When I started writing this, the U.S. House of Representatives was voting on a resolution to strip Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments.
Never has an elected official been more deserving of such a significant punishment for what she has said and what she has suggested should befall members of the opposing party.
We’ve all witnessed her nuttiness — like endorsing the murder of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and asserting that “none of the school shootings were real.”
Now it’s time to pay the piper.
The star of today’s debate in the House was House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. He held up a poster-board image of Greene wearing aviator-style sunglasses and holding an assault rifle pointed in the direction of Democratic representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
The caption on the image, which Greene posted on Facebook during her election campaign last fall, is “Squad’s Worst Nightmare.” (The “squad” consists of the most progressive members of the Democratic majority.)
Not only did Hoyer display the poster board, he carried it from the Democratic side of the House chamber to the Republican side and held it aloft for them to see up close.
It was an extremely powerful minute, and it rendered the Republican allegations of a Democratic “power grab” anemic.
A few hours earlier, Greene took to the House floor and made an inauthentic and unrepentent attempt to mop up her mess.
Among other things, she said: “I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true, and I would ask questions about them and talk about them, and that is absolutely what I regret.”
Allowed to believe things?
When someone uses the passive voice when trying to rationalize speech or action, it is never genuine.
But she couldn’t bring herself to apologize — an act which might have spared her the thrashing she was getting.
And like many conservative foot soldiers do these days, she blamed “the media.”
“Big media companies can take teeny, tiny pieces of words that I’ve said, that you have said, any of us, and can portray us as someone that we’re not, and that is wrong.”
Someone she’s not?
Hell, the things she has said are at the core of her being; they reflect utter hatred and a lack of concern for any fellow human beings.
As you know, even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had to draw the line at Greene, saying she was a “cancer” on the Republican Party and was guilty of spreading “loony lies.”
At the same time, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California didn’t have the courage to denounce Greene and recommend his colleagues strip Greene of her committee memberships. Which prompted this assessment from Michelle Cottelle, a New York Times editorial board member…
Like Mr. McConnell, Mr. McCarthy is a political creature. He has few, if any, discernible values beyond his own ambitions. Unlike Mr. McConnell, Mr. McCarthy is weak and worries too much about being liked. He has neither the vision nor the stomach to play the long game.
**
And now, as I finish this post, the vote is in: 230-199. Two hundred nineteen Democrats were joined by 11 Republicans in voting to remove Greene from the committees she was on.
Now she’ll have much more time to post her rot on Facebook.
And Kevin McCarthy? This could be the death knell for his star turn as political leader.
Like many of you, I watch with disbelief and some delight as the Republican house continues to crumble.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
It’s a shame every Republican member of the House from Kansas and Missouri voted in support of the QAnon supporting, conspiracy believer, racist, antisemitic congresswoman from Georgia. The Republicans were give an opportunity to clean their own house and failed. So the Democratic majority did its duty. I believe Greene will eventually force the Democratic majority to remove her from office. She has an innate tendency to self destruct.
Spoken like the principled Republican you have always been, Tom.
Follow Tom on Twitter.
Good comments by Tim Coleman, my former Congressman.
To me, a good question is if Greene will finish her term. It reads more and more that the Feds are going to use the RICO statutes (usually used for Mafia indictments) for the people involved the January 6 events. Some involved that day are reportedly starting to squeal about others to save themselves (again very Mafia like). As I have said before, I suspect a more than a few Republican Congress people will be caught in the net. The two Arizona Congressmen allegedly involved, Biggs and Gosar, are already defying Arizona law to release phone records etc. from that period claiming it will infringe on their 5th amendment rights. Sounds like some folks have things to hide. The way Greene runs her mouth I suspect she is up to her neck in it. Since Mitch McConnell is part of the Gang of 8 in Congress who gets the top secret security briefs, he may already know all of this (which is why he called her out yesterday) and knows the hammer is coming.
To see how serious this is and the incitement that day by the Trump folks, there is a new article out on JustSecurity called Movie at the Ellipse: A Study in Fascist Propaganda. It is written by an expert who studies fascism.
https://www.justsecurity.org/74504/movie-at-the-ellipse-a-study-in-fascist-propaganda/
This movie was shown at Trump’s rally prior to the storming of the capital.
Greene’s comments the past few years fit right into this.
MTG is a total sociopath in the mold of Trump, and Karma and the woke majority will soon take care of her. The real story is McCarthy and what is left of the Republican Party. Talk about a vacuum of leadership! McCarthy showed his immaturity and lack of any leadership skills by avoiding conflict vs. dealing with the real problem.
The issue is never the issue. And the Republican Party is stick a fork in it done based on the votes today.
The problem here is that her constituents either knew who she was, or should have known (and if they didn’t dear journalist friend, whose fault is that) and they still voted for her, just like the Democrats in Wyandotte County voted for nutty Aaron Coleman.
She is not charged with any crimes, she is charged with saying controversial things many of her colleagues of both parties disagree with (11 Republicans voted to strip her of her assignments). And saying things that are unpopular is the essence of the First Amendment.
I can think of a dozen House Democrats who have either said things just as loony or even engaged in public corruption and criminal conduct (Alcee Hastings and Ilhan Omar take a bow) but I recognize that they recognize the beliefs of their constituents and wouldn’t dream of trying to deprive them of the right to represent those constituents in Congress.
And so I see this in the broader context of the fascism by proxy that is being used throughout society to silence our right to speak our minds. That most of the oxen being gored are, for the moment, on the right may make you happy now, but the pendulum has a habit of swinging both ways and Madame karma is still a bitch.
Fitz: “but I recognize that they recognize” should be “but I recognize that they represent” Would appreciate if you hired a copy editor.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent days. Unfortunately, she is not going to flame out. She thrives on negativity.
And, she thrives on censorship. Censorship is intrinsically evil. It never destroys ideas, subjecting them to the sunshine of open, honest debate is the only way to defeat them. Twitter and these other billionaire censors only creates martyrs and heroes.