Bigotry Must Never be a Partisan Issue

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has expressed hate-filled views that should be repudiated by all. Similarly--but with much less media attention or media criticism--Rep. Ilhan Omar has expressed hate-filled views that should be repudiated by all. Antisemitism and racism should not be partisan issues. Democrats are correct to speak out against Rep. Taylor Greene, but every one of them who speaks out against her without speaking out against Rep. Omar is a hypocrite; similarly, Republicans are correct to speak out against Rep. Omar but every one of them who speaks out against her without speaking out against Rep. Taylor Greene is a hypocrite.

The movement to censure Rep. Taylor Greene--which resulted in a House vote removing her from all of her committee assignments--has been led by Democrats, with very little Republican support (11 Republicans voted in favor of removing Taylor Greene). Each party selects which members to appoint to House committees, so a House vote to override a party's selection is unusual, if not unprecedented. The Republican Party had the opportunity to either not appoint her to any committees, or to withdraw those appointments--as the Republican Party did in 2019 when Rep. Steve King made offensive comments--but refused to do so, after which the Democrats initiated a House vote.

Rep. Taylor Greene was lawfully elected, and unless she engages in illegal conduct while in office she should not be removed from office--no matter how distasteful her beliefs and statements are--but the Republican Party should not be promoting her or her beliefs.

Now, several Republicans are correctly seeking to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from her committee assignments due to her antisemitism. Rep. Omar has made several antisemitic statements while in office, and she has drawn praise from racist antisemites, most notably the infamous former KKK leader David Duke. It seems unlikely that the Democrats will support Rep. Omar's removal, so because the Democrats control the House her position is secure.

Neither party has covered itself in glory. The Democrats are correct about Rep. Taylor Greene, but their actions smack of hypocrisy because of their unwillingness to clean out their own stables; likewise, the Republicans are correct about Rep. Omar, but taking action against her only after the Democrats ousted Rep. Taylor Greene smacks of partisanship antics as opposed to a serious attempt to fight bigotry, particularly since those who are opposed to Rep. Omar refuse to speak out regarding Rep. Taylor Greene.

Both parties are more concerned about accumulating and keeping power than they are with doing the right thing, and that is a very sad commentary on our country's current politics.