Say WHAT?

Posted on FaceBook earlier today, but still how I’m rollin’ at the moment:

Still ruminating on what’s-her-name’s speech yesterday. Another perpetrator turned self-appointed victim. She and Matt Gaetz would make quite a couple – he would give up his seat to defend his daddy the ex-POTUS in the impeachment trial, and she SHOULD give up her seat to defend her self-respect. It’s hard to comprehend how and why somebody elected to national office could even render the words “Jewish space lasers” with a straight face. She’s a dodo bird, and slightly less of a poseur than Kelly Loeffler, but still recites the same GOP talking points. It pains me to see women, in particular, debasing themselves like this, but I still believe in a woman’s right to choose. Literally.

When I watched yesterday’s speech again, I was reminded of how much she dog-whistled for the evangelical base, tossing in phrases about being crucified and right-to-life/abortion and “died on the cross”, then “I was allowed to believe”. What does “allowed to believe” mean? Does that translate to “I am not allowed to believe the truth”? Does that mean she is not in control of her own beliefs? I would give that strategy a big huge goose egg score. I have empathy for her if she is not free to choose her own beliefs, but I’m not sure that’s what she means.

Her “controversial” (i.e. cruel, mean-spirited, untruthful, ludicrous) remarks were made a short time ago, and if other elected officials want to argue the minutiae of whether or not she had actually been sworn into Congress before or after she uttered those words, they can have at it. Obviously, they have nothing better to do. She’s been documented saying and upholding all of that at least since her campaign began. Her refusal to back out of any of it since being seated, or even to apologize for having caused pain (if nothing else) is mind boggling. The bar is higher for elected officials, or it should be. If her behavioral model is te ex-POTUS, who had no compunction about rendering the most cruel of personal insults, there may be no hope for her. Anyone who believes that behavior is acceptable doesn’t garner respect, and no, I cannot and should not separate that from every other aspect of her character.

This is not the school cafeteria, or the play ground, or a bar, or a social gathering. This is the U.S. Congress, the Legislative Branch of the nation’s government. You don’t get to just run your mouth like you’re among your other intolerant friends and passing around the nachos. If you do, you deserve every bit of negative public sentiment that comes to you, and if you think that constitutes a “crucifixion”, then so be it. Mouthing off about things like Jewish space lasers and trying to equate a victim of gun violence’s efforts to lobby for more responsible gun control with your 2nd Amendment right to do open carry is simply ridiculous. If you want to blurt out this kind of rancid narrative, be an activist and get a bull horn, but don’t sully the halls of Congress with such crap.

And, by the way…responsible gun control legislation does not conflict with the 2nd Amendment, you moron. The 2nd Amendment levies the right to “keep and bear arms” with “a well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state”. The likes of her running around with a pristine handgun in a well-crafted holster has NOTHING to do with a well-regulated militia or the security of a free state. It has EVERYTHING to do with protecting just herself and her property, as it does with everyone who is making a big effing deal about “the Democrats want to take your guns”. I repeat – Well. Regulated. Militia. Not a bunch of wanna-be insurgents running around in the woods with assault weapons and paint balls.

This Congressperson has been stripped of her House Committee assignments, and I cannot say that’s a bad thing. I simply cannot say that. I can say, however, that a few other folks should be stripped of their Committee assignments, if not their House seats entirely. And don’t get me started on the Senate. However, when you are handed a consequence for bad behavior by a systemic process, the proper response does NOT include going back to the 70s to find examples of other people in Congress (usually People of Color, ain’t that somethin’?) who have said similar or worse things and had no consequences.

If you want to play that game, and then you want to give the entire Black and Brown and Indigenous population of the nation the right to do likewise, you give us all leeway to bring up the centuries of bad behavior by European-descended Americans – in and out of Congress – who have yet to receive consequences for things like systemic genocide, racism, misogyny, forced sterilization, homophobia, and…other stuff. So, if you want to go there, you elected folks who are making the argument that she has been treated SO unfairly, we can go there, but I’d grab a large coffee before we start because this is gonna take a minute. It would be great if we went there, actually, so we can get this out of the way as a nation and move on. But, as usual, if you’re not willing to go the distance, don’t start it. Take your ass-whipping and go home, and live to fight another day. And there will be another day.