Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, mocked former NFL quarterback Michael Vick for appearing in a voting rights video by bringing up 2007 and 2008 convictions related to dogfighting.
“If you like killing puppies, this might be persuasive,” Cruz said in a tweet including Vick’s video for the voting rights organization More Than a Vote (MTAV).
In the video, released by the organization Monday, Vick spoke out against plans by Florida Republicans to change provisions of his state’s voting law, pointing out that “it’s not just in Georgia” where laws are being changed.
“Last year I had my voting rights restored from the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition,” Vick says in the video. “I did it for myself, but also for my future. Having children I realized I could make a difference. So, I got my voting rights restored, got registered to vote, and I got my vote in through the postal service since I was working out in California during football season.”
Vick commented, in a tweet with his video, that “Florida’s trying to make it harder to vote by mail like I did last year. They’re coming after drop boxes too. Call your lawmakers and tell them to oppose voter suppression.”
Florida House Bill 7041, now under discussion in the Florida House of Representatives, includes provisions that have come under fire in Georgia’s new law, including ones on ballot drop boxes and the hours they can be accessed, and stopping volunteers from bringing food and drink to voters waiting in line to cast the ballots, reports Newsweek.
Vick’s convictions were related to dogfighting at his home in Virginia. The former star acknowledged he knew dogs were killed, and admitted to being involved himself in the killings of at least eight dogs. Court documents from his trial said the dogs were killed by “various methods, including hanging and drowning.”
Vick, who at the time played for the Atlanta Falcons, pleaded guilty in 2007 to the dogfighting-related charges, and spent 21 months in federal prison. After he left prison, he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2009, and played there five years. In his last two years in the NFL, Vick played for the New York Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers for one year each, mainly as a backup. He retired from the NFL in 2017.
The four-time Pro Bowl player has been an analyst for Fox Sports since 2017.
Cruz, meanwhile, has accused Democrats of trying to “manipulate and steal” elections through the push for the H.R. 1, “For the People Act,” which they say will improve voting rights while limiting gerrymandering.
He has called the House bill the “single most dangerous bill being considered by Congress right now,” and says it is “designed to entrench corrupt politicians in office and keep Democrats in power for 100 years.
The bill contains several provisions that Cruz said will repeal “virtually all of the commonsense state integrity laws for elections” including voter ID laws.
Source: Newmax
