“Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire”—GOP Congressman Paul Gosar’s a “NAY” on Condemning Anti-Semitism and Any Other Bigotry March 15, 2019
Congressmember Ilhan Omar (D-MN) apparently doesn’t “get it.” How does she not understand that one can criticize Israel’s policies just like many Americans and Israelis do, but that to use anti-Semitic tropes when doing this is beyond offensive? On 2/13/2019, the House unanimously condemned her 424-0 for falsely calling out Democrats and Republicans as being “bought and paid by AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (jewishjournal.com, Bandler, 2/13/19).”
After employing this awful “Jews control everyone with money” meme, Omar could not stop herself from uttering an even worse anti-Semitic canard. Omar stated that pro-Israel advocates “push for allegiance to a foreign country (See latimes.com, Stokols, E., 3/08/19).” This accusation constitutes the highly malignant anti-Semitic charge of “dual loyalty.” For centuries, even before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, Jews were accused by anti-Semites of being “more loyal to their own people” than anyone else. Jews were additionally attacked for being more loyal to countries where they did not live and for advocating foreign ideologies or causes. The Russian Czarist and Communist rulers, the Nazis, as well as the 1940’s America Firsters employed such charges to turn the local populace against Jews and to prevent them from speaking out on important political issues.
When the Democratic House majority initially tried to reprimand Omar a second time, some congressional Democrats argued that she was being unfairly targeted as a woman of color and as a Muslim. In the end, however, Democrats worked out a resolution strongly condemning Omar’s dual loyalty attacks as well as similar dual loyalty accusations made against JFK and his fellow Catholics in the 1950’s and 1960’s. This resolution further condemned bigoted comments against blacks, Muslims, LGBTQ individuals, and members of several other nationalities. It condemned white supremacist attitudes, which GOPers, remember, did not formally do in the House or Senate after Charlottesville (See Stolberg, 3/07/19, nytimes.com). The vote on this 3/07/19 resolution was 407-23. All Democrats voted for it, but 23 GOPers voted against it. Chief GOP bigot, Cong. Steve King (R-IA), just voted “Present (Stolberg, 3/07/19).” GOPers argued that the resolution was a “weak” condemnation of anti-Semitism, because “everyone else” was included (See Stolberg). Ridiculous! Studies have shown that the best way to decrease anti-Semitism is not to speak about Jewish achievements or suffering but to teach people that hate and stereotyping of ANY group is not “cool (See Kushner, H., “To Life,”).” Many schools have adopted this tactic to teach their students tolerance and fair play. And after today’s horrible massacre by an alleged white supremacist in Christchurch, New Zealand that killed 49 worshippers in two mosques, (AP 3/15/19), the House’s condemnation of Islamophobia could not have been more on point. All hate of any kind must always be condemned.
For several days, many in the media ran stories about the Democrats being in “disarray” over condemning anti-Semitism. After the vote was taken, however, the GOP, according to many press accounts, splintered over this resolution. By voting “Nay” on this strong resolution, twenty-three or nearly two-dozen “Team Red” House members, handed the unanimous Democrats a “gift (politico.com/newsletter, Palmer, Sherman, & Lipman, 3/08/19).” The GOP became the true group in “disarray,” by giving several “reasons” for not voting unanimously with the Democrats. Some “Team Red” members argued that negative comments about “white Christians” were not covered. Others, as stated previously, were upset that the resolution condemned more than anti-Semitism. And, IMHO, many of these 23 GOPers probably couldn’t bring themselves to condemn anti-LGBTQ hatred and Islamophobia. One of the “Nays” in this “Gang of 23,” GOP Cong. Paul Gosar, had met last year with a Belgian politician who supports banning Muslims from Europe. Gosar tweeted that anti-Muslim hatred, was “not an issue” for this resolution. Some GOPers said that Wiccans and Jehovah’s Witnesses hadn’t been included (Stolberg, nytimes.com, 3/07/19, latimes.com, Stokols, 3/08/19). The GOP has now become muddled and has gone off-message by its failure to unanimously condemn anti-Semitism. Cong. Gosar and many of his “Gang of 23” are not very great on race issues, and, frankly, on facing down anti-Semitism with their constant Soros conspiracy talk. And no matter how you “spin” it, voting “No” to condemn bigotry never looks very good. Once again, the GOP “self owns” not strongly taking on bigotry (See talkingpointsmemo.com, Marshall, J., 3/07/19). Cong. Gosar could care less about his vote. Provoking people and taking wacky stands constitutes his political playbook. Here’s Cong. Gosar.
Fifth-term GOP Congressman Paul Gosar (60) currently represents AZ’s 4th Congressional District (CD). The present AZ 4th contains much of the rural and northwestern part of that state. About the size of MA, the AZ 4th goes from the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead in the state’s northwest corner all the way to the outskirts of Yuma. The 4th spans east to Prescott and the Phoenix exurbs in Pinal County. The 4th ‘s population center is Prescott, the city where conservative icon Barry Goldwater announced his 1964 presidential campaign. Bullhead City and Lake Havasu City are also located in the 4th. Tourists flock to this district to view its Old West flavor. Prescott and Lake Havasu City are the second and third most popular retirement areas in the country. Agriculture remains important to the 4th , and the casinos across the Colorado River in neighboring NV boost Bullhead City’s economy. The Army tests weapons systems at the Yuma Proving Ground (Barone & CQ 14 Political Almanacs).
