Congressional Democrats had apparently decided to do zip in the face of Republican attacks that they are nothing but a den of pedophiles "grooming" children for sexual abuse.
After GOP representative and MAGA enthusiast Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia called Democrats the "party of pedophiles," a member of the House Democratic leadership offered that the best response was effectively no response.
"I don’t even really pay attention to anything she says because she has nothing rational to say," Rep. Jeffries told VICE News reporter Cameron Joseph last week. “We’re focused right now on getting things done for everyday Americans: lowering costs, addressing gas prices, and inflation. They can continue to peddle lies and conspiracy theories,” Jeffries added.
It's kitchen table issues, stupid. That has been the Democratic mantra for years, and it worked spectacularly in 2018 when Donald Trump was a one-man wrecking ball tearing down the GOP on a daily basis from within the White House. Trump was a walking, talking human advertisement for why Americans should reevaluate their political priorities and general sense of urgency.
Fortunately, Trump remains a factor today, but his toxicity isn't quite as omnipresent for Americans as it was when he occupied the Oval Office. That means Democrats don't have the luxury now of focusing exclusively on kitchen table issues while Trump single-handedly dooms Republicans at the polls the way he did in 2018. Instead, Democrats must accomplish two things at once: telling people what they stand for while also indicting the GOP.
That's where Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow's impassioned rebuttal of GOP smears that she is grooming and sexualizing kindergartners comes in. A Republican colleague, Sen. Lana Theis, made the accusation in a fundraising email after McMorrow and two other Democrats walked out of an invocation Theis delivered on the Senate floor in which she claimed children were "under attack" from "forces."
To put it mildly, McMorrow was on fire when she delivered a response that was anything but a bland recitation of Democratic work on pocketbook issues.
McMorrow stated who she is and what she stands for:
"I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom. I want my daughter to know that she is loved, supported, and seen for whoever she becomes. I want her to be curious, empathetic, and kind. ... I want every child in this state to feel seen, heard, and supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight white and Christian.
She named the trick Republicans are trying to play on voters:
People who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment or that health care costs are too high or that teachers are leaving the profession. ... We cannot let hateful people tell you otherwise to scapegoat and deflect from the fact that they are not doing anything to fix the real issues that impact people's lives.
She enlisted voters in her righteous cause:
Each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history. Each and every single one of us decides what happens next and how we respond to history and the world around us. ... And I know that hate will only win, if people like me stand by, let it happen.
The nearly five-minute speech certainly qualifies as textbook, but frankly, it was a little piece of genius, which is why the YouTube video of it currently has more than 13.7 million views.
Sen. McMorrow told The Washington Post that the widespread interest in her speech “sends a really clear message" that Democrats have to "stand up and we can’t be afraid of going in on social issues."
“We have to talk about hate and identify it and say it’s ugly and disgusting and what it means as a deflection of other issues,” she added.
Amen.
Congressional Democrats absolutely must walk and chew gum this election season: highlighting their successes while calling out the morally bankrupt duplicity of Republicans—who have no plan whatsoever to help Americans weather inflation along with the overall uncertainty of the times in which we live. Doing both in tandem is not only politically smart, it’s the right thing to do, and voters will reward Democrats who follow McMorrow’s lead.
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