Hot off the heels of the fire alarm fiasco (Rep. Bowman pulled the fire alarm in a Congressional office building when the House was down to the wire voting on a spending package), Rep. Jamaal Bowman appeared on the House floor to castigate his Republican colleagues for their attacks on hyper-progressive “Squad” member Rashida Tlaib.
Beginning, Rep. Bowman attacked the GOP for not having enough diversity, raising his voice as he got going. “This body needs empathy and compassion for all people, not just people that look like the majority of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. And maybe because of your lack of diversity, you lack the cognitive and emotional ability to recognize diverse opinions when they speak truth to power,” Bowman thundered.
He continued on the diversity track, yelling, “And you absolutely need to open up your mind to other people and other experiences, especially when they are Muslim and when they are women and when they are people of color.“
Then, though informed that his time was up. Rep. Bowman exclaimed, “You had a member of your party call my colleague a terrorist and you didn’t censor her [sic]! But we are having this conversation now about your interpretation of words!”
Watch Rep. Bowman here:
“Without her voice, we would lack even more empathy for the people of Palestine…Maybe because of your lack of diversity, you lack the cognitive & emotional ability to recognize diverse opinions.”
— Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) rips resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) pic.twitter.com/hR13MwOU1S
— The Recount (@therecount) November 7, 2023
Rep. Bowman’s fiery speech came as the House debated whether or not to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib over her comments on Israel, Palestine, and the war between Hamas and Israel. The censorship resolution introduced by Rep. MTG had failed to garner enough votes, but another was introduced by Rep. McCormick. It was the resolution that the House was debating.
In the resolution, Rep. McCormick moves to censure Rep. Tlaib for “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.” The false narrative that most outraged Republican was her promulgation of the claim that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza that Israel argues was actually hit by a faulty Islamic Jihad-launched rocket.
Speaking on the House floor in support of his censureship resolution, Rep. McCormick said, “It is a sad fact, but this type of anti-semitic hate is being promoted by a small group of members in this body, chiefly Rep. Tlaib. We must hold her accountable.” McCormick’s motion to censure Tlaib succeeded in a 234-188, with just enough Democrats jumping ship and voting with Republicans to censure Tlaib over her comments,
The “terrorist” comment to which Rep. Bowman referred in his speech was likely when Rep. Boebert made a joke about Rep. Ilhan Omar, saying, “So the other night on the House floor was not my first jihad squad moment. So I was getting into an elevator with one of my staffers. And he and I are – we’re leaving the Capitol. We’re going back to my office and we get in the elevator, and I see a Capitol Police officer running hurriedly to the elevator.”
She continued, “I see fret all over his face, and he’s reaching… The door’s shutting, like I can’t – I can’t open it – like, what’s happening? I look to my left, and there she is. Ilhan Omar. I said, ‘Well she doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine.’”
Over the Thanksgiving break, Lauren Boebert said she was recently in a Capitol elevator with Ilhan Omar when a fretful Capitol police officer ran up.
Lauren Boebert said: “Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine.”
Boebert then called Ilhan Omar, “jihad squad.” pic.twitter.com/Y7f0nFbnud
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) November 25, 2021
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