waving a Confederate flag, you know this isn’t a neighborhood barbecue. You know it’s not a League of Women voters rally. Come on.”
Watch above, via CNN
