Colorado Republican’s Tirade Prompts Retaliatory Comments
WASHINGTON — The backlash continued Friday against Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., for her one-minute name-calling tirade against Democrats Wednesday in defense of Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.
Gosar was censured and stripped of his committee memberships this week by congressional leaders after he posted an animated video online of himself killing Democrats.
Boebert called the reprisal against Gosar “a dumb waste of the House’s time” during a speech on the floor of Congress.
She also lashed out at Democrats who supported the censure, such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who she said was a member of “the Jihad Squad.” Omar is a Muslim who was born in Somalia.
She accused Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., of sleeping with a Chinese spy.
Video of Boebert’s rant went viral on social media, prompting comments about whether she should be in Congress.
Omar responded with a scathing post on Twitter that said, “Luckily my dad raised me right, otherwise I might have gone to the floor to talk about this insurrectionist who sleeps with a pervert. I am grateful I was raised to be a decent human and not a deprived person who shamefully defecates & defiles the House of Representatives.”
The “pervert” appears to refer to Boebert’s husband, Jayson Boebert, who was arrested in 2004 for exposing himself to two young women at a bowling alley in Colorado. He served four days in jail and two years on probation.
Swalwell said about Boebert in a tweet, “Weird.” He then questioned the integrity of one of her associates.
Kyle Clark, a reporter for the NBC television affiliate in Denver, said in an editorial, “We hold Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert to a different standard than we hold every other elected official in Colorado. We hold congresswoman Boebert to a far lower standard.”
A man who described himself as a Muslim U.S. Marine tweeted, “Dear Lauren Boebert: Here’s the ‘Jihad Squad’ for you. Muslim Americans who keep people like you and America safe. …”
Coming to the defense of Boebert was Florida conservative Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, who called Boebert in a tweet, “The Unstoppable @laurenboebert.”
Boebert is no stranger to controversy driven by her hardcore conservative Republican rhetoric.
In other incidents, she was blamed for helping to incite the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, endorsing extremist white supremacists and pledging to defy a District of Columbia concealed gun ban.
Tom can be reached at [email protected]
