This went down exactly as predicted, along strict tribal lines. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney were the only two Republicans who voted to censure Paul Gosar for his violent anime depicting the cartoon death of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) voted “present.” Sounds like Joyce may actually have a conscience, he’s just afraid to vote it. The Hill:

In an extraordinary scene, Gosar was forced to stand in the center of the House floor as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) read aloud the resolution that made him just the 24th lawmaker in the chamber’s more than 200-year history to be censured. […]

Gosar will also be removed from the House Oversight and Reform Committee, where he has served with Ocasio-Cortez, as well as the House Natural Resources Committee.

Democratic leaders had previously held off on allowing votes on resolutions to censure several other Republicans this year, primarily for promoting former President Trump’s false claims of 2020 election fraud or downplaying the severity of the violent Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

But they ultimately decided that the photoshopped anime video posted by Gosar last week, which portrayed him killing Ocasio-Cortez and swinging swords at Biden, went too far at a time when members of Congress face unprecedented levels of violent threats.

Ocasio-Cortez urged her colleagues in an impassioned House floor speech ahead of the vote to make clear that they won’t tolerate any lawmaker promoting depictions of political violence.

“What is so hard about saying that this is wrong? This is not about me. This is not about Rep. Gosar. But this is about what we are willing to accept,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

That’s exactly right. What is acceptable and what is unacceptable? The first day this whacky story broke it was immediately noted by one and all that Gosar’s behavior would not be tolerated in any office, restaurant, factory, any kind of normal workplace in America. It should not be laughed off or trivialized and it shouldn’t be allowed in the halls of Congress.

Good for the House in taking a stand today, although the tribal split is still most concerning. But nowadays that’s a feature, not a bug. And you can’t blame a lot of Republicans for not wanting to take a stand on a personality issue like this, when 13 of them are getting nasty calls and threats of physical violence for voting on the infrastructure bill.

This is the price we pay in this country for having dual narratives of reality and it is a steep one.

Oh well, I guess Paul Gosar will have to confine his video production to vanity projects imitating his idol Vladimir Putin.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. I understand that having to stand in the well when being censured is required by the rules.

    Good that Gosar is having to face the music, bad that he isn’t going to learn from the experience.

    • I agree, that he would do this spits in the face of every member of Congress, the public at large and crosses so many lines to be infinitely dangerous and offensive as hell …

      He has shown no respect for the laws of the land or the courteous process that is supposed to prevail in everything committee meetings and hallway encounters …

      His actions speak loudly to support violence to AOC and at the same time infantile actions from a sitting Congress person …

      His continued actions are just another trip wire in the Republican forest of delays and progress divisions …

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