Kelley Paul to Cory Booker: condemn leaking personal information

In the midst of all the craziness we’ve witnessed during the past couple of weeks, two stories strike me as worthy of more attention. Both have to do with the radical left’s penchant for exposing personal information of elected officials. About the same time the twenty-seven-year-old Jackson Cosko, an unpaid intern working in the office of Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, was being arrested for doxing several Republican senators, Senator Rand Paul’s wife, Kelley, penned an open letter to Senator Cory Booker asking him to condemn his previous demand of supporters to get in the faces of members of Congress.

Advertisement

Earlier this week, Rand was besieged in the airport by activists “getting up in his face,” as you, Senator Booker, encouraged them to do a few months ago. Preventing someone from moving forward, thrusting your middle finger in their face, screaming vitriol — is this the way to express concern or enact change? Or does it only incite unstable people to violence, making them feel that assaulting a person is somehow politically justifiable?

Senator Booker, Rand has worked with you to co-sponsor criminal justice reform bills. He respects you, and so do I. I would call on you to retract your statement. I would call on you to condemn violence, the leaking of elected officials’ personal addresses (our address was leaked from a Senate directory given only to senators), and the intimidation and threats that are being hurled at them and their families.

You can imagine her level of concern for the safety of her husband, given the violence inflicted upon him while he was working in his own yard. Also, Kelley references the violent shooting rampage a little more than a year ago by a deranged Berniebro during the Republican team’s baseball practice. She named some Democrat women who even joked about Paul’s attack, far worse than originally reported. Kasie Hunt did so on-air at MSNBC, Kentucky’s secretary of state did so during campaign rallies, while Cher and Bette Midler tweeted snide attempts at humor. All Nasty Women, to use a phrase embraced by Hillary’s supporters. We all know that their laughter would have been screeches of anger had the party affiliations been reversed.

Advertisement

It’s open season on Republicans, especially those in the U.S. Senate. The last few days have brought about the discovery of doxing coming out of Jackson-Lee’s office in the House of Representatives against Senators Graham, Hatch, and Lee plus Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Cosko entered their private information onto their Wikipedia pages. Home phone numbers and addresses were available through their pages. Rep. Jackson-Lee, also a Nasty Woman, feigns ignorance of any wrongdoing.

Kelley Paul was motivated to say enough is enough after Senator Paul was swarmed by angry anti-Kavanaugh activists at an airport. The bare-knuckled vengeance exhibited by the mobs is meant to intimidate conservative elected officials into voting as they demand. I think it is only a matter of time before other Republicans are hurt or worse.

Cory Booker wasn’t the first to instruct his supporters to get in the face of anyone. President Obama told supporters in 2008 to get in the face of neighbors who might not agree politically, as he ran for re-election against John McCain. He also famously said to never bring a knife to a gun fight. Politicians know the power of words.

Agitated mobs congregating in the halls of Congress to protest the upcoming confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court have blocked hallways, stopped elevators, overtaken the offices of Senators and even shouted down Senator Collins as she began her most excellent statement Friday on her decision to vote yes on Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Decorum is dead, as is civility. The nerve of Senate Democrats to grouse about the demeanor of Judge Kavanaugh as he defended himself and his family against the outrageous accusations leveled against him is the height of absurdity.

Advertisement

Mr. Cosko is said to be paid by an “outside institution” and previously worked for some Nasty Women in the Senate. (emphasis mine)

According to a sworn statement by Capitol Police Captain Jason Bell, a witness Tuesday saw Cosko at a computer in a senator’s office, where he used to work, a day after two other unnamed senators’ information had been put on Wikipedia. Cosko worked for other Democratic senators including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and former Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. While earlier reports identified Cosko as an intern for Jackson Lee, his lawyer said that he was working as a fellow in her office, paid by an outside institution.

Hmm. Wonder which institution that would be. When he was caught, Cosko threatened a witness with releasing senators’ children’s private health information if the witness told anyone about his activities. He faces 5 federal and 2 D.C. criminal charges with a combined maximum prison sentence of 48 years.

More than 300 arrests were made by Capitol Police Thursday in the Senate building and over 100 were made Friday. A group of protesters gathered in front of Senator McConnell’s home Friday morning to enact a college kegger, drinking beer and chanting. Ah, yes. The breakfast of champions.

Nothing makes the angry left angrier than a united Republican Party. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have the leadership of President Trump trickle down to leaders in the Republican Party. Does anyone think that another Republican president would have stiffened the spine of the Senate Majority Leader or the Republicans on the Senate Judicial Committee and embolden them to push Judge Kavanaugh to a confirmation vote? After years of just throwing their hands up in the air and caving to opposition from Democrats or, even worse, trying to ingratiate themselves to Democrats for approval, Republicans finally saw the light. It doesn’t matter what Republicans do, the Democrats are not going to like them. They have to stop seeking approval.

Advertisement

The rush to toss out the presumption of innocence of Judge Kavanaugh, I think was the final straw. Then to try and shame the guy for standing up for himself and his family, all of whom received threats, was also a spine-stiffening moment. When Republicans stand up, we win.

I don’t remember a day I’ve been more proud to be a Republican woman than I was Friday after Senator Collins’ speech on the floor of the Senate. It truly was her finest. She methodically went through the entire timeline and destroyed every ugly narrative along the way. Grateful women across the country are thanking her. I sure am.

Oh yeah. I’ll leave you with an exit question. What do you think was in the stack of envelopes Rep. Jackson-Lee handed to Dr. Ford’s male attorney at the end of her testimony to the Senate Judicial Committee? It happened just before Mr. Cosko was exposed and arrested. I remember thinking at the time how odd it was to see her sitting behind them.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
Advertisement
David Strom 11:20 AM | November 21, 2024
Advertisement