Author: Antonia Noori Farzan / Source: Washington Post
After a week of brutal infighting over how to best respond to allegations of anti-Semitism, Democrats on Thursday presented a compromise that seemed unlikely to offend anyone: a resolution condemning bigotry and “hateful expressions of intolerance.
”Then, in an unexpected turn of events, 23 Republicans decided to vote against it.
Doing so put them in an awkward position: By opposing a resolution that denounced hate and bigotry, they could plausibly be seen as supporting those things. In public statements and floor speeches, most of the dissenters clarified that they were strongly opposed to hatred and discrimination but simply couldn’t get behind the measure. While their explanations varied, many criticized Democrats for not doing more to rebuke Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose remarks criticizing supporters of Israel were seen by some as anti-Semitic, sparking the uproar that prompted the crafting of the resolution.
“This is a sham cover vote designed to avoid dealing with a rogue member,” declared Rep. Chip Roy (Tex.), one of the nearly two dozen Republican members of the House who voted no.
Originally, the resolution had only expressed opposition to anti-Semitism, but condemnations of anti-Muslim bigotry were added after critics began pointing out that Omar, a Muslim woman, had experienced prejudice, too. Later, the document grew to be seven pages long as denunciations of white supremacy were added, along with mentions of the discrimination historically faced by African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Hindus, Sikhs, the LGBTQ community and immigrants.
Omar ultimately voted in support of the resolution, which passed 407-23 on Thursday. The only dissenting votes came from Republicans.
As The Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis, Felicia Sonmez and John Wagner reported, Rep. Peter T. King (N.Y.) and several others objected to wording that encourages law enforcement “to avoid conduct that raises the specter of unconstitutional profiling” based on factors like religion and race. Meanwhile, Rep. Chris Collins (N.Y.)
For others, the problem was that the resolution didn’t single out Omar for censure. Calling the vote a “sham,” Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the GOP conference chairwoman, claimed that Democrats’ unwillingness to call out the freshman congresswoman by name was proof that the Democratic Party was “controlled by far-left extremists who can’t even muster the courage to stand up to blatant anti-Semitism.”
“By refusing to mention Rep. Ilhan Omar by name and allowing her to keep her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Democrats have sent a message…
The post ‘This is a sham’: Why did 23 Republicans vote against condemning hatred and bigotry? appeared first on FeedBox.