So there she goes again, trying to seem like a hero as she does something that just shows her to be hypocritical, untrustworthy, and self-serving.
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard took aim at Democratic colleagues, including U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, accusing them of religious bigotry in their questioning of Brian Buescher, a nominee to the U.S. District Court of Nebraska, in an opinion piece published by The Hill yesterday.
……
Gabbard’s opinion piece argues that for years “politicians have weaponized religion for their own selfish gain, fomenting bigotry, fears and suspicious based on the faith, religion or spiritual practices of their potential opponents.”
The congresswoman later zeroes in on the recent questioning of Buescher, without mentioning Hirono by name. Both Hirono and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) had questioned Buescher last month about whether he could rule impartially on issues related to abortion and same-sex marriage, noting that Buescher was a member of the Knights of Columbus, which has taken public stances on both.
Senator Hirono’s office had something to say in response to this absurd attack:
“It is unfortunate that Congresswoman Gabbard based her misguided opinion on the far-right wing manipulation of these straightforward questions,” Hirono spokesman Will Dempster said in a statement.
He added that over the past two years, Hirono “has been attacked by right wing ideologues for her examination of Donald Trump’s ideologically-driven nominees to the courts.”
“Senator Hirono asks all judicial nominees — particularly those who have expressed very strong personal ideological views in conflict with Supreme Court precedent — if they can be fair,” Dempster said. “She asked Mr. Buescher, who has a clear record of anti-choice activism, whether he could separate his personal beliefs from decisions he would make if confirmed for a lifetime appointment on the federal bench.”
Or as Charlie Pierce explains:
To repeat, Hirono is not questioning Buescher's faith or anything like it. She is quite logically inquiring whether or not his membership in a highly politicized lay organization will affect his judgment on critical issues that might come before the court, issues that Buescher already is on record for having taken a side on during his days as a conservative activist in Nebraska. (The guy ran for attorney general in Nebraska, for pity's sake.) Hirono is doing nothing more than being "concerned about their views, opinions, or their commitment to uphold their constitutional duties," which Gabbard concedes is part of their duties as members of the national legislature.
The Knights of Columbus, for all their charitable work and their gifts for accessorizing, are not a religion. They have chosen to involve themselves in secular politics through their support for the Federalist Society and their targeting of certain political candidates. They can't hide themselves in the gospels now, and Mazie Hirono should tell Tulsi Gabbard to go suck up to another dictator and stop trying to run for president on Mazie's coattails.
Would the Congresswoman who appears to support anti-muslim policies and views express the same anger if a judicial nominee were questioned about their membership and involvement in an Islamic group that had publicly advocated requiring women to have their faces covered in public? Where is her grave concern about religious bigotry when she supports anti-Muslim Indian Hindu nationalists?
As Democrats, we often have to agree to disagree. I’m not fond of many of the positions and statements coming from conservaDems, but I accept that when someone is representing a red or reddish district or state, they might have to express or even believe policy views I don’t like — I accept that because they’re still far better than a Republican would be from that district or state.
But I’m much less accepting of those kinds of things from Democrats who come from liberal communities.
Tulsi Gabbard represents half of a state that voted more than 70% for Obama in 2012, over 60% for Clinton in 2016. Yet Gabbard has often said and done things most Democrats don’t much like, from her meeting & support of Assad, to her meeting and seeming willingness to support or even work for Trump (apparently Bannon just adores her), to her support of the extremist anti-Muslim prime minister of India, to her support for anti-immigration policies targeting Muslims.
Isn’t it time Hawaii and we realize that very blue Hawaii can do far better than Tulsi Gabbard?
*full disclosure — we just came back from a wonderful 10 days in Maui. I love Hawaii.