House makes reality TV look tame
Maybe this is what we should expect from members of Congress who are better known by their acronyms rather than their real names.
The spectacle that took place May 16 at a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing seemed better suited for The Onion or The Babylon Bee, but unfortunately it’s real life.
The committee was meeting to vote on whether to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over the audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur related to Biden’s mishandling of classified documents.
What ended up stealing headlines, however, was a moronic shouting match among some committee members. It was a scene better suited to a reality TV show than the halls of Congress.
No surprise, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (aka MTG) instigated the whole thing. Greene’s notoriety revolves around her outrageous comments and ability to create chaos, rather than any talent for the job she was elected to do.
After an initial back and forth with Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, Greene lobbed this insult at her follow committee member: “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.” Things devolved quickly after that. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., immediately chimed in, coming to her colleague’s defense.
“How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person?” she demanded of Greene. Greene in turn mocked AOC, asking if her feelings were hurt.
“Oh girl, baby girl, don’t even play,” Ocasio-Cortez responded.
More inanity followed. Crockett jumped into the fray, dissing Greene and her “bleach blond, bad-built butch body.”
Later, Crockett said this: “Don’t tell me to calm down, because y’all talk noise and then you can’t take it, because if I come and talk s--- about her, y’all gonna have a problem.”
You get the idea.
Committee Chairman James Comer and top Democrat Jamie Raskin seemed at a loss for words in dealing with the whole exchange.
House Speaker Mike Johnson chastised committee members after the hearing. The Republican leader has no love for Greene, who recently tried (unsuccessfully) to oust him as speaker.
“When we disagree – even vehemently – we have got to treat one another with dignity and respect,” Johnson said. “I think it’s an important principle.”
While Greene is taking a lot of the heat for what transpired, as she should, she was far from a lone participant.
Alice Stewart, political commentator, GOP strategist and veteran presidential communications adviser, put it this way on CNN Friday: “I’m, by no means whatsoever, defending Marjorie Taylor Greene’s comments here, but that was not a monologue, that was a dialogue back and forth, and it was childish behavior all around.”
Stewart said members of Congress are there to lead the country and get laws passed – not to “provide ... ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’ kind of behavior.”
Normally, I would have called Stewart to get her take directly, and I had planned to in writing this column. But she died unexpectedly Saturday morning.
Stewart, just 58, is someone I had admired from afar for a long time but had gotten to know this past year. She embodied the dignity and civility that these members of Congress lack.
The outpouring of grief over her death from liberals and conservatives alike is a testament to Stewart’s kindness and ability to put humanity over politics. We’d all be better off in trying to emulate how she lived.
You will be missed, Alice.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @ Ingrid_Jacques.