These are the Republicans Protecting Ilhan Omar
Rep. Matt Gaetz: Ilhan Omar shouldn't be lumped with Schiff and Swalwell
Ilhan Omar's is unfit to serve: Andy Biggs
Ilhan Omar claims Republicans don’t want a Muslim on foreign affairs committee, are ‘OK with Islamophobia’
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
Maybe the Republicans don’t want someone on the foreign affairs committee who is so far to the Left that she equates the U.S. and Israel with Hamas and the Taliban. But Omar knows how to play the Left and its media, and so she is making this all about identity politics.
“Islamophobia,” in this context as in all others, is a manipulative term designed to intimidate people into thinking it is wrong to oppose jihad violence and Sharia oppression, or even to criticize any Muslim, especially, in this case, Ilhan Omar.
“Omar says some Republicans don’t want a Muslim in Congress: ‘These people are OK with Islamophobia,’” by Julia Mueller, The Hill, January 29, 2023:
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Sunday said some Republicans are “OK with Islamophobia” in response to questions about efforts by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to block her from continuing to sit on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“You remember Donald Trump coming into my state and saying, ‘Muslims, Somali refugees are infiltrating our country.’ You remember [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene [R-Ga.] coming to Congress after [Rep.] Rashida [Tlaib (D-Mich.)] and I got sworn in and saying, ‘Muslims are infiltrating Congress.’ You remember [Rep. Lauren] Boebert [R-Colo.] saying that I was a terrorist. What did McCarthy do? He said, ‘She apologized, and we don’t have to worry about her Islamophobia. That never happened,’” Omar said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“And so these people are OK with Islamophobia. They’re OK with trafficking in their own ways in antisemitism. They are not OK with having a Muslim have a voice on that committee,” Omar said.
McCarthy targeted Omar, the first Somali American and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, for removal from Foreign Affairs. He also booted Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee.
Omar’s removal requires a vote by the entire chamber, while Swalwell’s and Schiff’s removals could be made by McCarthy alone due to rules around the Intelligence Committee.
“If they want to debate political differences, and that’s something that we should all have the opportunity to do so, but to smear someone and their character, their love for their country and the work that they get to do on a committee is wrong,” Omar said.
“And it is politically motivated. And, in some cases, it’s motivated by the fact that many of these members don’t believe a Muslim, a refugee, an African should even be in Congress, let alone have the opportunity to serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee.”
Omar has been accused of making antisemitic comments relating to American support of Israel. She has since apologized for the remarks and said on Sunday that “I might have used words at the time that I didn’t understand were trafficking in antisemitism.”
“To insinuate that I knowingly said these things, when people have read into my comments to make it sound as if I have something against the Jewish community, is so wrong. … I voted for every single resolution — no Republican can say that — condemning antisemitism. My work is clear,” Omar said….
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BY DANIEL GREENFIELD
SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/01/these-are-the-republicans-protecting-ilhan-omar;
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
“We should be better than what the Democrats were.”
Can the new House GOP majority do anything? Even something as simple as booting Rep. Ilhan Omar off the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where she belongs as much as I belong on Al Qaeda’s councils, can’t proceed because some House Republicans are protecting her.
Why would they protect Miss “Some People Did Something?”
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) on Friday joined a group of House Republicans opposed to kicking Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) off the Foreign Affairs Committee, putting the high-profile effort dangerously close to failing.
Buck, a member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, told NBC News’ Chuck Todd he is against Republicans removing Democrats like Omar from their committees.
Buck is the third House Republican to say they oppose removing Omar, along with Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.).
“I think that we should not engage in this tit-for-tat,” Buck said.
Not engaging in tit-for-tat, better known as not fighting back, has worked brilliantly for Republicans thus far.
So what’s the plan to dissuade Democrats from doing this when they’re next in the majority? Scold them by emphasizing that Republicans will not lower themselves to engaging in any tit-for-tat. Do anything you like to us, but we will not respond with tit-for-tat.
Beautiful.
After saying he’s opposed to Omar’s removal, Buck added: “I have a little bit less certainty about Congressman Schiff and Swalwell on Intelligence just because it’s a little bit different than a regular committee. But I’m going to think through that and make a decision.”
Deep thoughts are needed.
Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), the chair of the moderate Republican Governance Group, told Axios on Tuesday that Omar “should at least be given the opportunity to defend her prior statements” on the House floor.
“I haven’t taken a position on it because I haven’t seen a case against her, but I think she’s entitled to due process and she should be able to make her case on why she shouldn’t be [removed].”
“I don’t think tit for tat is necessary here,” said Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.). “We should be better than what the Democrats were.”
Dis someone send out a tit-for-tat memo?
The emerging consensus is that Republicans were elected to be “better” than Democrats by surrendering to them. It’s worked brilliantly for generations. Bound to work again now.
“When I am weaker than you, I ask you for Freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your Freedom because that is according to my principles.” ― Frank Herbert