After leftists intent on making election fraud permanent threatened Georgia's big companies with a boycott if they didn't condemn Georgia's election integrity law, Delta was one of the first to cave.

According to the Washington Post:

Some of Georgia's biggest companies — including Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines — and Atlanta sports teams the Falcons and the Hawks came out strongly against the state's new voting law Wednesday amid growing backlash against the business world for failing to do enough to stop the measure from becoming law.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian condemned the legislation as "unacceptable" and contrary to the company's values.

"Last week, the Georgia legislature passed a sweeping voting reform act that could make it harder for many Georgians, particularly those in our Black and Brown communities, to exercise their right to vote," Bastian said in a Wednesday memo to employees.

"The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 elections. This is simply not true. Unfortunately, that excuse is being used in states across the nation that are attempting to pass similar legislation to restrict voting rights.

This is amazing garbage from the CEO of one of America's best and most loved companies.  The Washington Post's writer was careful to leave off any information about just why he might be doing that, which was that he was under threat of a far-left boycott.  Apparently an editor, or maybe even a bot, had to insert a related item link near the bottom about that boycott threat, which the current Post piece had conveniently ignored.  They just wanted you to think he said this garbage because he actually believed it and wasn't in a sort of hostage situation, mouthing what his captors wanted him to say — and there is evidence of this, but more about that later.

The Hill had a far more objective piece describing what was going on, though its writer failed to explain what was going on with making it a "crime" for electioneering activists in Biden t-shirts to hand out free water and other goodies to voters waiting in election lines.  All the same, the piece was far more serious as journalism:

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian on Wednesday called Georgia's controversial voting law "unacceptable" in what appears to be a reversal of the company's previous position.

In a memo to employees that the company made public, Bastian said that Delta worked with other Atlanta-based corporations to try to remove "some of the most egregious measures" from S.B. 202, which Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed into law on Thursday.

Bastian had faced backlash after he appeared to defend the law, which among other restrictions limits the use of ballot drop boxes, requires photo ID for absentee voting and makes it a crime to provide food and water to those waiting in line to vote.

He said in a statement on Friday that it "improved considerably during the legislative process, and expands weekend voting, codifies Sunday voting and protects a voter's ability to cast an absentee ballot without providing a reason."

The apparent reversal on Wednesday comes as Delta faces boycott calls over its failure to speak out about the law.

Much better.  The reader can understand what is going on now.

The content of Bastian's statement is appalling.  He's telling us, as a guy whose airline rides require ID to get on, that voters should not be required to show any identification to vote?

Or that the word of that Democrat sleazebag operative with 99 people residing in a single residence is sufficient for handing him 99 ballots?  Or that Black people are incapable of getting ID even though every last government service, every last airline ride, every last entry to buy a sports event ticket, every last hospital admission, every last drive of the car somehow requires ID to partake?  What planet does this soft-bigotry-of-low-expectations guy live on?  His claim is flamin' hot dishonest.

And that unattended ballot drop boxes, easily stuffed by...Democrat election cheats...should continue to go unattended with zero chain of custody?  How convenient for them.  Why not create a common pit for all election votes, a big dry toilet?  The effect would be the same.  Yes, they call them "secured," but any election cheat with knowledge of the works can get around those supposed safeguards.  What they can't get around is a disinterested, nonpartisan public official watching, with witnesses all around, as the ballots are dropped off.  That's what he doesn't want.

Worst of all was his howling about handing out free water and food to those waiting in line.  How emotional.  After all, who would deny water to the thirsty?

Handing out freebies to voters waiting in line, whether free bags of beans; washing machines, as Hugo Chávez used to do; or other free stuff, is fourth-world politics.  The law was enacted to prevent electioneering and campaigning in voter lines, which need to be places of privacy.  He's really saying that far-left activists in Biden t-shirts, handing out free bottles of water to voters in line, couldn't possibly be campaigning in those election lines, pressuring voters, wheedling, cajoling, and promising ever more goodies.  They couldn't possibly influence voters with all their goodwill water?  Does a voter standing in line have a right to tell these electioneers to get the hell away from him, 500 feet, as ordinary laws require, too?  Is he saying they can campaign and campaign, handing out free water and who knows what else, maybe little envelopes full of money, to voters standing in line?  Up until now, this has always been illegal in first-rate democracies.  Fourth-world hellholes have always been comfortable with pols from one-party states (such as "perfect dictatorship" PRI Mexico a few decades ago) handing out bags of beans for votes.

It's so dishonest that it's disgusting.

What's more, the WaPo (as well as The Hill) did report that it was a hell of a difference from what Bastian had been saying in private when he himself (yep) actually helped craft the new law.  Wow.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) hit back at Bastian, saying that the airline executive had worked closely with state officials in drafting the law.

Today's statement by Delta CEO Ed Bastian stands in stark contrast to our conversations with the company, ignores the content of the new law, and unfortunately continues to spread the same false attacks being repeated by partisan activists," the governor said in an emailed statement.

"Throughout the legislative process, we spoke directly with Delta representatives numerous times. We worked alongside legislative leadership to expand voting opportunities for Georgians, while also taking steps to further secure the ballot box," Kemp said Wednesday.

"At no point did Delta share any opposition to expanding early voting, strengthening voter ID measures, increasing the use of secure drop boxes statewide, and making it easier for local election officials to administer elections — which is exactly what this bill does."

Kemp, a little surprisingly, acquitted himself well here, unexpectedly borrowing a what-he-said-in-private-earlier tactic from President Trump.

The sad thing here is that it didn't need to happen.  The law is immensely popular with the public; plugs terrible holes in Georgia's election system; and, as voters have more confidence that their votes will count, will likely raise turnout, which is what happens any time fair election laws are enacted.  Even Stacey Abrams, the éminence grise of Georgia politics whom everyone is afraid of, did not call openly for a boycott of Georgia businesses over this, citing the unequal burden of boycotts, implying that the little guy who gets laid off is the one who gets it in the teeth.  It's possible her organization said something different in private, making shakedowns or threats, but this is what she said in public.  Actually, scratch that: she did leave open the threat of boycotts by saying "not yet," which had the same effect as a boycott threat, despite her silken words.

It's sad stuff.  Delta is a wonderful airline full of wonderful employees and isn't the sort of company that deserves a boycott despite alienating half its customer base.  Perhaps some shareholder activism to oust this weakling CEO is the answer.  America needs more CEOs like the chief of Goya who can defy threats of boycotts, snickering as celebrity lifestyle social media star Chrissie Teigen, who made a loud show of boycotting Goya, went right back to using Goya products on in her cooking Instagrams.  That guy saw his company's profits soar after that one, and even nonpartisan shareholders should care about that.  Get woke, go broke.  That should be an easy one to understand, and this guy doesn't.

Image: Logo, public domain.