House Democrats seem intent on milking Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for all they are worth. It has been about two weeks since Boebert made her asinine “Jihad Squad” comments about Omar and other members of “the Squad.” It has been quite a while since she also made that stupid joke about Omar being a suicide bomber.
Despite this, House Democrats want to remove her from her committee assignments and have her censured as they did for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene(R-GA). They are not satisfied with the promises of a vote on anti-Islamophobia bills by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) said these overtures are “not enough” and that they “have a responsibility to act; and we’re going to continue to push leadership to do just that.”
The Hill observed:
Boebert however did not make any explicit threats to Omar. Death threats have been made against Omar’s family by Boebert, a Minnesota Democrat who is one of just three Muslim members of Congress. These threats are fueling the liberal campaign against Boebert’s removal from committee assignments.
Pelosi denounced Boebert’s remarks but has resisted calls to strip her of her committee assignments. “Instead, she’s scheduled a vote on another bill, sponsored by Omar, creating a special State Department office charged with identifying and confronting anti-Muslim violence around the globe, including any state-sponsored campaigns deemed to fit that category,” according to The Hill.
Bowman responded by arguing that prioritizing the legislation “should have been done months ago.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) told The Hill: “It’s not ‘or.’ It’s ‘and.’” She continued:
“We have to address the hate that’s being trafficked within the halls of Congress, in addition to doing that work globally.”
“She should be stripped of her committees,” the lawmaker added. “If we do not have that accountability, we only embolden this kind of hate.”
But, Democratic leaders don’t want to punish Boebert the same as they did with Greene or Rep. Paul Gosar.
The Hill
Party leaders are concerned, aides and lawmakers said, that doing so would make her a martyr in the eyes of GOP’s conservative base, expanding the reach of her anti-Muslim message and boosting her ability to raise money on the campaign trail.
There are also lingering Democratic concerns that GOP leaders will retaliate by stripping Democrats from committee posts, if Republicans win back control of the House after next year’s midterms.
The Democrats also want to press Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House Minority Leader (CA), to sanction Boebert as they did in 2019 with Steve King, an ex-Iowa Rep.
It is interesting that Democrats fear that when the GOP retakes the House in the midterm elections – which is very likely to happen – they will give the same treatment to their lawmakers who have also made offensive and controversial remarks. As I stated previously, that is precisely what Republicans should do once they have returned to power.
Democrats broke the tradition and voted unilaterally to remove Greene (from her committees) But they didn’t have the same energy as when Rep. Rashida Tlaib of D-MI and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY made offensive comments.
AOC posted a recent tweet in which she slammed McCarthy and accused Republican legislators of being members the KKK. She wrote:
People truly don’t understand the scale, intensity, & volume of threats targeting @IlhanMN. Kevin McCarthy is so desperate to be speaker that he is working with his Ku Klux Klan caucus to look aside & allow violent targeting of woc members of Congress.
This is something that cannot be overlooked.
People truly don’t understand the scale, intensity, & volume of threats targeting @IlhanMN.
Kevin McCarthy is so desperate to be speaker that he is working with his Ku Klux Klan caucus to look aside & allow violent targeting of woc members of Congress.
This is something that cannot be ignored. https://t.co/ppridf6bZl
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 1, 2021
The tweet was just as racist as calling Omar a suicide bomber for her faith. Casting white men who happen to disagree with her as members of the KKK is no different from what Boebert did – and we can best believe Democratic leadership hasn’t said a word to her about it.
Yes, after the GOP takes back the House they will. BetterYou can grow two and make them as happy as you are. That is how you can make sure your children are happy. mayGet Democrats to reconsider this next time they are considering taking such a course of action. They might hesitate to go on if they are certain that it is going to happen when they have to deal with their opposition.
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