Every story about Mitch McConnell telling Elizabeth Warren to sit down and be quiet, lest she put Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s poor wife in a tizzy—I’m telling you, a tizzy—mentions that the gag rule employed by the Republicans in this instance, Rule X1X, part 2, is a “rarely used” bit of parliamentary shut-up. When it gets rolled out seems not just rare, but more than a little arbitrary.
Ted Cruz calls his mutant turtle leader a “liar” … no Rule XIX. Orin Hatch says all Democratic Senators are “idiots” … no Rule XIX. Dick Cheney graces the floor with a “Go f#ck yourself” … no Rule XIX. At least two men read the exact same letter that got Warren a metaphorical slap and … no Rule XIX.
So, was Rule XIX written just to allow silencing uppity women? Not quite, but it’s certainly in the right ballpark. Because Rule XIX, part 2 was added in 1902, specifically to protect the delicate ears of South Carolina Senator Ben Tillman. Who was Tillman?
“ … perhaps the most notorious proponent of racial terrorism in the history of the United States.”
Tillman was not shy about stating his positions when it came to racism. He was all for it.
[We] agreed on on the policy of terrorizing the Negroes at the first opportunity by letting them provoke trouble and then having the whites demonstrate their superiority by killing as many of them as was justifiable." …
Which sounds … not unlike some on the right today.
So using Tillman’s Rule in protecting another poor, southern snowflake like Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III from the words of Coretta Scott King seems sickeningly appropriate.