What did Congressman Cline say when he spoke Friday at a Republican “election integrity rally” at Liberty University in Lynchburg?

Did he continue to suggest without evidence, as he did last November, that there were massive numbers of “illegal votes” in the 2020 election in Joe Biden’s favor? Did he again proclaim his support for his friend, the deranged election conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell?

We may never know.

Cline was scheduled to speak at the rally sponsored by the Fifth District Republican Committee along with Republican candidate for governor Glenn Youngkin and Cline’s even more awful congressional colleague Bob Good. (Good, among other things, calls the COVID pandemic “phony” and voted AGAINST awarding medals to police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol against pro-Trump terrorists on January 6.)

The rally took place despite the utter lack of evidence of widespread fraud in Virginia elections.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the event was not open to the press. Why not? Were Cline and the other participants too ashamed to put their remarks on the public record?

According to The Times-Dispatch:

The Virginia Department of Elections said in March that a risk-limiting audit of the 2020 election confirmed Virginia’s election results accurately portrayed the winners.

Former President Donald Trump made baseless claims of election fraud that preceded the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, in which many protesters sought to overturn the results of the presidential race. The former president and many other Republicans have continued to question the legitimacy of the presidential election, even though it wasn’t close and there’s no evidence of any widespread fraud.

The website for the rally had listed as featured guests Youngkin, Del. Jason Miyares, the GOP nominee for attorney general, and Winsome Sears, the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor. But Miyares and Sears opted to attend an event with a Northern Virginia candidate instead.

“Glenn, Terry McAuliffe called on you to step down from this dangerous rally and you didn’t — even as the other extreme members of the GOP ticket removed themselves,” Susan Swecker, chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said Friday in a call with the press.

“Just this week, we learned that Youngkin suggested the courts could reinstate Trump into office — further pedaling the GOP’s dangerous lies just three months from the November gubernatorial election.”

Although we may never know what was said at the rally, perhaps we can get an idea from what else The Times-Dispatch reported:

Two of the panelists presenting information at the rally, according to its schedule, were Phill Kline and Tim Griffin.

Kline is a former Kansas attorney general whose law license was suspended indefinitely by the Kansas Supreme Court in 2013 over what the court found was a pattern of misconduct. He is an associate professor of law at Liberty University and has assisted in lawsuits challenging the results of the presidential election, the Kansas Reflector reported.

Griffin, of Bedford, is a special counsel to the Thomas More Society and former assistant commonwealth’s attorney. Kline directs a project of the Thomas More Society involved in lawsuits over the election.

Kline recently interviewed Griffin in a video posted on Kline’s YouTube channel.

“People are saying this election was stolen,” Griffin said during the interview. “They understand that something was off.”

Kline asked Griffin what was different about the 2020 election than previous elections. Griffin said he assessed the 2020 election by observing people he came into contact with.

“Years ago I used to really pay a lot of attention just to polls and what newspapers would tell us. In recent elections I really pay attention to what’s going on on the ground,” Griffin said.

He continued, saying that in the 2020 election, “I kept my eyes open, I kept my ears open. … Republicans on the right — they were so excited. There was a parade in Arizona … of 90 miles long of cars for Donald Trump. And then we also watched what the energy was on the left. And the energy on the left was very deflated. There wasn’t a lot of excitement. There was no rallies for President Joe Biden.”

The Democratic presidential ticket largely avoided rallies because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Let’s review Congressman Cline’s response to what Washington, DC, police officer Daniel Hodges correctly called the January 6 assault on the US Capitol by pro-Trump terrorists.

As the terrorists were brutally attacking police and minutes before they entered the Capitol, Cline (or someone on his staff) posted on Facebook trying to draw a direct parallel between the objections of a few House Democrats to the result of the 2000 presidential election (for which there were reasons to object) and the objections of Cline and 146 other members of Congress to the clear and convincing election of Joe Biden in 2020.

