This was bound to happen: America has become so deeply PC following the George Floyd murder, even the GOP is worried that one of its political candidates might turn off voters because she condemns the violence of Black Lives Matter and Antifa.
The candidate is Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is running for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. She took 40% of the votes in the June 9 primary, in a very crowded field (the incumbent, Tom Graves, announced he won’t be running in 2020). Greene will have a runoff against second-place John Cowan on Aug. 11, and should she win, she is expected to trounce the Democrat in the race. The last time a Democrat took the district was in 2010.
Enter Politico, which on Wednesday compiled a lengthy string of samples from Greene’s Facebook videos (this lady talks a lot), which they represented as follows:
The candidate, Marjorie Taylor Greene, suggested that Muslims do not belong in government; thinks black people “are held slaves to the Democratic Party”; called George Soros, a Jewish Democratic megadonor, a Nazi; and said she would feel “proud” to see a Confederate monument if she were black because it symbolizes progress made since the Civil War.
Yours truly sat down and watched the entire 9+ minutes of the Politico video, and while I admit that I have not researched Greene’s full body of comments online (life is just too short), based strictly on this video I must say that I disagreed with some (she is wrong on Muslims being sworn in on a Koran); kind of understood her point on some (I don’t think black Americans looking at confederate statues should be filled with pride at how far we’ve gone, but I’m also not crazy about toppling statues in parks); and agreed with her on the excesses of the latest BLM fads (I mean, come on). I really paid attention but did not hear even a smidgen of anti-Semitism from her – and comparing George Soros to the Nazis may be a stretch (he succeeded in toppling the British economy, while the Nazis’ success on that front was limited – but seriously, Soros is NOT a Nazi), but saying he is does not make you an anti-Semite.
I found this anti George Soros meme on her Facebook page. It does not strike me as being anti-Semitic. She just really, really hates the man:
So, before we continue, I urge you, watch the video which, I expect, was the very worst that Politico could have dug up on the candidate, and please sit through her anti-Muslim diatribe, she then gets more rational and when she starts defending white men in America, she does it with sincerity and entirely without anger, which I must say I found endearing (as usual in these cases, I must warn you that the candidate uses the A-word a couple times, nothing worse than that, but if that could offend you, don’t click):
Greene’s other sin, according to Politico and others, is her belief in the QAnon conspiracy theory—promoted by one Donald J. Trump, among others—about the deep state which is fighting to unseat the President of the United States. I for one believe that conspiracy theories are a wonderful expression of hope and trust in the capabilities of human beings everywhere, seeing as, in order to be real, they require a level of cooperation and esprit de corp on the part of numerous human beings the likes of which I have never seen in my lifetime.
And there was this: in the Politico video, Greene rejects the BLM outcry about systemic racism in America, a point I believe close to 100% of conservatives share (I don’t, incidentally, I think America has a long way to go before it sheds its unequal treatment of its black citizens – but I’m not sure mass looting helps steer it in that direction). Towards the end of the video, Greene says: “Guess what? Slavery is over. Black people have equal rights.”
It appears GOP bigwigs don’t share my forgiving, jovial attitude. Drew Florio, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), told politico: “These comments are appalling, and Leader McCarthy has no tolerance for them.”
And House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said: “The comments made by Ms. Greene are disgusting and don’t reflect the values of equality and decency that make our country great. I will be supporting Dr. Cowan.”
Cowan, a physician, won 21% of the vote in the June 9 primary.
A spokesman for Representative Liz Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican, said: “Obviously, Representative Cheney opposes these offensive and bigoted comments.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee’s chairman, Representative Tom Emmer, said, according to a spokesperson, that he is “personally disgusted by this rhetoric and condemns it in the strongest possible terms.”
Marjorie Greene shot back: “Every Republican, every Christian Conservative is going to be called a racist and a bigot by the Fake News Media, as have Steve Scalise and Liz Cheney. I’m sorry my future colleagues are unable to stand up to the pressure and fight back.”
Give ’em hell, Marjorie, I may not agree with you on a lot of things but I didn’t find your comments to be offensive. And now – the hate mail!