Herr Tom Cotton of Arkanstadt performed a lie-filled screech-fest at Attorney General Merrick Garland, but neither Garland nor Sen. Mazie Hirono refused to let it go by without comment.
Thoroughly unsurprising, most of the GOP senators used their time to act outraged about Garland's memo about threats of violence against school board members and teachers, wherein he (in a single page) simply promises to investigates threats and acts of violence against public servants, which is his job, while explicitly stating "spirited debate" is of course, protected Constitutional speech. Cue Republican performative freak-out about protecting teachers from violent parents who don't want their children to learn how their ancestors kept slaves or voted to maintain segregated water fountains.
Clearly ready for his close-up, Cotton worked himself up into a lather by asking absurd questions, like what kinds of letters Garland issued in the summer of 2020, during the George Floyd protests. Garland had to remind him that he wasn't AG back then, nor was Joe Biden president, and Garland's expression clearly read, "What the f*ck does that have to do with threats against teachers?"
When racist dog-foghorns didn't rattle Garland, Cotton took a transphobic turn, insisting that the AG's memo was based upon parents upset about the handling of a Loudon County, VA case of a girl being sexually assaulted in a school bathroom "by a boy wearing girls' clothes." Garland vehemently denied that was the basis of his memo, but Herr Cotton kept yelling over him in search of his Faye Dunaway moment, and ended by insisting dramatically that Garland should "resign in disgrace."
Cotton did a little twirl, placed the back of his hand to his forehead, and collapsed to the floor under the weight of his soul-crushing hypocrisy.
Sen. Dick Durbin asked him if Garland wanted to finish his answer, and Garland rightly said, "I wasn't sure there was a question there. But let me be clear, the news reports I was talking about were not the news reports in that letter. They were other news reports that everybody here has heard about. ...And I wish if senators were concerned about this, they would quote my words. This memorandum is not about parents being able to object in their school boards. They are protected by the first amendment, as long as there are no threats of violence, they are completely protected."
Mind you, these are facts any GOP senator would know, had they read the single-page memo, or listened to the previous two hours of testimony, wherein Garland stated the same thing in the same words dozens of times, but perhaps that's asking too much of mouth-breathing lunatics.
Then it was Sen. Mazie Hirono's turn. Hirono has long been the senator who has exactly zero f*cks to give when it comes to her GOP colleagues' horsesh*t, and she was not about to let Cotton's performance go by without comment.
First, Hirono introduced an article from the Washington Post disproving all the GOP bullsh*t claiming the DOJ is "spying" on parents at school board meetings. Then she unloads.
"It's good to see you, Mr. Attorney General. I will quote from the first sentence of your memo. 'In recent months there has been a disturbing spike in harassment and intimidation and threat of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation's public schools,'" she begins. "This is a fact."
"We have all seen the news coverage of people actually threatening to hurt school board members before going about their jobs. That is a fact," she insisted.
"So, when I listen to my Republican colleagues going on about the intent of this memo, I'm again reminded they often take the position that we should not believe what we see with our own eyes," she said. "It's like characterizing the January 6th insurrection as a bunch of tourists visiting the Capitol. Give me a break," she said with palpable disgust.
And if you want to garner even deeper satisfaction seeing the GOP lying fascist liars being well and truly torn to shreds, witness Sen. Cory Booker.
After hours of Republicans arguing that concerns about threats against school board members are overblown, Cory Booker brings receipts showing that there have been many such incidents, including physical violence pic.twitter.com/ueVhb82VMy
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 27, 2021
Booker is the first Democrat during this hearing to get worked up and really push back on the GOP nonsense. Good for him. He even unloads on Durbin a bit. pic.twitter.com/feTWMItrPO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 27, 2021