After the terrorists had broken in and rampaged through the Capitol, Cline condemned the violence and called for those who participated to be prosecuted. But unlike some other Republicans, he did not place the blame where it ultimately belonged: on then-president Donald Trump. He then voted against certifying the election of Joe Biden as president; that is, he did what the terrorists wanted.

Cline, of course, opposed impeaching Trump for his role in inciting the January 6 insurrection, denying the evidence of Trump’s culpability.

He has never acknowledged on whose behalf the terrorists were acting. As recently as this month he attended a CPAC conference in Dallas, featuring revisionist lies about January 6, where he shamelessly referred to “our great president Donald J. Trump.”

In May Cline voted against a bipartisan commission to investigate January 6. When asked about his vote by a reporter, Cline claimed it was “not a non-partisan proposal,” even though it was the product of an agreement between Republican Congressman John Katko and Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson.

So I suppose we should not be surprised at Cline’s utter silence on the harrowing testimony of the four heroic police offers who were brutalized by the pro-Trump mob at the Capitol on January 6– especially since they were willing to call out the people who deserved to be called out.

He has posted several times on his Congressional Facebook page since Tuesday’s hearing without mentioning it. Judging from the comments posted in response, I am not the only one who noticed this.

If he is asked (and I hope someone will ask him), he will probably say what other Congressional Republicans have said: that he was too busy to watch the hearing.

Someone also needs to ask Cline if he agrees with the chair of the House Freedom Caucus (of which he is a proud member) that two of the most conservative members of Congress– Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger– deserve to be kicked out of the House Republican caucus for daring to participate in Tuesday’s hearing.

Until we do hear from Cline, we have every reason to ask him: Whose side are you on?

Please don’t try to tell us you are on the side of the brave officers who testified– who put their lives on the line to protect you– or on the side of any other law enforcement officers. Because we won’t believe you.

For you, it’s party over country (and decency) every time.

By all accounts, the recently-concluded Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas, featured an appalling array of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and lies about the deadly pro-Trump insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6– most notably from the Big Liar himself.

One of the many lowlights was a truly awful speech by Congressman Cline– awful in delivery as well as in content. Even when it comes to rousing a crowd primed to agree with him, Cline is a failure.

See for yourself and be prepared to cringe. (I almost feel embarrassed for him. But then I remember it’s Ben Cline.):

The theme of the CPAC conference was “America UnCanceled,” so Cline began by proclaiming that Virginians like Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Patrick Henry were “the original fighters against cancel culture.”

Well, maybe, although I doubt they and the other Founding Fathers saw the American Revolution in quite that way.

Moving to the present day, Cline asserted:

Virginia is controlled by a one-party liberal group, fighting to cancel freedom, to cancel liberty, to cancel those of us who are fighting each and every day for family and freedom.

If any group is trying to cancel anything in Virginia these days, it’s Republicans. The ginned-up frenzy over “critical race theory” is largely an effort to cancel teaching about the racial history of the US that might make anyone uncomfortable. The chair of the Republican Party of Virginia wants to investigate a professor at the University of Virginia for writing mean things about Donald Trump.

Meanwhile Cline and other House Republicans have done their best to cancel Congresswoman Liz Cheney– a featured speaker at CPAC 2020– for daring to speak the truth about Donald Trump and the 2020 election.

Cline congratulated Texas for delivering its votes last year “for our great president Donald J. Trump.”

Just two points, Congressman.

1. Donald J. Trump is no longer president.
2. Even when he was president, he wasn’t at all “great.” And he isn’t great now.

Cline then moved on to one of his favorite subjects: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of the so-called “squad.”

Here is where he really took leave of reality.

We know who really calls the shots in the House of Representatives. It’s the squad. It’s the liberal agenda of AOC and the squad that we are fighting against.

Surely even Cline knows that six relatively new Democratic members of the House, none of whom are in leadership positions and who don’t always agree among themselves, do not set the agenda for the other 217 Democrats.

But he wasn’t through.

