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RIGHT WING HYPOCRISY

Newly Uncovered Videos Reveal the Mortifying Hypocrisy of Top Republicans on Impeachment

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Republicans have a problem: They want to claim that impeaching President Donald Trump is completely ridiculous, but just a few short decades ago, they were driving the push for impeaching President Bill Clinton.

And in that process, they said a lot of things that will likely come back to haunt them.

Take Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), for instance, who said Monday that it’s time to “move on” from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — even though we only got the exhaustive 448-page report last week. He seems to think the extensive case for obstruction of justice laid out in Volume II of the report should just be ignored.

But MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” showed that, in 1998 when it was Clinton under investigation, McConnell was, by contrast, deeply concerned about the integrity of the presidency.

In a speech at the impeachment hearings, McConnell said he wanted to draw attention to a “serious and deeply troubling crisis” in the country. “This is a crisis of confidence, of credibility, and of integrity. Our nation is indeed at a crossroads: Will we pursue the search for truth, or will we dodge, weave and evade the truth.”

At the time, Clinton was under fire for lying to investigators about his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, which was, undoubtedly, wildly inappropriate. But now that Trump stands accused of obstructing a national security investigation, McConnell appears unable to muster up any indignation or outrage.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has become one of Trump’s closest congressional allies, similarly seems to have lost his passion for restoring the dignity of the White House.

“You don’t even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic if this body determinates that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role,” said Graham in 1998. “Because impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office.”

In another clip from the time period, Graham made clear that what he was concerned with was Clinton’s obstruction of justice — precisely the charge Trump faces:

“I’m telling you momentum is shifting toward impeachment, because people are looking at facts and coming to realise the President committed serious crimes and it is not just about sex. The idea that this is an accusatory function here. We are not the trial, the trial is in the Senate. Our job is to find credible evidence if there is warning impeachment from that evidence; grand jury perjury, obstruction of justice by the President, I think are high crimes and misdemeanours. The only thing to change my mind would be direct, honest candour on his part. The President has to earn censure.

Of course, it’s not just Republicans who will be embarrassed. Democrats such as Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)  who in 1998 attacked the impeachment push against Clinton may now find themselves contradicting their prior claims. But they, more credibly, can point to an important difference. While Clinton was impeached over his obstructive lies about a consensual, though wrongful, sexual relationship, Trump’s conduct relates much more directly to an issue of national importance: Russia’s attack on American elections and the investigation into that matter.

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RIGHT WING HYPOCRISY

Franklin Graham Serves Up Massively Hypocritical Claims on Vaccines, Trump and the Press in Axios Interview

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3 years ago

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May 17, 2021

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Pro-Trump conservative Evangelical leader Franklin Graham sat down with Axios co-founder Mike Allen and served up several hypocritical takes on topics ranging from former President Donald Trump to vaccines to the media.

Perhaps the greatest falsehood was a short exchange on the coronavirus vaccine.

Numerous reports for months make clear conservative Evangelicals are the largest group of Americans refusing to get the vaccine, and given that one in four Americans are evangelical, that alone will make it hard for the U.S. to reach herd immunity.

“Evangelical resistance to the COVID-19 vaccine presents a public health challenge,” NPR reported April 5.

A New York Times headline that same day made the problem ever clearer: “Millions of white evangelicals do not intend to get vaccinated.”

One month earlier an AP/NORC poll found “40% of white evangelical Protestants said they likely won’t get vaccinated.”

According the Graham (who has been encouraging evangelicals to get the shot) evangelicals aren’t the problem.

“Over the last four years as you supported President Trump you saw everything being more politicized, polarized, like do you feel like some of this is on your doorstep?” Axios’s Mike Allen posited in the interview (below.)

“No,” Graham replied. “I appreciate what the President did for our country.”

“Because a lot of his followers,” Allen continued, “a lot of Christians, a lot of evangelical Christians do not believe science, the truth, the press.”

“Many accept vaccines,” Graham said, “Many don’t. And it’s not an evangelical thing,” he claimed, which is false.

Allen also asked Graham about how Trump treated the press.

“Rally after rally, President Trump would say, ‘don’t believe them,’ pointing to the cameras, like, ‘don’t believe the press, don’t believe anyone but me.'”

“And I would have never had said that,” Graham claimed. “And I’ll think this, this is hurting. I think you’ve built a wall. I think it created animosity when it shouldn’t have. Just because somebody disagrees with you, doesn’t mean they’re your enemy.”

“You think it was a mistake for President Trump to demonize the press?” Allen asked point blank.

“No question about it,” Graham replied (video below.)

Here’s Graham doing the exact same thing Trump did, and to help advance Trump’s agenda (all quotes from Graham’s Twitter account):

“I’ve never seen hatred like we’re seeing in our nation today. The mainstream media is so biased & will do whatever they can to attack @POTUS Trump. He has done more for our country in 4 yrs than any president in my lifetime, but that doesn’t matter to agenda-driven media.” Oct. 16, 2020

“Much of the media has lost it. There’s no respect, no honor. What happened to professionalism & to journalists reporting the facts w/no personal agenda?” Dec. 7, 2018

“Never before has there been such a level of hatred as we have seen for Donald Trump from the Democrats & liberal media. Why? It may be because he hasn’t bowed down to them.” Jan. 13, 2020

“The news media are so vicious & relentless in their fault finding & their attacks on the President. It’s just sickening.” Dec. 26, 2018

“I lay much of the blame at the feet of the media for feeding the divisions & pushing their own agendas rather than accurately researching & reporting the news.” Jan. 23, 2019

“For once, I agree with House @SpeakerPelosi—our country is in a constitutional crisis. However, I strongly disagree with her on the cause. I put the blame at her feet & those in the Democratic Party who follow her, along with many in the media. May 10, 2019

“The Mueller report is in—no evidence of collusion. The sad thing is, the US lost 2 years & millions of dollars on investigations as @POTUS @realDonaldTrump’s enemies spouted lies. The liberal media was also culpable in this nightmare.” Mar. 24, 2019

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RIGHT WING HYPOCRISY

Boebert, Cawthorn, Greene on List of 101 ‘Pro-Life’ and ‘Pro-Family’ GOPers Who Just Voted Against Pregnant Workers

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3 years ago

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May 14, 2021

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The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, a bill to protect the rights of pregnant workers, but 101 Republican members of Congress who claim to be both “pro-life” and “pro-family” voted against the legislation.

