Today, even a measurable number of Democrats in the House appeared to be bailing out on Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. A measure to censure her over her latest offensive comments about the destruction of Israel managed to move forward. A second bill along the same lines is still making progress. A new attempt to kill the resolution was introduced, but it failed by a slim margin. Amazingly, only one Democrat voted against the measure and six Republicans joined the remaining Democrats in opposing it. But if the full measure moves to the floor, it would appear that Tlaib could wind up being censured. (Not that she will be overly concerned over it.) The following is from CBS News.
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan appears headed for censure by the House after a number of Republicans pulled their opposition to a formal reprimand following her latest controversial comments on Israel.
The House voted Tuesday to advance the first of two resolutions to formally punish the Michigan Democrat for a laundry list of remarks she’s made about Israel. The vote on a motion to table, or kill, the resolution was 213 opposed to 208 in favor. Six Republicans joined all but one Democrat in voting to block the measure introduced by Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick.
The House is also set to vote on whether to move forward with a separate resolution introduced by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene later Tuesday.
An earlier effort led by Greene to censure Tlaib failed last week after nearly two dozen Republicans, including McCormick, joined Democrats in voting to table the measure.
Tlaib’s latest rhetoric was nothing new on the pro-Hamas left. She once again invoked the “from the river to the sea” mantra of Hamas, which has long been understood as a call to wipe Israel (and the Jewish people) from the map and the entire world if possible. She attempted to defend her words, describing the mantra as “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence.”
Oh, really? If there are to be no Jews and no Israel “from the river to the sea,” then where precisely do you propose that they go? Just “elsewhere?” There has already been a massive diaspora of Jews from the region stretching back to the Holocaust. That was driven by the same people Tlaib supports who seek the eradication of the Jewish people. Those who return do so at great risk because of the people that Tlaib supports.
As we have seen in countless protests on American college campuses and in larger cities, even fleeing to America isn’t as safe as we once assumed it was. Swastikas are showing up on Wall Street and calls to “gas the Jews” are horrifyingly common. And Rashida Tlaib is right there with them, while perhaps not saying the worst words aloud.
How much more does it take? Nobody is saying that Tlaib isn’t free to engage in her First Amendment right to free speech, but she is an elected official, and taking seriously offensive positions comes with consequences. And in reality, a censure in Congress doesn’t carry the same weight that it did in previous generations when people were still concerned with the image and honor of both congressional chambers. She can simply release another statement saying how “unfair” all of this is and get on with her job.
The only thing that would make any meaningful difference would be expulsion from the chamber. But that hasn’t been seriously suggested at this point. The GOP is willing to give George Santos the boot, and that will likely happen soon. But nobody is talking about removing Tlaib thus far. Granted, Santos actually broke the law (allegedly) but he was also under fire for many untrue things that he simply said. Is there no line that cannot be crossed by a member of the House in terms of speech where the rest of the members agree that the representative is simply spouting pure evil and needs to be put on the next train back home? Santos told lies about his business experience and other associations. Rashida Tlaib is echoing the calls of the Nazi party from before most of us were born. Which is really worse?
