Patterico's Pontifications

3/7/2019

Democrats Unraveling: James Clyburn’s Unbecoming Contortions To Defend Rep. Omar’s Anti-Semitism

Filed under: General — Dana @ 10:35 am



[guest post by Dana]

In the ongoing unraveling that is the current Democrat party, Rep. Omar and her bigoted comments continue to be a wedge in the party of inclusiveness. A mere three weeks ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned Rep. Omar’s anti-Semitic tweets, saying:

“Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive,” said Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and other party leaders in a statement. “We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.“

[…]

Pelosi said in a tweet that Monday that she had talked with Omar and the two of them “agreed that we must use this moment to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms.“

As a result of the rebuke, Omar was compelled to apologize for her comments.

However, after disastrous efforts to draft a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, which resulted in a hard pushback from members of the more progressive wing of the party , Pelosi is now shamefully attempting to rationalize Omar’s anti-Semitism:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says freshman Democrat Ilhan Omar didn’t realize her words about Israel would sound anti-Semitic to some powerful members of Congress.

Omar’s comment that a pledge of “allegiance” to the Jewish state is expected of lawmakers sparked enough outrage to split Democrats and throw their agenda into question. Some Democrats wanted a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, while others said that would have unfairly singled out the Minnesota Democrat.

Pelosi told reporters the resolution the House will vote on Thursday will “speak out against anti-Semitism, anti-Islamophobia, anti-white supremacy and all the forms that it takes.”

Of Omar, Pelosi said, “I do not believe she understood the full weight of her words. These words have a history and a cultural impact.”

If she truly believes this, then why did she feel compelled to meet privately with Omar about the tweets, and then proceed to publicly condemn them? And if Omar is as clueless as Pelosi claims, why put her on the Foreign Affairs Committee? How does that even make a little bit of sense?

Anyway, this morning in yet another desperate attempt to defend Omar, House Minority Whip James Clyburn demonstrated just how low the Democrats are willing to go to defend an anti-Semite in their midst by asserting that Omar’s life experience was “more personal” than Jews whose parents and relatives survived the Holocaust:

Clyburn came to Omar’s defense Wednesday, lamenting that many of the media reports surrounding the recent controversy have omitted mentioning that Omar, who was born in Somalia, had to flee the country to escape violence and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp before coming to the United States.

Her experience, Clyburn argued, is much more empirical — and powerful — than that of people who are generations removed from the Holocaust, Japanese internment camps during World War II and the other violent episodes that have marked history.

“I’m serious about that. There are people who tell me, ‘Well, my parents are Holocaust survivors.’ ‘My parents did this.’ It’s more personal with her,” Clyburn said. “I’ve talked to her, and I can tell you she is living through a lot of pain.”

First, it’s embarrassingly dishonest to equate the violence of the Holocaust with the Japanese internment camps. Second, for Clyburn to be logically consistent, then he should have also included slavery as well, because how long ago did that end??

It’s sad and telling that Phillip Klein was compelled to inform a tone-deaf, partisan-at-all-costs Clyburn why his comments are so offensive – and dangerous:

Remembering the Holocaust, and the oft repeated phrase “Never Again,” is about making sure we’re proactive about combating anti-Semitism before it manifests in ways that lead to mass slaughter.

Apparently Clyburn is unaware that there are an estimated (a/o 2016) “100,000 Jews who were in camps, ghettos and in hiding under Nazi occupation…still alive today.” It’s mind-boggling that anti-Semitism cannot be condemned by the Democratic party. Clyburn’s contorted efforts to defend Omar are not doing her (or their party) any favors. If anything, his absurd defense of her reminds us of what a narrow-minded and bigoted a group the Democrats have become. This, of course, while instructing the rest of us how we should live. Both parties should strive to be equal-opportunity condemners of hate. And both parties should be more than willing demand that their adult members be treated as adults, rather than defend them as clueless children. This isn’t hard, or at least it shouldn’t be.

Clyburn then went on to say that of course Omar will not be named in the new resolution because there are far more influential and powerful bigots to contend with rather than a sitting member of Congress, who also happens to be on the Foreign Affairs Committee:

“She won’t be targeted. We’re going to target those people who had her picture on the Twin Towers,” he continued. “This resolution is going to be inclusive, it’s going to be expansive, and I might just try to add something to deal with that billboard that’s up in Pennsylvania this morning calling John Lewis and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus racists.”

