By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas | Wow!!! Wild, dramatic threat of a fight in the U.S. Senate Chambers? Is this America, or what? An invited witness sat for testimony at a hearing this week in the hallowed venue and fiery, first-term U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma (shown in photo above) wanted to punch him out.
Hell-o, India.
Singapore. Panama. Venezuela. Places where political fisticuffs are expected.
Forget searching the Internet for crazy BBC and Reuters reports from abroad. We're getting the same drama live here now, thanks to the tempestuous national politics we seem to be favoring.
This from thehill.com: [ Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) weighed in on the near-fight in the Senate Tuesday, saying it "looked like a Third World country."
"When they’ve got to a fever pitch where they wanna fight, they’re calling each other names," Manchin said Thursday on Fox News. "It looked like a Third World country or a Banana Republic, and that’s not who we are."
Manchin was referencing a near-fight between Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, during a hearing Tuesday.
Mullin challenged O’Brien to a fight during the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing after he read aloud O’Brien’s posts calling him a "clown" and a "fraud."
"Sir, this is a time, this is place. You want to run your mouth; we can be two consenting adults; we can finish it here," Mullin said.
"You want to do it now? Stand your butt up then," Mullin said, in response to O’Brien’s acceptance.
He stood up to challenge O’Brien (shown at right in photo below, alongside Mullin) when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the panel, told the lawmaker to sit down and reminded him he was a U.S. senator.
Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, later defended his conduct by saying, "every now and then, you need to get punched in the face."
Tensions also rose in the House Tuesday when Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) alleged that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) elbowed him in the back.
Manchin, referring to the Tuesday incidents, said he thinks the behavior reflects poorly on the U.S. as it attempts to handle several tense foreign relations issues across the globe.
"We are the superpower of the world," Manchin said. "People are looking to us for leadership." ]
Uh, maybe not, Joe.
We, the U.S., seem to be coming apart at the seams. A sitting U.S. Senator calling out a "witness," offering an on-the-spot fistfight beating? Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the former Speaker of The House going full-thug?
Geez, Louise. We used to see those brawling scenes out of India, the Far East and South America, always shaking our heads, laughing at the cheap theatrics of some politician - at times, a woman - getting slapped across the face or thrown to the floor.
Republicans have brought it here.
Fifty bucks says uncouth Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, she of the apparent white trash, trailer park DNA, is the next one to cold-cock a rival...
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When you start using fists on a debate floor, you show your position has no merit without the threat of violence behind it. Republicans have learned they need to start justifying their views and they know they are indefensible in a modern society so they use the only weapon they have left - violence.
ReplyDeleteTypical Redneck.
ReplyDeleteEcho that.
DeleteIt is time for the Republican party to join the 29 other parties that have held office but no longer exist. They have ceased working for the people who elected them and only work to advance Republican power interests.
ReplyDeleteThe Republican House will not even censure liar George Santos. They're waiting for the trials, possible convictions and sentencing? Trump is such a wonderful role model that conservatives are held in awe of his imitators!
ReplyDeleteGeorge Santos needs an ass-kicking. Fight him!
Delete