Forget about reconciliation. If it’s something you seek, look in the dictionary between reason and riot. You won’t find it in Congress, in any measure. Here is the statement that Ilhan Omar issued today after a telephone call from Lauren Boebart went off the rails, just as many predicted it would.
And here is Boebert’s response, exactly what you would expect.
Lauren Boebert said when she spoke to Rep. Omar today, Omar hung up on her after Boebert demanded she apologize to her. pic.twitter.com/EOCPonTb7I
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 29, 2021
A think the only lesson she learned is that MAGA’s aren’t supposed to apologize no matter what they do. Second half of her statement. https://t.co/kl7apThVYn
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 29, 2021
The problem here is that this makes the situation messier than it was. Here’s an analysis from Politico Playbook:
IS AN APOLOGY ENOUGH? — The drama surrounding Rep. LAUREN BOEBERT’s (R-Colo.) Islamophobic comments about Rep. ILHAN OMAR (D-Minn.) is about to heat up as lawmakers return from Thanksgiving recess this week. Sources tell us a faction of Democrats is expected to push leadership to strip Boebert of her committee assignments or censure her after she joked about Omar, who is Muslim, being safe to ride with in an elevator because she wasn’t wearing a backpack.
This is a messier situation for Democrats than their previous moves to punish Reps. PAUL GOSAR (R-Ariz.) and MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) in similar fashion. Unlike those two, Boebert issued a public apology and reached out to Omar’s office to try to speak with her. House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY even tried to play peacemaker, calling House Majority Leader STENY HOYER personally this weekend and asking him to help facilitate a meeting between the two women.
Some Democrats — particularly allies of Omar — don’t see Boebert’s apology as authentic. Omar’s office would not say whether she will take Boebert up on her offer to meet. But other Democrats privately worry that if they punish a lawmaker who admits a mistake and tries to make amends, they’ll be setting themselves up for similar treatment — or worse — under a future GOP majority.
The situation highlights the slippery slope Democrats created when they removed MTG from her committees over comments she made before entering Congress. Where do Democrats draw the line? If Democrats don’t lower the boom on Boebert, what message would it send to the Muslim community? But if they do, what message does that send to those who apologize for saying something wrong?
Republicans have their own divide to navigate. Greene took to Twitter to tweak Boebert over her apology, writing that “the Jihad squad are undeserving” of one. The apparent split — the two were thought to be friendly before this — could complicate McCarthy’s effort to calm the waters. Watch Boebert’s rhetoric this week, too. We’ll soon find out how sincere her apology was, particularly if she maintains her current posture amid Greene’s criticism.
This is a first class mess. All that has happened here is that the culture war has just gone nuclear. Get your hazmat suit and helmet out, you’re going to need it.
Dealing with narcissists is just like this. They do NOTHING wrong – ever and it’s actually the victim of their words or deeds they expect to apologize. Been there, done that with narcissistic mother, who is thankfully dead.
“Unlike those two, Boebert issued a public apology and reached out to Omar’s office to try to speak with her.”
It wasn’t an apology. It was a no-pology – she apologized to Muslims who were offended by her bigotry, not to everyone else who was, and still doesn’t admit she was in the wrong.
Politico Playbook is dead wrong about Boebert’s “apology”. Reading their take on it, you’d think she actually said “I’m sorry I inferred you’re a terrorist.” Once again, trying to smooth over the cancerous racism of the GOP and make a Dem part of the problem. BS.
Um, wrong verb there or wrong subject/person there. One infers something from what someone else says. One implies something from what he or she says.
Boebert IMPLIED Omar was a terrorist. Omar INFERRED that Boebert called her a terrorist.
The quote you created there should’ve read either “I’m sorry I implied you were a terrorist” or “I’m sorry you inferred I said you were a terrorist.”
Boebert did not apologize. She kept the door open for further screeds.