And from Vodka Pundit, at Instapundit, "GREAT MOMENTS IN TOTAL LACK OF SELF-AWARENESS: New Muslim Congresswoman Vows to ‘Impeach the Motherf**ker!’."
Senior Dems, now the majority leadership in Congress, were not pleased. There goes the impeachment messaging, oops!
At Politico, "Dems livid after Tlaib vows to ‘impeach the motherf—er’: Party leaders fear such explosive talk only gives ammunition to the GOP":
From @politico: 'Dems livid after Tlaib vows to ‘impeach the motherf—er.'' Even the guy who filed articles of impeachment on Day 1 is mad at her. But didn't she just say, perhaps in more colorful language, what some of them have said privately? https://t.co/3Znshs0Igi pic.twitter.com/AdRi2D9aNx
— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 4, 2019
This is a bit lame. Can’t be unapologetic about the comments then run away from the press when asked about them https://t.co/YP3udse950
— Sam Stein (@samstein) January 4, 2019
House Democrats are furious that an incoming freshman’s expletive-riddled statement about impeaching Donald Trump has suddenly upended their carefully crafted rhetoric on their plans to take on the president.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats have long argued that impeachment is a last resort that would come at the end of exhaustive oversight and investigations. But on the second day of the new Congress, the news was jammed with talk of Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who told a crowd of progressive activists Thursday night that “we’re gonna impeach the motherf---er.”
Rank-and-file Democrats, immediately fearful of the damage the comment could cause, unloaded on their new colleague Friday morning. Republicans, they argued, would hold it up as proof that Democrats are playing politics rather than pursuing genuine oversight of the president — even if the GOP never showed interest in investigating Trump scandals while it was in power.
“Mueller hasn’t even produced his report yet!” said Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. “People should cool their jets a little bit, let the prosecutors do their job and finish the investigation.”
“Inappropriate,” added Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.). “As elected officials I think we should be expected to set a high bar… It’s not helpful.”
Even Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), who introduced an impeachment resolution earlier this week, was shocked. His eyes bulged in disbelief when a reporter read him Tlaib’s comments and he was speechless for several seconds.
After he regained his composure, Sherman said that kind of language is detrimental to the cause: “That’s not language I would use … I think the office of the presidency should be treated with respect.”
Party elders also sought to calm talk of impeachment without criticizing Tlaib directly. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the new chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, called Talib’s comments “inappropriate” and said, “We need to be patient.”
“You can’t accomplish very much of anything unless you have civility and show respect for your colleagues,” Cummings said. “Those kind of comments do not take us in the right direction.”
Pelosi said while she didn’t agree with the language, she also didn’t think anyone “should make a big deal” about the expletive, noting the president is also known for having a foul mouth sometimes.
“I'm not in the censorship business. I don't like that language, I wouldn't use that language, but I wouldn't establish language standards for my colleagues,” Pelosi said during an MSNBC town hall Friday morning.
She added that impeachment is “very divisive“ and shouldn’t be taken “without the facts.”
Meanwhile, Republicans were already seizing on the comment to accuse Democrats of showing their true goal — removing Trump from office...
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