Bigotry on Display in Congress——————
A commentary
By J. F. Kelly, Jr.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was elected to Congress only four months ago but she already has stirred up more than her share of controversy for a newly-elected freshman representative. Her remarks accusing Jewish American supporters of Israel of dual loyalty and her use of the expression “It’s about the Benjamins, baby”, an obvious reference to financial support of Israeli causes by wealthy Jewish Americans, were widely construed as anti-Semitic by fellow Democrats as well as by Republicans, Jews, Christians and members of other religions.
To many Jews and supporters of the Jewish state, these words and others she has uttered during her brief and otherwise unremarkable time in office were deeply hurtful. To put it charitably, her choice of words was unwise and reflected poorly on the Congress. She apologized twice in response to the outrage, but her words were unconvincing and self-excusing. Expressing one’s bigotry and then apologizing if the words are construed as hurtful, when you know full well that they are, while expecting all to be forgiven and forgotten, has become a strategy in identity politics. It is pure hypocrisy.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempted to mitigate the damage and avoid alienating Jewish voters, saying Omar’s words “are not based on any anti-Semitic attitude” but rather the fact that “she didn’t have a full appreciation of how they landed on other people”. Seriously? And how could she possibly know that her words did not reflect an anti-Semitic attitude? Can she see into Omar’s soul? Does she mean that Ms. Omar is not a bigot but rather just a nitwit? Is that what the good people of her Minnesota congressional district elected to represent them?
House members attempted to put together a resolution condemning Ms. Omar’s words. There erupted then a fierce battle between mature Democrat legislators who still believe in decorum and tolerance and members of the lunatic left who are gradually taking control of the party and seem to believe that freedom of expression means that you can say anything you want about anyone unless, of course, you are a conservative. The resolution thus became watered-down in a manner worthy of one of those toothless United Nations resolutions, condemning bigotry in general. How very helpful.
Fellow freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another rising liberal rock star (Democrats seem to award that title to almost any newly-elected member of their party who is young, attractive, talks a lot, favors unlimited entitlements for all and believes that deficits no longer matter), chimed in that the resolution should also condemn discrimination against Hispanics. Others wanted to include LBGT folks. Why not Christians? Or Asian-Americans? Or native Americans? Or conservative speakers on campus? Or any conservatives on campus? Or perhaps Dodger fans? I could go on, but space and a low ink cartridge constrain me.
Twenty-three Republican members declined to support the toothless resolution and were, of course, promptly labelled bigots. Thus attention was diverted from Ms. Omar’s hateful words. Perhaps as its next major agenda item, the Democrat House could work on a resolution condemning evil.
Here are two better ideas. Speaker Pelosi should get control of her chamber and demand that members demonstrate respect and decorum. Secondly, Rep. Omar should be removed from her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. That body does not need a member hostile to our only reliable ally in the Middle East. The United Nations has plenty of those.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Constitution has no provision for recalling elected members of Congress. That’s a pity. The voters of Ms. Omar’s Minneapolis area congressional district, who made the mistake of electing her, will just have to put up with her until the end of her, hopefully single, term. How embarrassing for them.
March 16, 2019