So a sitting member of Congress who has announced her anti-Semitic views to the world will not be targeted, but a private citizen will? Yep, sounds like politics as usual. While the billboard is obviously anything but a conversation starter about race (as its owner claims), the urge of Leviathan to exert its pervasive power over the powerless while ignoring the powerful, cannot and should not be underestimated.

Last night, I made this observation: It’s interesting to note that Nancy Pelosi doesn’t seem to have as much control over her people as we were lead to believe. The very progressive faction of the party seems to have gained traction since being elected, and it makes me wonder if the old guard is going to be constantly rolling over in a last ditch effort to remain relevant within the party? Apparently the answer is, yes, they will.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

66 Responses to “Democrats Unraveling: James Clyburn’s Unbecoming Contortions To Defend Rep. Omar’s Anti-Semitism”

  1. Mind Boggled.

    Dana (023079) — 3/7/2019 @ 10:37 am

  2. https://twitter.com/DraftRyan2016/status/1103688982607605762

    Colonel Haiku (e2ff85) — 3/7/2019 @ 11:10 am

  3. Any mimute now:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1103705019650465792?p=v

    narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2019 @ 11:25 am

  4. This is like the Superman refusing to cover the south side of Chicago meme:

    http://fox8.com/2019/03/07/ohio-u-s-sen-sherrod-brown-announces-he-will-not-run-for-president-in-2020/

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 3/7/2019 @ 11:45 am

  5. Unraveling.

    ROFLMAOPIP.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/7/2019 @ 11:51 am

  6. They e gone full corbyn

    narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2019 @ 11:56 am

  7. democrat base has had it with leadership who brought democrats 2016 disaster. base supports 2018 young democrats. tells clyburn pelosi et.al. stay out of are way if you want to keep your positions in the party. you conservatives got your wish and discredited democrat leadership as phony hippocrite limousine liberals in 2016 now democrat base agrees with you and is replacing them with leftys who are not corporate establishment stooges. see if you like ocasio-cortez. talib and omar better!

    lany (0d05b0) — 3/7/2019 @ 12:33 pm

  8. you see they get you to denounce steve king, and then they laugh in your face,

    http://thefederalist.com/2019/03/07/labour-partys-response-anti-semitism-accusations-appears-confirm/

    narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2019 @ 12:49 pm

  9. @8. Steve King ‘denounced’ himself w/his own vote.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/7/2019 @ 12:55 pm

  10. They hate them some joos! They can’t help themselves.

    Colonel Haiku (e2ff85) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:14 pm

  11. like Strangelove’s salute, coronello,

    narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:19 pm

  12. @10. No. ‘they’ can’t: it’s those gosh-darned ‘Noo-Yawk-Values.’

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:26 pm

  13. They can’t be straightforward about who they really are, or what they represent, so Democrats pose and posture as something/somebody else. Until AOC. She, Omar and Tlabia are at least honest enough to forego the veneer of sanity…

    Colonel Haiku (e2ff85) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:27 pm

  14. they are being crystal clear, like the british labour party or the French socialists, who ignored the death of ilan halimi in the previous election,

    narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:31 pm

  15. The veneer of sanity: Newt Gingrich.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:33 pm

  16. The veneer of sanity: President Philip Francis Queeg.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:44 pm

  17. adid Jews do anything to Ilahn Omar?

    Or wasn’t it more like a certain kind of Moslem?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilhan_Omar

    Her grandfather, Abukar, was the director of Somalia’s National Marine Transport, with her uncles and aunts also working as civil servants and educators.[8] After the start of Somali Civil War in 1991, she and her family fled the country and spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya.[11]

    If she had any contact with JJews, it would be people who helped her.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:44 pm

  18. There was a dictatrship that switched sides in 1977. And stopped supprtoing terroissm.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:45 pm

  19. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zhG1was32b4/maxresdefault.jpg

    Colonel Haiku (e2ff85) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:50 pm

  20. My apologies for throwing a scare into anyone with that pic.

    Colonel Haiku (e2ff85) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:51 pm

  21. This is really very simple.

    They can only condemn hatred and prejudice where it doesn’t have a constituency.

    That’s not only true for Democrats, it’s true for any people who engage in moral posturing and virtue signaling.