The bill, sponsored by New York Democrat Jerry Nadler, was first introduced 9 years ago. It passed Friday in a 315-101 vote. All the no votes were from Republicans. No Democrat voted no.

The bill was supported by the right wing U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which called it “a balanced approach that clarifies an employer’s obligation to accommodate the known limitations of employees and job applicants that accompany pregnancy.”

The website Motherly put it even more simply: “No one should have to choose between their paycheck and a healthy pregnancy.”

Democratic Rep. Val Demings of Florida:

Apparently, 101 Republican lawmakers disagree.

Among the more notable Republicans voting “no” were Lauren Boebert (CO), Kevin Brady (TX), Mo Brooks (AL), Ken Buck (CO), Madison Cawthorn (NC), Liz Cheney (WY), Scott DesJarlais (TN), Virginia Foxx (NC), Louie Gohmert (TX), Paul Gosar (AZ), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Jody Hice (GA), Thomas Massie (KY), and Chip Roy (TX).

Here’s the list of all the lawmakers who voted against pregnant workers:

Aderholt (Alabama)
Allen (Georgia)
Armstrong (North Dakota)
Arrington (Texas)
Babin (Texas)
Baird (Indiana)
Banks (Indiana)
Barr (Kentucky) NAY
Bishop (North Carolina)
Boebert (Colorado)
Brady (Texas)
Brooks (Alabama)
Buck (Colorado)
Budd (North Carolina)
Burchett (Tennessee)
Cammack (Florida)
Carl (Alabama)
Carter (Georgia)
Carter (Texas)
Cawthorn (North Carolina)
Cheney (Wyoming)
Cline (Virginia)
Cloud (Texas)
Clyde (Georgia)
Crawford (Arkansas)
Davidson (Ohio)
DesJarlais (Tennessee)
Donalds (Florida)
Duncan (South Carolina)
Dunn (Florida)
Fallon (Texas)
Fitzgerald (Wisconsin)
Foxx (North Carolina)
Franklin, C. Scott (Florida)
Fulcher (Idaho)
Gibbs (Ohio)
Gohmert (Texas)
Good (Virginia)
Gooden (Texas)
Gosar (Arizona)
Graves (Missouri)
Green (Tennessee)
Greene (Georgia)
Grothman (Wisconsin)
Guest (Mississippi)
Harris (Maryland)
Harshbarger (Tennessee)
Hern (Oklahoma)
Herrell (New Mexico)
Hice (Georgia)
Higgins (Louisiana)
Jackson (Texas)
Johnson (Louisiana)
Jordan (Ohio)
Joyce (Pennsylvania)
Keller (Pennsylvania)
Kelly (Pennsylvania)
LaHood (Illinois)
Lamborn (Colorado)
LaTurner (Kansas)
Letlow (Louisiana)
Long (Missouri)
Loudermilk (Georgia)
Luetkemeyer (Missouri)
Mace (South Carolina)
Mann (Kansas)
Massie (Kentucky)
Mast (Florida)
McClain (Michigan)
McClintock (California)
McHenry (North Carolina)
Miller (Illinois)
Miller (West Virginia)
Moore (Alabama)
Nehls (Texas)
Norman (South Carolina)
Palazzo (Mississippi)
Palmer (Alabama)
Pence (Indiana)
Perry (Pennsylvania)
Pfluger (Texa)
Posey (Florida)
Reschenthaler (Pennsylvania)
Rice (South Carolina)
Rodgers (Washington)
Rogers (Alabama)
Rose (Tennessee)
Rosendale (Montana)
Rouzer (North Carolina)
Roy (Texas)
Scott, Austin (Georgia)
Sessions (Texas)
Smith (Nebraska)
Smucker (Pennsylvania)
Steube (Florida)
Taylor (Texas)
Timmons (South Carolina)
Van Duyne (Texas)
Walberg (Michigan)
Weber (Texas)
Westerman (AR)

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RIGHT WING HYPOCRISY

McEnany Lectures Biden: ‘It’s the Role of the President of the United States to Stay Back, to Not Inflame’

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3 years ago

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April 20, 2021

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Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Tuesday blasted President Joe Biden for speaking out about the Derek Chauvin trial even though her former boss, Donald Trump, often expressed his opinion on similar events.

After the sequestered jury began its deliberations in the Chauvin trial, Biden told reporters that he was praying for the “right verdict.”

McEnany, in her role as Fox News host, criticized the current president.

“I’m glad that he at least waited until the jury was sequestered,” McEnany ranted. “But I think that the country is such a tinderbox right now, especially Minneapolis. There’s so much hurt, so much pain.”

And I think it’s the role of the president of the United States to stay back, to not inflame the tensions,” she added. “I think he should have just reserved comment and said he’s praying for the family as we all are.”

As president, Trump often weighed in on legal matters and controversial events.

After Kyle Rittenhouse was charged with homicide for shootings that left two protesters in Wisconsin dead last August, Trump offered a defense of the suspect.

“He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like,” Trump opined at the time. “I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed.”

Watch the video below from Fox News.

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

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