Cicilline Enters Fact Checking Into Congressional Record To Combat GOP Lies, GOPers Come Unglued

Politics has always been a game of puffery to some extent. That’s part of the package. But outright mischaracterization and lies didn’t used to be that common. Richard Nixon, who along with Satan could reasonably be called the Father Of All Lies, used to demonize his opponents early on, calling them pinkos and commies, which were some real fighting words in his era.

Unfortunately, like so much of the awfulness that Nixon did back in the day, that level of smear looks quaint in comparison to what the GOP is doing today. There are actual lies being told on the House floor by members of the Republican caucus. For that reason, a Democrat, David Cicilline of Rhode Island, has had fact checking articles refuting the lies placed into the congressional record.

That such a thing is necessary is appalling and it says all that you need to know about the state of the GOP in this day and age. They are not a major political party any longer. They are a conglomerate of desperate freaks, each representing different fringe elements in the party. With rare exception, the intelligent conservatives have left the party or are soon to be purged — yes, Liz Cheney, we are thinking of you. What’s left of the GOP is a circus act. New Civil Rights Movement:

The Republican outrage was described as a “small political side circus,” after U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) succeeded in having several fact-checking articles exposing Republicans’ false claims made part of the Congressional Record.

The articles all debunked the false and baseless claims conservatives and the far right have been making for nearly a year, that Attorney General Merrick Garland called parents speaking at school boards “domestic terrorists,” and was investigating them. […]

Referring to Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Cicilline said that “the ranking member made reference to a Department of Justice whistleblower memo and grossly mischaracterized its content. So I’d ask unanimous consent that I’d be permitted to read the memo into the record.”

Here is a list of articles that Cicilline addressed.

“No, the federal government isn’t using the Patriot Act to treat parents like domestic terrorists,” which refutes a claim Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) made last year in October during another Judiciary Committee hearing.

“McCarthy’s false claims that Garland called parents ‘terrorists’” was the title of another article made part of the record.

“Attorney General never called concerned parents ‘domestic terrorists’” was yet another article.

“Kevin McCarthy keeps repeating false claim that attorney general called parents terrorists for wanting to attend school board meetings,” was the final article.

The reality here is simple: the GOP has no platform. It’s only pseudo-platform is lies and hyperbole. It’s trying to scare the populace into voting against terrors that don’t exist. This is the way that it has chosen to go to hang on. We have two countries and two narratives of reality going and it’s because the GOP wants it that way. If there is any enemy of the people, it’s the Republican party.