    Even the Pope (pretty much any Pope, usually) watches his words.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:54 pm

  22. Will teh Democrats disavow the racists in their midst?!?!

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D1EuWJyWoAAAkDH?format=jpg&name=900×900

    Colonel Haiku (e2ff85) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:55 pm

  23. Everybody is against Hitler, now that Hitler is dead. They weren’t so reasdy to condemn him in 1939. Lots of people were, but still not the same.

    Where Jew haters are active, and can push back, things are not the same.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 3/7/2019 @ 1:57 pm

  24. Ilhan the Anti-Semite is digging the hole deeper for herself.

    Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal hit a snag when it lost the support of another freshman representative, Ilhan Omar. Omar had been an enthusiastic supporter of the Green New Deal and wanted to save the earth, but then she noticed something very disturbing when looking at a map of the earth: Earth is the planet on which Israel resides.

    Paul Montagu (dbf0dc) — 3/7/2019 @ 2:06 pm

  25. Democrats won’t even accuse Trump of hatred – at least of the correct kind.

    They try to turn it into racism. (and usually don’t point out the alleged racist statements, or point out otehr thinsg that what’s really ther problem)

    Trump at CPAC:

    And all the nonsense you hear about “the people that come in illegally are far better than the people we have” — it’s not true, folks. Okay? It’s false. It’s false propaganda. Right? One recent study from FAIR — F-A-I-R — found that illegal aliens are incarcerated at three times the rate of legal residents. Just ask the Angel Moms how good are there. Those great Angel Moms who were treated so badly — so badly. Incredible people. But the simple reality is that every crime committed by an illegal immigrant is a crime that should never have happened in the first place. The border crisis is also a heartbreaking humanitarian tragedy…

    with this Angel Mom business he’s asserting the moral equivalent of racism. Not racism – the moral equivalent. This distinction is important. (Now I think he may be making adistinction between people who cross the border illegally and all other people from that country, but this is without any basis in fact.)

    The Democrasts won’t even take that on, even if it’s their chief political opponent, Donald Trump saying things. Anything on that line must be called racism, if it is called anything, even though it’s not.

    And with Steve King they had to find a racist statement. All the things he said against the category of illegal immigrants, they ignored. Well there it wss Republicans, who did something, but only after Democrats criticized him.

    More:

    ….But in those caravans you have stone-cold killers. You had the interview done by some innocent person who I think is actually back there now. “And what is it that you want asylum for? Why are you coming to America?” “Uh, murder.” She goes, “What?” “Murder.” I mean, what’s going on is incredible. And when those caravans are formed, do you think those countries that we used to give a lot of money to — I’ve cut it way back. I’ve cut it way back. Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. Do you think they’re giving us, as we say, their best and their finest? “Oh, let’s send our best people up to America. Let’s have our best people go in the caravan so we can give America our greatest people.” No, no, no, no. They give us some very bad people. People with big, long crime records. People with tremendous violence in their past. Murderers, killers, drug dealers, human traffickers. They want to keep their good people because they’re smart. It’s so sad to see how stupid we’ve been. Border Patrol recently reported apprehending 7,000 unlawful migrants in a single week on just one part of the Texas border, a couple of weeks ago. …

    Did you catch the bait and switch?

    Unlawful migrants suddenly = People with big, long crime records and with tremendous violence in their past.

    What a liar!

    And there’s a bunch of other absurdity in what he said there. Someone asked for asylum, and expected to get it, because they committed murder? Did you notice also that he seemed to imply that the humanitarisn crisis at the border was that of migrants killing American citizens, although he didn’t folow up on that?

    But Donald Trump has a constituency for that. talk radio. So no resolutions in Congress about that.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 3/7/2019 @ 2:14 pm

  26. https://www.foxnews.com/us/how-rep-ilhan-omars-minnesota-district-became-the-terrorist-recruitment-capital-of-the-us-officials-highly-concerned

    Colonel Haiku (e2ff85) — 3/7/2019 @ 2:47 pm

  27. I wonder if the Democrats could dig themselves a hole deep enough that the media would ever balk at feverishly digging them out of.

