The vote was 224-198, with 10 Democrats joining all Republicans in approving the censure resolution. Green and freshman Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., voted present. As the vote proceeded, Green sat by himself along the center aisle.....
The 10 Democrats who voted to censure Green are all
moderates: Reps. Ami Bera and Jim Costa, both of California; Ed Case of Hawaii;
Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi, both of New York; Jim Himes of Connecticut;
Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania; Marcy Kaptur of Ohio; Jared Moskowitz of
Florida; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state.
The ten Democrats are only a symptom of a larger problem, which is not the censure resolution because
A censure is a formal way for the House to express disapproval of a member’s conduct. A censured member does not lose any rights or privileges as a House member.
The matter, however, might not be closed. The far-right House Freedom Caucus, who had been racing to introduce their own resolution to censure Green, said after the vote its members plan to roll out another resolution seeking to remove Green from the House Financial Services Committee. The group said on X it expects Johnson to bring the resolution to the floor next week.
This may or may not play out as the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus wishes. However, even the possibility, let alone the actuality, of a group of Republicans taking this action should be a wake-up call to those ten Democrats. Al Green went quietly, choosing not to fight back against the Sergeant-at-Arms (as he would have been wise to do) amid GOP chants of nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, goodbye. (Civility!)
You might remember when
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., repeatedly interrupted and interjected during President Joe Biden's State of the Union address Tuesday night.
Greene was heard grumbling through the entire part of Biden's speech about Covid policy before she shouted a remark about women's sports when Biden mentioned new laws targeting transgender Americans and their families.
Boebert and Greene tried to start a "build the wall" chant — a reference to former President Donald Trump's calls to construct a wall across the U.S. southern border — when Biden referred to securing the border and reforming immigration law.
But the moment that stood out most was when Boebert shouted
"13 of them" — referring to the 13 U.S. service members who died in
an attack in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal last year — when Biden
discussed battlefield conditions that may contribute to veterans' developing
cancers "that would put them in a flag-draped coffin."
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., repeatedly interrupted and interjected during President Joe Biden's State of the Union address Tuesday night.
Greene was heard grumbling through the entire part of Biden's speech about Covid policy before she shouted a remark about women's sports when Biden mentioned new laws targeting transgender Americans and their families.
Boebert and Greene tried to start a "build the wall" chant — a reference to former President Donald Trump's calls to construct a wall across the U.S. southern border — when Biden referred to securing the border and reforming immigration law.
Nonetheless, the moment that stood out most was when Boebert shouted "13 of them" — referring to the 13 U.S. service members who died in an attack in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal last year — when Biden discussed battlefield conditions that may contribute to veterans' developing cancers "that would put them in a flag-draped coffin.
Lauren Boebert did not get tossed out. Neither did Marjorie Taylor Greene. The rules had changed but Democrats (including myself) did not know that they had. The rules now are: there are no rules.
Some Democrats still don't understand. Perhaps Al Green, contrary to House rules, understood when he boldly and bravely stood early in President Trump's State of the Union address.
Yet, it is unclear that even Green recognizes the zeitgeist. A black man of 77 years of age, he remembers too well the power of peaceful civil disobedience and was arrested outside the Sudanese embassy in the nation's capital in 2012 when he protested the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan. That was a very long time ago, before a political candidate and President would threaten with arrest or execution a variety of political enemies, in midst of being elected President twice. It was before the United States Supreme Court granted immunity for any action a President can deem "official." It was before a President with full self-awareness would call himself a "king," and hardly anyone would notice.
It's easy for me, sitting at home, to say, but if Green wanted to make an impact, he should have stood his ground- literally, not only figuratively. Let them drag him out of the chamber. Americans- Democrats, Independents, and a significant minority of Republicans- would be horrified by the video, which would be played nearly non-stop for the following 72 hours. And the Democrats now fretting about confronting the President or who would prefer a mere "strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence" would actually defend a colleague who chose to be more confrontational.
There is nothing more telling about the moment we're in than the immediate response by many House Democrats to the censure vote and the Republican counter-response. Green led some Democrats in singing "We Shall Overcome," a nice and inoffensive, albeit totally ineffective, gesture.
A screaming match between House Democrats and Republicans broke out. At one point, Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley yelled back, "Shame on you!" Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib also shouted at Republicans.
Republicans offer blind loyalty to a President who hired- for a role in diplomacy- a guy who has said "competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work." These individuals are supposed to respond to an appeal- "shame on you"- to conscience. Shortly after the confrontation, Republican US Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee announced he is "drafting privileged resolutions to remove each of them from their committees."
We Shall Overcome- not a rap song nor even the "Black National Anthem," but We Shall Overcome. Though recognizing the dreadful nature of domestic abuse, Steve M compares Democrats to abused partners because
their belief that docility and outreach are winning strategies comes from motivated reasoning. They want to believe these things work. They're afraid to reality-test their theory because they've been beaten down and the thought of standing up for themselves cares them, while they've survived thus far being meek and mild.
Worse, that's on top of a disturbing addiction to rules and norms, wherein Democrats are refusing to refer to "President Musk" or to "forced-birth" conservatives or to name the most corrupt President ever; defending the FBI, whose director in 2016 kept his mouth shut about the agency's investigation of Donald Trump; giving many votes to terrible Cabinet appointments such as dog-shooting Kristi Noem; acquiescing to having a colleague removed from the House chamber.
(My favorite is Kyle Rittenhouse, a white male conservative who traveled with a rifle to a BLM protest in Wisconsin and shot three individuals. The two who were unarmed were killed and when the murderer was acquitted, the decision was defended by Democrats because, of course, the "rule of law," the unchallenged jury system, and did I mention rules?)
This environment demands something more, and different. Protest here, protest there, only to make a point won't cut it. Sustained, even dramatic, opposition will be necessary.
That's a particularly fraught situation in the House of Representatives. The Democrats' "Leader" is only a minority leader in a chamber in which the majority party traditionally holds all power, with current members of said party dependent on the continued favor of Donald Trump.
Democrats cannot turn to their most popular figure- or perhaps it's the spouse of its most popular figure- because he has gone missing. A problem during the eight years of his lackluster presidency, it is an even greater problem currently. The GOP has Donald Trump while the Democratic Party has no individual to lead it.
Leadership is critical. So, too, is recognizing reality. We Shall Overcome pricked the conscience of a nation at one time, when the nation had a conscience to prick. Now, it is seen merely as a metaphor for liberal weakness. There now is a left and a right and a vanishing middle, a country in which Donald Trump twice has won the votes of Independents and in which propriety and respectability have left the building.
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