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'YOU called for Nancy Pelosi to be executed': GOP has to be reminded of dangerous climate it created [1]
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Date: 2022-10-30
x DANA BASH: Should Republicans do more to reject conspiracy theories and dangerous rhetoric?
RICK SCOTT: *immediately pivots to flirting with election conspiracy theories, doesn't answer the question* pic.twitter.com/zAEmSpiIz7 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 30, 2022
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene did even less to take responsibility for her part in spreading violent rhetoric. She tweeted on Friday: “Violence and crime are rampant in Joe Biden’s America. It shouldn’t happen to Paul Pelosi. It shouldn’t happen to innocent Americans. It shouldn’t happen to me."
Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern had to remind Greene that she called for Pelosi to be executed. "YOU said she should be hung for treason," McGovern tweeted, tagging Greene. "And now that someone listened, you're making Paul Pelosi's attack about YOU. This is what Republicans stand for, America. It’s sick."
x YOU called for Nancy Pelosi to be executed, @RepMTG.
YOU said she should be hung for treason.
And now that someone listened, you're making Paul Pelosi's attack about YOU.
This is what Republicans stand for, America. It’s sick.
https://t.co/Nrfbcj4eXI — Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) October 29, 2022
Though former President Barack Obama didn’t name names, he made a similar point when he spoke on Saturday at North Division High School in Milwaukee. He made the trek to Wisconsin to campaign for Democrats running in the state including Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul, who are up for reelection, and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
Obama said of Barnes, the first Black person to serve as Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor and the second Black person to hold statewide office, that he’s working to bring manufacturing jobs to Wisconsin and help small businesses compete against mega-corporations. He is the son of a third-shift auto worker and a public school teacher who grew up in one of Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods.
He’s "worked as an organizer, served as a state legislator, now lieutenant governor,” Obama said.
“If that's not a true-blooded Wisconsin American, I don't know what is," the former president added.
x Obama: I know that there are some folks who think, and I know his answer running this way, but just because Mandela's name is Mandela -- just because he is a Democrat with a funny name, he must not be like you. Mandela get ready to dig up that birth certificate pic.twitter.com/a9UWxrlA9q — Acyn (@Acyn) October 29, 2022
Still, it wasn’t lost on Obama that Barnes stands to face the same scrutiny that Obama did when he ran for president in 2008.
"Just because he's a Democrat with a funny name, he must not be like you. He must not share your values. We've seen this,” Obama said. “It sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it? So Mandela, get ready to dig up that birth certificate.”
The former president gave the warning using a lighthearted tone. He referred to the time in which former President Donald Trump demanded that Obama produce his birth certificate as the “good ole days,” when that was the “craziest thing the people said.”
Republican efforts to ostracize Democrats of color have since intensified following Trump’s open support of white supremacist hate groups.
Now, politicians are doing their best “deliberately to stir up division, to make us angry and afraid of each other just for their own advantage,” Obama said.
He called the attack on Paul Pelosi part of the aftermath, and Obama asked for a prayer for the 82-year-old. "Somebody breaks into his house looking for his wife, the speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, beats him with a hammer," Obama said. "Doctors fortunately believe that he's going to be okay, and we’ll let the investigators do their jobs.
“But I think one thing is clear, this habit that we've seen (...) of saying the worst about other people, demonizing people, that creates a dangerous climate.”
RELATED STORY: Obama is back! He destroyed the current crop of Republicans with some inconvenient truths.
x Obama on the Paul Pelosi attack: "One thing is clear. This habit that we see ... of saying the worst about other people, demonizing people, that creates a dangerous climate." pic.twitter.com/VIb2nDWjFM — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 29, 2022
Obama called for elected officials to do more “explicitly to reject this kind of over the top crazy rhetoric” and stop “tacitly supporting it” or “encouraging it.”
"If they're telling supporters, 'you got to stand outside of polling places armed with guns and dressed in tactical gear,' you know, that's the kind of thing that ends up getting people hurt," Obama said.
RELATED STORY: Arizona conspiracy cranks are staking out ballot boxes because they have no actual lives to live
He also reminded the audience that political issues haven’t always been strictly partisan. "It used to be that there were GOP members who championed progress and civil rights and rule of law, folks who were with me in the 2008 election," Obama said.
He talked about reaching all people regardless of party to discuss how they could collectively move the country forward. "So that's my instinct," Obama said. "I'm not somebody who believes that some party label defines us, but I have to speak the truth, which is these days just about every Republican politician seems obsessed with just two things—own the libs (...) and getting Donald Trump’s approval. That’s their agenda.”
When the crowd started to boo, Obama stopped them. “No, no, no, don’t boo,” he said. “Vote. Nobody can hear you boo outside this auditorium, but they’ll hear your vote.”
Obama went on to say that this current crop of Republican politicians isn't interested in solving problems. "They're interested in making you angry and then finding somebody to blame," he said. “And they're hoping that that will distract you from the fact that they don't have any answers of their own. That’s their obsession. That’s their formula.”
Obama said Evers is obsessed with growing the economy and providing a quality education for all students in the state while his opponent, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels, called increasing funding for public schools the "definition of insanity.”
x Obama on gerrymandering in Wisconsin: "Think about any other thing you do in life where 44 percent are on one side, 56 are on the other, and 44 wins. It don't make sense." pic.twitter.com/Cx1fUsRkAm — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 29, 2022
Obama also zeroed in on gerrymandering in the state Mother Jones called "the GOP’s Laboratory for Dismantling Democracy."
Journalist Ari Berman wrote in the article:
“If the redistricting maps drawn in secret by Republican staffers and passed by the GOP-controlled legislature in 2011 were unfair, the new maps adopted by Republicans in 2021, over Evers’ objections, are even more one-sided. As a result, the number of GOP-leaning seats in the state assembly has increased from 61 to 63 out of 99 and from 21 to 23 out of 33 seats in the state senate. Democrats would have to win the statewide vote by 12 points just to get to 50 seats in the assembly, according to calculations by Marquette University Law School research fellow John Johnson, while Republicans could garner a majority with just 44 percent of votes.”
Obama pressed his audience to think about that. “Think about any other thing you do in life where 44 percent are on one side, 56 percent on the other, and 44 wins. It don’t make sense. That is correct,” Obama said. “And if they pick up a few more seats in both chambers they'll be able to force through extreme unpopular laws on everything from guns, to education, to abortion, and there won't be anything Democrats can do about it.”
As of now, Evers is the only person standing in Republicans’ way, Obama said.
Michels promised to eliminate the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission and instate in its place Republican oversight. He said in July that he would "need to see the details" before deciding on an effort to overturn presidential election results in Wisconsin.
"I know Tony's low key. He's self-deprecating. You know, he's got a little more of a Clark Kent vibe than a Superman vibe, but don't let the glasses and the necktie fool you 'cause Tony is tough,” Obama said. “He's singlehandedly keeping Republicans from driving the car off the road. He might be democracy’s best hope in Wisconsin.”
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