They are trying to cancel family. They are trying to cancel faith. They are even trying to cancel the American flag.

I did find a photo of one member of the squad, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, with an American flag. But it didn’t look like she was trying to cancel it.

And she didn’t slobber all over it in an embarrassing and phony display of patriotism.

Cline then asked his obviously bored audience: “Are you going to let them cancel our American flag?”

After a smattering of half-hearted “No”s, Cline soon ended his speech– and probably his chance to become a leading figure of an increasingly radicalized “conservative” movement.

No more Toyota cash for you.

Toyota to stop donating to GOP lawmakers who objected to certifying Biden’s win – The Washington Post https://t.co/PSb0CAvzQA

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 8, 2021

Will Congressman Cline indignantly return the $1,000 donation he received from Toyota in March?

He should be asked.

Congressman Cline’s first impulse is always to side with employers over employees. This tendency has led him to be a longtime hater of labor unions, among other protections for workers.

In a recent series of Facebook posts, Cline again revealed his contempt for everyday working people– suggesting that temporary unemployment payments make them too lazy to take any undesirable low-wage jobs on offer.

On June 15, Cline wrote:

As the economy rebounds from the pandemic, businesses are struggling to hire employees as a result of extended unemployment benefits from the Federal government. With 9.3 million open jobs in America, it’s time to get government out of the way and truly kickstart a long-term recovery.

And on June 24, he insisted:

The restaurant industry struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic because of government-mandated lockdowns, and now they’re struggling to keep their doors open because they can’t hire enough employees. This is the danger of extended Federal benefits.

On June 28, he linked to an article in The Wall Street Journal and claimed:

States that have discontinued enhanced federal unemployment benefits are seeing folks reentering the workforce at higher rates than states continuing them. I urge Governor Northam to help folks get back to work by opting the Commonwealth out of extended federal benefits.

In fact the Journal article said no such thing. The New York Times reported:

Work-force development officials [in Missouri] said they had seen virtually no uptick in applicants since the governor’s announcement, which ended a $300 weekly supplement to other benefits. And the online job site Indeed found that in states that have abandoned the federal benefits, clicks on job postings were below the national average.

So what produced the big increase in payrolls in June? It turns out to be something completely predictable that Cline has been loath to mention: higher wages.

The key jobs day takeaway: Higher wages work.

Leisure & hospitality pay jumped 3.6% in past 3 months
Leisure and hospitality accounted 40% of the job gains

Pay is up ~$1.30 above pre-pandemic ratehttps://t.co/ZAu0P4ZzbF pic.twitter.com/3UCjXQUpox

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) July 2, 2021

President Biden grasps what Ben Cline misses: that carrots work better than sticks when it comes to creating an economy that works for workers.

Our economic growth means that instead of workers competing with each other for jobs, employers are competing with each other to attract workers.

That means higher wages and the power to demand to be treated with dignity and respect in the work place.

— President Biden (@POTUS) July 2, 2021

Virginia Public Radio reports:

One member of Virginia’s congressional delegation is working across party lines to help head off the next pandemic.

It should surprise no one to learn that the member is not Congressman Cline.

“Diseases do not stop at national borders,” says Congressman Gerry Connolly, a Democrat who represents Fairfax County in Congress.

This week, the House passed his Global Health Security Act, which re-establishes a position dedicated to preparing for pandemics on the National Security Council — a position established by Barack Obama and eliminated by Donald Trump.

“Global health crises are ongoing and increasing, and they affect national security,” Connolly says. “Saving lives for the next global pandemic starts now by investing in preparedness before it strikes.”

The bill creates an international fund for pandemic preparedness and requires a global health security strategy. Now, Connolly worked with several prominent conservative Republicans, including the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Mike McCaul.

“COVID-19 has proven viruses know no borders,” McCaul says. “It’s imperative that the United States works to prevent future pandemics and be prepared to respond to diseases with pandemic potential.”

About half of the House Republicans voted for the bill, although all four of Virginia’s Republican House members voted against it.

