It sure didn’t take long for this to blow sky high. In the past 18 hours or so we saw the draft of the resolution to censure Congressmembers Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. The language of it was alarming in the extreme. The January 6 Committee was accused of “persecuting” “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” Smashing windows, tazing and clubbing officers of the law and defecating on the marble floors of the Capitol is now legitimate political discourse, can you dig it? At least according to Mitt Romney’s niece.
If you read our piece here earlier, which quoted the New York Times and then went to commentary by conservative writers Charlie Sykes and Michael Gerson, who were both horrified by the language of the censure, the censure vote was vastly beyond that. It wasn’t just a slap on the wrist to two Republicans, it represented an entire paradigmatic policy shift from where the RNC stood on January 6, condemning the Capitol riot, to condemning the January 6 Committee, and embracing the riot.
A short while later Mike Pence told the Federalist Society that he didn’t have the power to overturn the election and he received warm applause — very nice for a guy who’s used to being booed by MAGAs.
Then, within a few hours of the censure vote and publication of the New York Times story, which included a quote by Mitt Romney disparaging the proceedings, Ronna McDaniel went bananas and tweeted this.
This story from the New York Times is completely false.
It’s not journalism, it’s the worst type of baseless political propaganda. pic.twitter.com/sdUwdIDykV
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) February 4, 2022
And this.
I have repeatedly condemned violence on both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, this committee has gone well beyond the scope of the events of that day.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) February 4, 2022
She has “repeatedly condemned violence on both sides of the aisle.” Umm…excuse me? How many Democrats were found wearing fur and horns and making caa caa on the floor that day?
And let’s get to the substance of her allegations against the New York Times. How is it completely false? It directly quotes the language of the resolution.
Republican National Committee: Killing police officers, attempting to murder elected officials and shitting inside the Capitol is "legitimate political discourse." https://t.co/bP4sEoeivM
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) February 4, 2022
Here’s a look at “Democrat-led persecution” for your convenient reference.
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel says January 6 committee is a 'Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse'pic.twitter.com/oiPwWAo3xF
— Duke (@JerryDu05198155) February 4, 2022
.@GOPChairwoman is discussing, among others, Kathy Berden, whose conduct wrt the fraudulent elector slates is under criminal investigation.
Ronna né Romney says fraudulently attempting to invalidate 2.8M votes is "legitimate political discourse." https://t.co/HeXoKZK3CW
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) February 4, 2022
Ronna said she pursued this censure vote because her nice little old lady friend who tried to invalidate my vote and the votes of 2.8M other Michiganders got a subpoena. Put the violence aside. This is about stealing 2.8M votes.https://t.co/1db8CmHbK7 https://t.co/XOHnRhni7H
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) February 4, 2022
To be clear, you're not calling the actual violent attack on the U.S. Capitol "legitimate political discourse" — you're just calling the preceding conspiracy to overturn the election, seize voting machines and execute a coup "legitimate political discourse."
MUCH better, Ronna! https://t.co/APTeZkMk90
— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) February 4, 2022
Let’s use Occam’s Razor for just a few seconds here. This is as simple as it is: David Bossie put one over on Ronna. She is too stupid and the meshes of her mind too coarse to have fully grasped exactly what the import of Bossie’s resolution was. She thought everything was fine once “expulsion” was changed to “censure.”
McDaniel is to the manor born. That’s the only reason she’s got the job she’s got. If these were times when the RNC chair was a simple sinecure position, McDaniel would be doing fine. It’s not. The RNC needs real leadership because the Republican party is in massive trouble
I think McDaniel will be tendering her resignation within the month. What say you?
“Poor dominos…your empire took so long to build. And with but a snap of history’s fingers…down it goes.”–Alan Moore, V For Vendetta (original comic)
I love that movie. I stumbled on it one night and it was one of those magical finds.
The movie is good but EXTREMELY different from the source material (barring a few straight lifts, such as Valerie’s postmortem story of her life, written on toilet paper). I encourage you to hunt down the Alan Moore/David Lloyd original collected series…won’t be hard to find.
You’re saying it’s a comic book, the original source? I stumbled on the movie, as I said, and I remember seeing a review that said that the movie was “better than the book.” Do you agree, since you’ve seen both?
Yes, I am saying it was originally a comic book, first serialized in Warrior Magazine in the UK before being collected and finished as a standalone at DC Comics. No, neither version is better than the other. As I said, it’s different. While the movie is steeped in the ugly political shenanigans of the 2000s by way of action movie conventions, the 1980s comic was more a comment on the UK under Thatcher using the plot of The Abominable Dr. Phibes as an initial springboard before going full John Le Carre. The latter is, in my opinion, very much worth checking out.
Now you’ve got me interested. I enjoyed the movie and have seen it several times. It’s one of those I’d gladly watch again every two or three years. I’d also like to note it’s nice to see someone else remembers Dr. Phibes. That’s one I haven’t seen in ages but would love to see again.
Why did she want this job, after seeing what Reince went thru during 2016 and beyond? She’s definitely giving Qevin a run for his money in the race to be the dumbest GQPer.
None of them had any idea what they were getting into when Trump came on the scene. I am really sure that David Bossie played her. She’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer and I think she’s finished now.
Abbie Hoffman wants to know why none are facing 10 years for crossing state lines to riot.
Perhaps the “judges” also consider them vacationeers….
Abbie knew the answer in 1968. That’s why he & others like him were beaten by the police & thrown into jail. No justice. No peace mutherfuckers.