Incredible.
A United States congressman calls out a United States senator for the latter having the nerve — the gall! — to stand on the floor of the United States Senate and — gasp! — defend the United States Constitution.
Here’s the headline over at Mediaite:
Adam Kinzinger Rips Josh Hawley’s ‘Smug Face’ CPAC Bragging Over Election Challenge: ‘Embarrassing for Us Around the World’
The story says this:
Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) tore into Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) for bragging about the objections he raised to the 2020 election even after the U.S. Capitol came under attack by Donald Trump’s supporters.…
“I think we’ll get some answers [about the Capitol riot], but look, all you have to do is see Josh Hawley’s smug face at CPAC,” Kinzinger said. “There are five people dead, two that took their own life on top of that, as a result of what you did. It was embarrassing for us around the world.”
Say what? Again, the congressman said this, bold print for emphasis supplied: “There are five people dead, two that took their own life on top of that, as a result of what you did.”
Pardon, but what incredible malicious horse hockey.
Let’s be crystal clear. First, yes, of course Congressman Kinzinger should be saluted and thanked for his military service (the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard), his tours in Iraq, and more. All the more disappointing that he seems to have no grasp of what it means to be a member of Congress.
It is the job — the job! — of a United States senator or congressman to support and defend the Constitution. Sen. Hawley stood on the floor of the Senate and questioned the certification of the electoral votes of my home state of Pennsylvania. And with considerable reason.
Eight Pennsylvania Republican congressmen and almost two dozen Republican Pennsylvania state senators have done exactly the same — in specific detail stating why they believed state’s electoral vote count should not have been certified. In fact, the state senators stated their reasons in a letter both to the U.S. Senate and U.S. House.
Those reasons from the Pennsylvania congressmen — apparently this has to be repeated yet again — were these:
And the reasons for non-certification detailed by the Republican state senators were these:
Due to numerous unlawful violations taken by Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Wolf; Secretary of State, Kathy Boockvar; and the rogue State Supreme Court, the balance of power was taken from the State Legislature, who by the U.S. and PA Constitutions, set the time, place and manner of holding elections
Secretary of State, Kathy Boockvar also usurped legislative authority by: Act 77 of 2019 that was signed into law, provides the following clear provisions:
- All mail-in ballots must be received by 8:00 p.m. election night
- Officials at polling places must authenticate the signatures of voters
- County Election Boards may begin pre-canvassing of absentee and mail-in ballots after 8:00 a.m. on election day
- Poll watchers selected by candidates and political parties are permitted to observe the process of canvassing absentee and mail-in ballots.
- No provisions were made for drop boxes or “curing” of ballots
- Seven weeks before the 2020 General Election the PA Supreme Court overstepped their bounds by ruling that:
- Mail-in ballots could be received and counted up to three days later
- Ballots mailed without a postmark would be countedSignatures on mail-in ballots would not need to be verified
- Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar also usurped legislative authority by:
- Allowing for a proliferation of unsecured drop boxes in key Democratic areas
- On the day before the election, encouraged some counties (not all) to notify party and candidate representatives of mail-in voters whose ballots contained disqualifying defects and allowing them to “cure” these defects
- In addition to these inconsistencies, certified Republican poll watchers in Philadelphia were prohibited from overseeing the canvassing of ballots. After a court ordered these poll watchers to be allowed to observe, they were “corralled” so far from the canvassing of ballots, that they could not review the activities.
Yet precisely because Hawley took these objections seriously, as he was asked to do by both the eight Pennsylvania congressmen and 21 Pennsylvania state senators, Kinzinger assails him as being responsible for the riot? Seriously?
In other words? What Kinzinger is effectively saying is that if you stood up for the Constitution of the United States in the election certification debate, then you are responsible for the riot on Capitol Hill.
Astonishing.
And disgraceful.
