Yesterday, I expressed my concerns with President Biden's strategy on confronting anti-Semitism might be too narrowly focused on white supremacists. While white supremacists are definitely anti-Semites, they are not the only anti-Semites. Activists for the Palestinian cause often engage in anti-Semitic behavior and I fear the Biden Administration may be inclined to ignore it.
But Colorado Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert objects to President Biden's initiative altogether claiming it targets conservatives. Boebert tweeted, "When they say stuff like this, they mean they want to go after conservatives. Their tactics are straight out of the USSR's playbook."
The report begins with a reference to the neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville. Does Boebert consider these neo-Nazis to be her fellow conservatives? Does she share defeated, former President Trump's view that there were "good people on both sides"?
Or perhaps Boebert thinks the Biden Administration is specifically targeting her. After all, in July 2021, Boebert described medical personnel carrying out Biden's COVID vaccination initiative as "Needle Nazis". Six months later, she also confronted a group of Orthodox Jews visiting Congress and asked them if they were doing "reconnaissance". If public officials see fit to engage in that kind of behavior, then yes they ought to be called out for anti-Semitism and if that offends Boebert's sensibilities such as they are then too damn bad.
It was left to White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates to defend conservatism when he stated, “Congresswoman Boebert is mistaken; antisemitism is not ‘conservative’ ― it is evil.”
By decrying President Biden's initiative to confront anti-Semitism, Boebert is telling anti-Semites they have a home in the Republican Party. Now that is evil.
It was left to White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates to defend conservatism when he stated, “Congresswoman Boebert is mistaken; antisemitism is not ‘conservative’ ― it is evil,”
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