    Munroe (e61fc0) — 3/7/2019 @ 3:28 pm

  28. Well about that:

    https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2019/03/raped-on-way-to-usa.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR2erddO9RtE7jY54lekdHthxF9vuhjUQ1nwZaqWiQuGfXyXbVm6F5yaa2U&m=1

    Narciso (2626ce) — 3/7/2019 @ 3:34 pm

  29. The veneer of sanity: Fox News.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/7/2019 @ 3:39 pm

  30. Dana, I have a thought experiment. What if “none of the above” was on the ballot?

    What I see, over and over again, no matter what political group is involved: we must vote for X because Y is so much worse.

    Simon Jester (c8876d) — 3/7/2019 @ 3:48 pm

  31. @ShimonPro Judge tells the courtroom that Manafort is not being sentenced for anything related to the Special Counsel’s investigation into Russian interference. Ellis said “He is not before the court for anything having to do with colluding with the Russian government”
    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10216254106937409&id=1595044785&anchor_composer=false

    Narciso (2626ce) — 3/7/2019 @ 3:48 pm

  32. Oh, theres that:

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/07/nadler-campaign-consultant-russia/

    Narciso (2626ce) — 3/7/2019 @ 3:53 pm

  33. It’s like with the Tories and labour, you can vote independence/Brexit or liberal Democrat

    Narciso (2626ce) — 3/7/2019 @ 3:58 pm

  34. 4 years bank fraud

    Colonel Haiku (e2ff85) — 3/7/2019 @ 4:01 pm

  35. None of the above… given the current state of affairs, the default would be the Democrat.

    Colonel Haiku (e2ff85) — 3/7/2019 @ 4:02 pm

  36. Manafort facing 19 years: get 47 months.

    And Putin smiled…

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/7/2019 @ 4:06 pm

  37. And podesta gets no jail nor Greg Craig what a country!
    ,

    narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2019 @ 4:12 pm

  38. “Justice.” What. A. Show. Catch ’em… if you can:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1hDabZZv9c

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/7/2019 @ 4:25 pm

  39. https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Laurie-Cardoza-Moore-claims-Ilhan-Omar-may-have-ties-to-Muslim-Brotherhood-582728

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 3/7/2019 @ 4:44 pm

  40. New democrat recruit David Duke backs the moo slum hack 100%

    mg (8cbc69) — 3/7/2019 @ 4:46 pm

  41. In other news:
    https://mobile.twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1103708120721883136

    Narciso (766551) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:01 pm

  42. So instead of naming the bigot Omar and specifics, the resolution attacks America and the American people, while providing cover to Omar. That’s the Contemporary Democrat for you.

    And we await the SDNY moving on Ocasio-Cortez and her CoS for their FEC violations and financial fraud…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:11 pm

  43. Hey… stranger things have happened…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:13 pm

  44. If they let berman prosecute and not hand it over to khuzaimi

    Narciso (766551) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:14 pm

  45. “I don’t think Democrats much care if they lose the Jewish vote, because the number of Jews in the US is small and highly concentrated in places that are and will remain Democratic enclaves even without the Jewish vote. Plus, many Jews today are secular and have replaced any allegiance to Judaism with an allegiance to leftism, so perhaps this won’t even alienate them. I also believe that most of the Jewish donors to the Democratic Party are probably more of that latter frame of mind, and therefore perhaps the calculation is that the party can afford that, too—although I would imagine some of the leaders of the party (Pelosi and Schumer) are none too happy about the possibility of the loss of support.”

    https://www.thenewneo.com/2019/03/06/anti-semitism-its-all-the-rage/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:16 pm

  46. Out: Russian collusion and other Democrat fever dreams

    In: Hate teh Joos!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:19 pm

  47. Grave consequences; Ellis was a Reagan appointee.

    And Putin smiled…

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:20 pm

  48. Re the earlier indictment:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1103708120721883136

    Narciso (766551) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:24 pm

  49. Sorry got stuck in the queue:

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1096175127434313734.html

    Narciso (766551) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:28 pm

  50. New Democrat recruit David Duke coming to the aid of Omar makes Putin smile.

    mg (8cbc69) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:38 pm

  51. Doesn’t it though, hes a throwaway like zhirinovsky, who was a false flag for the kgb

    Narciso (766551) — 3/7/2019 @ 5:54 pm

  52. Kimberley Strassel
    @KimStrassel
    So just to be clear: A Somali-American Democrat engages in repeated anti-Semitism, and Democrats pass a resolution that condemns “white supremacists” (and gets in a reference to Charlottesville).