And of course one of those four was our own Ben Cline– who may (or, more likely, may not) be glad to explain his vote to any journalist or constituent who asks.

Alison Cutler of the Staunton News Leader reports:

Representative Ben Cline, along with three other Virginian representatives, voted no on a House resolution that had to do with establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday.

Hours later, he voted in support of the bill that made Juneteenth a federal holiday, and posted online that he was proud to participate in the creation of the holiday.

The two votes, one in support of Juneteenth’s national recognition and one in opposition of considering it, seem to directly contradict each other — and Cline, along with the three Virginian congressman, weren’t the only ones to vote that way.

…..

The first was House Resolution 479, which provided for the consideration of Bill 475, which proposed Juneteenth National Independence Day as a legal public holiday.

…..

The News Leader contacted Cline’s office for comment several times and has not yet received a response on why he voted no to consider Juneteenth as a national holiday last week, but voted yes when the resolution went through anyway. The News Leader’s first inquiry for Cline was submitted on June 17.

Cline did recognize Juneteenth on his public facebook page. “I was proud to support the creation of Juneteenth as a federal holiday to celebrate this important date in African-American history,” he said.

So as I understand it (and Cline should feel free to correct me if I’m wrong), he voted AGAINST bringing the bill up for a vote but then voted FOR the bill after he and other Republicans failed to block it. And then he said he was proud to support it.

And now, as he often does, he refuses to explain to his constituents why he voted the way he did.

In contrast to his recent vote against protecting pregnant workers, Congressman Cline displayed his usual consistency by voting NO on the Protecting Older Workers from Discrimination Act.

Nearly 40 percent of the people in Virginia’s Sixth Congressional District are 50 years or older.

The bill is a long-delayed response to a 2009 Supreme Court decision that weakened protections against age discrimination.

The ruling in Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc. mandated that plaintiffs of age discrimination demonstrate age was the sole motivating factor for the employer’s action.

Cline voted against the same bill last year, when it passed the House but died in the Senate.

Also Thursday, Cline joined most House Republicans to vote NO on the Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act, which would provide women veterans access to contraceptive care without co-pays, which civilian and active-duty women already receive.

I don’t compliment Congressman Cline here very often, but I did give him credit last September for voting in the House for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

Never mind. I take it back.

The bill on which Cline voted AYE passed the House in the last session of Congress, but was not acted on in the Senate. So the House sponsors reintroduced it this year.

But when the bill came up for a vote in the current session, as I reported, Cline voted NO.

What I didn’t realize until now is that that the bill Cline voted for in September 2020 and the bill he voted against in May 2021 are word-for-word exactly the same.

See for yourself: Here is the text of the 2020 Pregnant Workers Fairness Act which Cline supported. Here is the text of the 2021 Pregnant Workers Fairness Act which Cline opposed.

The bill would require private-sector employers with 15 or more workers to make “reasonable accommodations” for pregnant employees. Those accommodations could come in the form of water and bathroom breaks, stools, or a reduction in lifting requirements.

The bill would also protect workers from retaliation after making those requests and from being forced into taking unpaid leave.

So why, between September and May, did Cline change his mind and decide that he didn’t want to protect the rights of pregnant workers after all?

Ask him. Please.

The Roanoke Times reports:

A smoother ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a better bridge to the Roaring Run Recreation Area and improvements to the Virginia Creeper Trail are on the list of regional projects to be funded by the federal government.

Nearly $1.5 million for projects in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests is proposed under the Great American Outdoors Act in the coming fiscal year, the U.S. Forest Service said Friday.

Another $32.8 million will go to repave a 24-mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway from near Bedford to just south of Roanoke Mountain. A construction timeline will not be known until a contact is awarded, according to parkway spokeswoman Leesa Brandon.

Let’s make sure that every resident of the Sixth District who enjoys these amenities, every business owner who benefits from the increase in visitors, every worker who is gainfully employed on these projects, knows that Congressman Cline voted NO.