Are we officially a Police State now, where Accusations are more important than evidence if they’re useful for destroying political rivals?
Last we heard, ‘outing’ someone’s sexuality was a ‘bad’ thing. And that’s one of just two possible interpretations about what an elected Democrat has been slyly hitting Lindsey Graham with.
If it’s door number one, and her implied allegations are Sexual…
No. A member of Congress jumped on the patently homophobic “Lindsey must be hiding something” bandwagon and offered precisely ZERO proof, only wholly invented, baseless hypotheticals. That’s irresponsible…and also ignorant, homophobic and unacceptable. https://t.co/gtAL6QGunl
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) January 17, 2019
Then we have this possible scenario:
Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person’s sexual orientation or gender identity without that person’s consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts to combat homophobia and heterosexism.
Is it cool to call a straight man a homosexual as an insult, so long as he’s a Republican? Like the NewYorkTimes did with their nasty little Trump/Putin cartoon, or Colbert’s sexual slur graphically suggesting specific sexual acts between Trump and Putin?
Ancient untoward LGBT references (ie: jokes) can get Kevin Hart pulled from his dream job of hosting the Oscar.
Meanwhile, Don Lemon (himself a gay man) manages to get away with casually using a ‘chickenhead‘ reference on air (you probably don’t want to look it up).
But LGBT sexual practices are a punchline when leveled as accusations toward Republicans, like when Obama and Anderson Cooper called untold numbers of Americans the sexual slur “Tea Baggers”, or now, when Lindsey Graham is being whispered about as ‘secretly gay’.
Is gay sex ‘perfectly normal’ now? Or is it an acceptable insult? The rules of the game keep changing.
Or if these accusations are NOT sexual in nature, we have door number two, she is STILL suggesting that Lindsay Graham is (a) hiding some deeply embarrassing and / or illegal secret and (b) so lacking in integrity that he is violating his oath of office and putting personal interests ahead of those of the country.
She has both impugned Graham’s integrity without evidence AND she has accused the President of blackmail. Serious accusations. Such accusations require evidence, or else they’re nothng more than slander and libel.
Put up or shut up, Ms Omar.
No WONDER the Democrats haven’t sat down to negotiate terms for the reopening of Government. They’re still in #resist and obstruct mode. Ihlan Omar, who has been in office less than a month is already sharing slander like this:
They got to him, he is compromised! https://t.co/m8sB3EmElg
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 16, 2019
Critics were looking at the really harsh language Lindsey Graham once directed toward Trump, before he took office and assume that the only reason Graham could have changed his mind is Blackmail.
By that very logic, we’d have to ask what blackmail Mexican Cartels have with which to pressure the Democrats NOT to secure the Sourthern Border, wouldn’t we? After all, we recently learned about a $100 Million bribe allegedly given to a former Mexican President himself by El Chapo & Co. What was their price? Or why did Democrats claiming to be pro-Traditional family ‘evolve’ in their positions AFTER taking office?
ALTERNATIVELY … we could say that people change their minds for a whole host of reasons, some of those reasons are principled and altruistic, some are more pragmatic, and still others are cynical.
But with the Republicans-are-evil narrative, you’ve automatically excluded those first two options.
When called out for these whisper campaigns, people like Ilhan Omar are doubling down.
https://twitter.com/steppenwalrus/status/1085340603544715264
Even CNN wasn’t letting her get away with this.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: So, over the last three years, we have seen many times where Sen. Lindsey Graham has told us how dangerous this president could be if he was given the opportunity to be in the White House, and all of a sudden he’s made a 360 turnaround.
I am pretty sure that there is something happening with him, whether it is, you know, something that has to do with his funding when it comes to running for office, whether it has something to do with the polling that they might have in his district [sic], or whether it has to do with some sort of leadership within the Senate. He is somehow compromised to no longer stand up for the truth and is fighting to protect the oath that he took in serving the American people.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN: That’s quite a charge to make, you say you’re “pretty sure.” Based on what evidence? What facts? That is a remarkable comment to make about a sitting U.S. Senator.
OMAR: The evidence really is present to us. It’s being presented to us in the way that he is behaving.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN: But that’s not evidence. That’s your opinion, but now as a sitting member of Congress, you have tweeted, ‘they got him on this.’ Again, just based on what evidence?
OMAR: My tweet was just an opinion based on what I believe to be visible to me, and I’m pretty sure there are lots of Americans who agree on this.
Source: RCP
We could mock the 360 turnaround line but that’s just too easy. She’s a Democrat, and Math is hard. When pressed — By CNN, no less — that the unfounded statement you just made needs substantiation or retraction, take the hint. Even THEY valued their ‘journalistic reputation’ (or else feared a lawsuit) enough to push back on that statement. If your best bet to substantiate a wild accusation is ‘pretty sure’ that other people FEEL the same way? You’ve already lost the game and should have sense enough to throw in your hand.
Omar — you’re in elected office now. It’s time you learn the difference between Opinion and Slander. But a word of advice? Ask someone OTHER than any of your Democrat colleagues, they seem to be a little fuzzy on the distinctions, too.
Pretty soon this same line of thinking will lead to impeachment hearings. And won’t that be fun?
On the bright side, if the Democrats keep stepping on rakes like this, our chances in 2020 are looking pretty good.
