Accusing 58-year-old House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) of supreme hypocrisy regarding removing Somali-born Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Min.) from her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, 33-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortz (D-N.Y.) delivered a fiery speech on the House floor. AOC accused McCarthy of going after women of color, not Omar’s track record of past anti-Semitic remarks, once accusing the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] of money grubbing, saying “it’s all about the Benjamins,” a reference to Benjamin Franklin on the $100 bill. Whatever past statements, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas] said he can’t have someone on his committee pro-Palestinian, holding such anti-Semitic sterotypes. Omar doesn’t appreciate the long history of Jewish elected officials on Capitol Hill.
Omar came to Congress in 2019 representing Minnesota’s Somali Muslim community, having their own stereotypes about Jews and its relation to Israel. Omar doesn’t distinguish between American Jews and those that live and back Israel. With the Jewish community, there ‘s a wide range of opinion on the Palestinian question, with most American Jews supporting the NGO “J-Street” project, a Jewish lobbying group sympathetic to Palestine, favoring a two-state solution. Omar assumes that all Jews back AIPAC, a more established, conservative non-profit that support a secure Israel, whether or not it backs a two-state solution. After Sept. 11, gone were the days when Palestinians pushed Washington into a two-state solution that compromised Israeli national security. U.S. foreign policy under 76-year-old former President George W. Bush was all about Israel’s security, not about past U.N. resolutions.
Democrats and the press are fit-to-be-tied over Republicans taking over the House. Democrats yucked it up when Republicans bickered over approving Rep. Kevin McCarathy (R-Calif.) as House Speaker. Now that McCarthy’s takes action with consequences for Democrats they scream bloody murder over the inequity of McCarthy deciding who should serve on GOP led committees. AOC thinks Republicans are hypocritical because House Republicans, who’ve made anti-Semitic remarks like Rep.. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.,) who said last years that Jewish space lasers caused wildfires in California. Whatever assignment Taylor Green recently got, she didn’t get on the House foreign Affairs Committee. True to form as a loyal Democrat, AOC continues the narrative that all Republicans are racists, the same narrative the DNC used against Trump in 2020.
Now that Republicans control the House, Democrats are all sour-grapes, not realizing they’ve had a free ride since 2018 when Democrats swept the House on Trump’s watch. Four years of Democrat House rule saw more profligate spending, leading to the wildly extravagant relief bills and infrastructure legislation that drove the federal budget deficit and national debt through the roof. Biden didn’t calculate how funding an extraneous war in Ukraine would affect the economy, driving inflation to 40-year highs. Biden doesn’t admit that funding the Ukraine government and war has pushed the U.S. close to recession. “Don’t tell me that this is about a condemnation of anti-Semitic remarks, when you have a member of the Republican caucus who has talked about Jewish space lasers, and also elevated her to some of the highest committee assignment in this body,” AOC said.
Democrats must now live with the consequences, just like Republicans, of losing the House. How some Republicans blame Trump for not big majorities in the House is anyone’s guess. Capturing the House was a major accomplishment when the House went Democrat over the last four years. Democrats and the press wish they were still in charge to pick committee chairs of their choice. But Republicans now get the same privilege have taking House membership 222 Republicans to 213 Democrats. When former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was in power, she removed Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Az.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from committee assignments. This is about targeting women of color in the United States of America,” AOC said, forgetting what Pelosi did to Republicans in 2021. Democrats like Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) complained about removal from the Intel Committee.
House Democrats must do what Republicans did over the last four years, when Democrats controlled the 435-member body. Republicans hope to advance their agenda over the next two years before the 2024 election. Democrats only hope that enough dissension in the ranks against former President Donald Trump helps give Biden another four years. So far, Trump is the only declared candidate, making it more difficult for GOP opposition to Trump to promote any other candidate. Democrats and the press think Biden’s management of the economy and foreign policy earn him another four years. Republicans point to the runaway inflation a new foreign war in Ukraine as proof that the country is not better off than it was before Trump left office. Republicans must get over its in-party warfare to figure out who best should lead the GOP back to the White House in 2024.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
