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Republican rep insists GOP senators are pro-pedophile
Marjorie Taylor Greene accused three Senate Republicans of being pro- pedophile. Such rhetoric is insane, but its not irrelevant.
April 6, 2022, 10:42 AM EDT
By Steve Benen
If Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wanted to be a more respected and effective federal lawmaker, the Georgia Republican has some options. She could, for example, decline invitations to white nationalist events. The extremist congresswoman could also stop promoting Russian propaganda.
Greene could even avoid accusing her colleagues of supporting pedophilia.
But the GOP lawmaker apparently cant quite help herself, publishing a tweet
on Monday night that accused three Republican senators Maines Susan
Collins, Alaskas Lisa Murkowski, and Utahs Mitt Romney of being pro- pedophile. Greenes proof: The three senators had just voted for Judge
Ketanji Brown Jacksons Supreme Court nomination.
To the extent that reality has any meaning, the three senators hadnt just voted for Jackson it was a procedural vote, not a vote on the nominee
herself but lets all agree for now that this wasnt the most important
detail.
And while its true that sometimes people publish messages to Twitter that
they later regret, but this does not appear to be one of those instances: Greene appeared on a conservative television talk show yesterday and again said the three senators from her own party are pro-pedophile. For good measure, the Georgia Republican added in the same interview that Democrats
are the party of pedophiles.
Obviously, such rhetoric is insane. That does not, however, make it irrelevant.
As part of the GOP effort to slander Jackson, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee attacked the high court nominees record on sentencing
in child pornography cases. The baseless smear was quickly and thoroughly discredited even National Review described the allegations as meritless to the point of demagoguery and responsible observers moved on.
Irresponsible observers did not. On the contrary, Greene and others on the right have seized on this as part of a larger, hysterical effort. As a Washington Post analysis explained, The red scare is now the kid scare.
At this point ... insinuations about Democrats embracing pedophilia or downplaying sex crimes victimizing children are not simply the political fringe making its way into the Capitol. Instead, pedophile or groomer a
term used to describe people who try to prepare children for abuse has of late replaced socialist as a preferred, political pejorative. Long-standing potency of elevating fears about the safety of children has combined with specific political fights like the Jackson nomination and Floridas new legislation limiting instruction about non-heterosexual relationships to
spur a new rhetorical focus.
The same Post analysis added that talk of pedophiles and child porn is becoming pervasive across much of the right, with conservative media
outlets and prominent voices such as Donald Trump Jr. pushing the same
smear.
Yes, American politics has taken yet another turn to the point that
casually throwing around baseless accusations of supporting pedophilia is
now a part of our discourse.
Indeed, a sitting member of the United States House of Representatives a Republican in good standing, whos poised to be rewarded by her party next
year assumed she could get away with accusing three senators from her own party of being pro-pedophile, without any meaningful pushback, because
thats where the contemporary right is now.
And so far, Greenes assumptions appear correct. House GOP leaders made no effort to denounce her slander yesterday, and Senate GOP leaders made no effort to defend Collins, Murkowski, or Romney.
The partys thinking appears obvious: Perhaps if Republicans simply ignore
the defamatory garbage, the underlying problem will go away. If only that
were true.
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