OPINION:
There is something profoundly troubling about the fact that Judge Jeanine Pirro may face consequences for statements that were deemed insensitive about Rep. Ilhan Omar, while the congresswoman gets a pass on her anti-Semitic beliefs.
Earlier this week, Judge Pirro was rebuked by Fox News after an Internet outrage mob lost their minds over a segment in which she questioned whether or not Ms. Omar wearing a hijab signals “adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?”
In a statement caving into pressure from the mob, Fox News asserted that they “strongly condemn” Judge Pirro’s comments and that the situation was being addressed.
“We strongly condemn Jeanine Pirro’s comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar,” Fox News said in a statement. “They do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly.”
Judge Pirro explained that her intention was simply “to ask a question and start a debate.”
“Of course because one is Muslim does not mean you don’t support the Constitution,” she said. “I invite Rep. Omar to come on my show any time to discuss all of the important issues facing America today.”
Fox News should be ashamed of themselves for not standing with their employee.
While her comments may have been controversial, Judge Pirro is a television host. Ms. Omar is a member of Congress. Which one of these women should be held to a higher standard?
Ms. Omar has repeatedly and unapologetically spewed venom toward Israel and made a number of blatantly anti-Semitic remarks without consequence.
It is interesting that in the current political climate, a congresswoman can — on more than one occasion — demonstrate her predisposition toward anti-Semitism and go as far as suggesting that our elected officials are being paid off by Israeli lobbyists without consequence. While her conduct has certainly been eyebrow raising, so has the lack of outrage over it from her Democratic peers and the media.
As a nation, we find it interesting to delve into the background of an individual who is being considered for a position as a U.S. Supreme Court justice — going as far back as high school to look for indiscretions in yearbooks when he was 15. We have a governor in Virginia that people want to resign over blackface he donned in college. Yet, a large part of this nation and our government is turning a blind eye to the overt hateful comments and current beliefs from Ms. Omar. What is going on?
The media and leftist political spectators are up in arms over remarks from a political commentator they deemed to be “bigoted,” but this woman who has the power to create laws while being an extreme and obvious bigot gets a pass. That is the real problem.
Ms. Omar said things that would get any of us fired — whether you are a police officer, a teacher or a journalist. Somehow, the Democrats still managed to gloss over her bigotry and only pass a resolution that was originally intended to denounce anti-Semitism specifically, but ultimately ended up watered down and condemning bigotry against many different groups. The congresswoman herself did not even end up with a slap on the wrist.
To demand more consequences than Ms. Omar received for Judge Pirro, a television host, is just absurd and hypocritical.
How can anyone demand any kind of punishment for someone who says something indiscreet moving forward when the Democrats have set this example with Rep. Ilhan Omar?
• Louis J. Palumbo is the director of Elite Intelligence and Protection. He has spent three decades in the security and investigations industry.
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