    An Effing clown 🤡 show

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/7/2019 @ 6:17 pm

  53. Alex VanNess
    @thealexvanness
    So far, 2019 has been pretty lit for Democrats:

    • David Duke & the Nation of Islam both came out to support the rhetoric of Rep. Ilhan Omar

    • House Dems are unable to put together a simple resolution condemning antisemitism

    • Ralph Northam is still Governor of Virginia

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/7/2019 @ 6:19 pm

  54. Primis: The KKK have always been Democrats.
    Secundus: The neo-Nazis have been trying to ally themselves with black anti-Semites against the Jews since at least the ’70s.
    Tertius: David Duke is a piece of dogsh!t which should have been hosed off the American sidewalk a long time ago.

    nk (dbc370) — 3/7/2019 @ 6:24 pm

  55. The two minute hate against Steve king was an abject lesson, the Omar episode is another it must remain ephemeral, you cant polarize her just as you really cant go after the other broke girl for her ethical transgressions keep beating yourselves up and morale will improve

    Narciso (766551) — 3/7/2019 @ 6:35 pm

  56. https://mobile.twitter.com/BigAL_LEWIS/status/1103779393955131399/photo/1

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/7/2019 @ 6:43 pm

  57. When you are pretty much DOA in Rustland (also see my post at about #6 or #7), you are aiming for a “triple bank shot in pool” Southern alliance.

    urbanleftbehind (f7c8ad) — 3/7/2019 @ 7:11 pm

  58. There’s a big difference between people who were in Holocaust Concentration Camps and people in refugee Camps. In a concentration camp you’re not allowed to leave. In a refugee camp, you can leave when you want, which is what Ilhan Omar’s parents did.

    “Wooooooooow Clyburn tells *Holocaust survivors* to check their privilege.

    Would appreciate if Democrats, in the process of endorsing rancid antisemitism, would refrain from also spitting on my relatives’ graves.”

    — Seth Mandel

    Me too.

    Will we soon hear Ilhan Omar condemn David Duke as the MSM required Trump or is she now a White Supremacist because David Duke supports her views?

    Can anyone point to a current Representative of Congress who has made an Islamaphobic statement? Two current representatives of Congress that have made Anti-Semitic comments. If there has not been any Islamaphobic comments, why condemn nonexistent comments? The only reason I can think of this is because they are protecting their own.

    Tanny O'Haley (8a06bc) — 3/7/2019 @ 7:11 pm

  59. I think the people who accuse others of Islamophobia would interpret accusations of connections to terrorism as Islamophobia.

    Regardless of whether that night be true or not.

    It’s as if any accusations of connections to the KKK, why ipso facto, anti-southern.

    Sammy Finkelman (b0ece0) — 3/7/2019 @ 7:49 pm

  60. Omar/Duke/2020

    mg (8cbc69) — 3/7/2019 @ 8:34 pm

  61. Can anyone point to a current Representative of Congress who has made an Islamaphobic statement?

    Presumably they had Rep King of Iowa in mind.

    Kishnevi (51ad16) — 3/7/2019 @ 8:35 pm

  62. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/us/politics/steve-king-offensive-quotes.html

    I don’t see many of those things as racist. I believe English should be the language of the United States. I believe we should have a wall or fence at the border. Some of the things and associations are cringe worthy. However are we guilty by the people we associate with? For instance One of my best friends is a hard lefty. Does that make me a lefty?. The only thing that I saw that could be Islamaphobic was that he didn’t want people working in a meat factory that wouldn’t eat the meat, which kind of makes sense. Especially if they believe it’s a sin to eat that kind of meat which is pork.

    So we have king. Many of the statesments he’s made have been made by Mark Steyn. Anyone else?

    Tanny O'Haley (8a06bc) — 3/7/2019 @ 9:40 pm

  63. And mark steyn said as much, under so called human rights tribunals like chretien had in Canada king would be up a canal without a canoe

    Narciso (766551) — 3/7/2019 @ 9:52 pm

  64. Sorry about that:
    https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/05/14/eric-greitens-missouri-charges-dropped/

    Narciso (8816df) — 3/8/2019 @ 5:30 am

  65. “very progressive” ??

    Try “Hard Left” or “Extremist” or “Marxist”

    Kevin M (21ca15) — 3/8/2019 @ 9:09 am

  66. https://www.nationalreview.com/g-file/the-aristocracy-of-victimhood

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 3/8/2019 @ 1:32 pm


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