About 19% of the 4th is Hispanic and this CD has small reservations where Native Americans live. However, nearly 87% of the 4th is white, made up of retirees and upwardly striving families who are politically and culturally conservative. The post-2010 redistricted 4th is AZ’s most GOP district. It has a “super-Red” R+21 Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) score (4/07/17). Romney defeated Obama in the new 4th by 36 points in 2012 and Donald clobbered Hillary in 2016 by an even larger 40% margin (AZ Election Results).
Rock Springs, WY native Paul Anthony Gosar is the oldest of seven sons and three daughters (AP Election Guide, Gosar, Barone 14). His parents were activist GOPers who attended the Republican national conventions that nominated Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Gosar received his BA from Omaha, NE’s Creighton University and his dental degree from Creighton’s Boyne School of Dentistry (gosarforcongress.com, 10/14/09). Gosar moved to AZ and owned his own dental practice in Flagstaff for 25 years. He received recognition for being a top dentist and served on AZ dental governing bodies (gosarforcongress.com, 10/14/19).
Gosar fit the perfect description of a Tea Party politician and was featured by the AZ Tea Party on its website. Although he had never held public office, Gosar decided in 2009 to run for Congress in the 2010 election because he felt concerned by the “overreach of the ‘Democrat-controlled’ Congress under Pres. Obama (CQ 14, nytimes.com, Zernike, K, 10/14/10).” After winning the GOP primary, where he was endorsed by Sarah Palin and then Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Gosar defeated his Democratic rival incumbent Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick with 49.7% of the vote in the 2010 Tea Party year in the then AZ 1st CD (CQ 14, gosarforcongress.com/endorsements). When redistricting for the 2012 election made the 1st CD more friendly to “Team Blue,” Gosar decided not to face a re-match against Kirkpatrick and ran instead in the new ultra-conservative 4th CD, which had about 200,000 of his old constituents. (Kirkpatrick won in the newly re-districted 1st {CQ14}). After winning the 4th CD GOP primary, Gosar smashed his Democratic opponent by 38.4 points (CQ 14). He coasted to re-election in 2014 and 2016 by margins of 44.17% and 43% respectively (Election Results, AZ 4th Cong. Dist. Race). In 2018, six of Gosar’s nine siblings spoke out against their brother and endorsed his Democratic opponent in television ads. They accused Gosar of not caring about rural AZ (Bradner, E., cnn.com, 9/21/18). The “ultra-Red” 1st ignored these ads and gave Gosar a 39% victory margin (Early Guide 116th Cong., CQ). During his political career, right-wing Koch Industries has given Gosar at least $22,500 (sourcewatch.org, opensecrets.org).
In the House, Cong. Gosar has a hard- right voting record (See CQ & Barone 14). In the current 116th Congress, Gosar has voted with Demagogue Donald 100% of the time (projectsfivethirtyeight.com). He is a member of the extremist-plus Freedom /“Freedumb” Caucus, the ultra-right GOP group that helped push former conservative GOP Speaker John Boehner out of office as being “too moderate (See rollcall.com, Garcia, E., 7/18/18).” Before his ridiculous comments about not voting to condemn anti-Semitic or any other bigotry, Gosar first made national attention by attacking Michael Cohen during his 2/27/2019 testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Congressional Committee. Gosar attacked Cohen by yelling at him third- grade style, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” In case anyone might forget Gosar’s playground rant, the GOP House minority put up a sign with those words in the hearing room (See 12 news.com, 3/07/2019). Gosar wrongly told a young person that photosynthesis, where plants take carbon dioxide to produce oxygen, causes climate change. In grilling an FBI agent in 7/2018, Gosar stated that since he was a dentist, “I can read body language very very well.” When was reading body language part of dental school training? Gosar claimed that Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor, now American citizen, George Soros organized the white supremacist/anti-Semitic fatal rally at Charlottesville in 8/2017 (See 12 news.com). Wow! A fellow who won’t condemn anti-Semitism in a congressional resolution uses the George Soros anti-Jewish meme to promote one far out conspiracy theory.
During Donald’s 2018 State of the Union address, Gosar asked Capitol Police to arrest “illegal aliens” since many Democrats had invited them as guests. Gosar traveled to London in 7/2018 to support a far-right anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson. Gosar criticized “disgusting and depraved individuals” from Muslim communities who commit acts of sexual violence (roll.com, Garcia, E., 2/18/18). Gosar is anti-choice (votesmart.org). In 2015, he submitted articles of impeachment against the EPA administrator for “lying to the American people (Smith, S., gosar.house.gov, 9/11/15).” Catholic Gosar, a former altar boy, was the only member of Congress who did not attend Pope Francis’s 9/24/2015 address to a joint session of that body. In a fundraising email after the Pope’s speech, Gosar described the head of his church as “acting and talking like a leftist politician, and he can then be expected to be treated like one (See Weigel, D., 9/30/15, washingtonpost.com, Barone 14).” Gosar, described as an “ardent Trump loyalist” by the NY Times, was one of just four GOPers to vote “present” when the rest of the House voted 420-0 on a 3/14/2019 resolution. That resolution demanded the Justice Department release to Congress and the public the full findings of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the possible involvement of Trump’s campaign (Fandos, N., 3/14/19).
Congressman Gosar, in his safe “dripping Red” district, will continue spouting “off the wall” nonsense. It will constitute ridiculous drivel, if he stays part of an irrelevant House minority. As long as Democrats vote in droves during every national election, “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire” Gosar can’t influence legislation or major policy issues.