OPINION:
Marjorie Taylor Greene, in her victory speech for the Republican primary race she ran against neurosurgeon John Cowan for Georgia’s 14th District, stepped outside political norms to call out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a “bitch” who would soon be booted.
Or maybe she didn’t. Maybe this rhetoric has become political norms.
In January 2019, for example, Rep. Rashida Tlaib went on a eyebrow-raising “f— Trump” rant that made the YouTube rounds.
After unleashing a tribal scream of excitement — “I can’t take the Palestinian out of me, I feel so Palestinian today,” she explained — Tlaib thanked her supporters. And then she said, of President Donald Trump: “We’re gonna impeach the motherf——r.”
The new norm?
Greene, in her victory speech this week, said: “Let me just say this about Nancy Pelosi. Oh yeah, I do have a message for her. I just want to say to Nancy Pelosi, she’s a hypocrite, she’s an anti-American. And we’re going to kick that bitch out of Congress. She’s going down. Bye, bye.”
Pelosi, when asked about Greene’s Tuesday remarks, shrugged.
“Do you know how little attention I pay when the president of the United States called me horrible things? I don’t pay any attention to that,” Pelosi said at a news conference reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Greene faces Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal in November — but in conservative Georgia, it’s a likely bet she’ll be the new face of the 14th District in Congress come swearing-in day in January.
And she brings a lot to the conservative table.
Also at her victory speech, Greene said this: “We are not going to ever allow [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s] Green New Deal to be passed and destroy our economy and energy industry.”
And this: “[Rep.] Ilhan Omar’s Antifa buddies in Minnesota and the Black Lives Matter movement. … We are not going to allow them to tear our country down, burn our cities, riot and loot.”
And this: “We’re a nation of laws not a nation of lawlessness.”
And this: “We are fed up — fed up — with spineless politicians who care more about being liked by the fake news media than standing up against socialism. Fed up, fed up. … It’s not time for politicians to lay down … this is the time … for them to stand up.”
And finally, this: “If Republicans want to win in 2020 they need to listen to the messages I’m speaking because this is the message that represents the silent majority. … [Republicans] need to stand up and be bold. They need to speak the truth.”
All good.
All good statements; all great platforms. All much-needed, refreshing and about-time type of Republican legislative visions and political missions.
But let’s hope they’re not lost in the lingo. Greene shouldn’t risk being dismissed before she even arrives. Lions, after all, don’t have to attack mice. They can afford to ignore them.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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