What About the Impugning of Women and Minorities?

I’m fighting and firing mad now!  Not allowing Senator Elizabeth Warren to read a highly relevant letter written by Coretta Scott King, long-time civil rights leader and wife of Martin Luther King Jr., about Trump’s pick for attorney general is despicable senatorial conduct.  There appears to be no end to what Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his inner circle will do to fill the president’s Cabinet with a number of unqualified people with questionable intentions.

This kind of protection from criticism on behalf of Senator Jeff Sessions is the antithesis of democracy.  It’s hypocrisy as well given the barrage of ugly rhetoric from the Trump administration that most Republican senators and representatives have chosen to ignore.

This may all seem amusing to Republicans who won’t break ranks to protect their country. But it is heinous and cowardly behavior.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) defended the decision to bar Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to speak now and for the rest of the discussions about Sessions’ nomination.  He claimed senators need to be “called out” for breaking the rules of collegiality.

Give me a break!  What about the total lack of civility that has been the hallmark of Trump’s ascension to the presidency?  What about Trump’s crudeness toward and insulting of women, minorities and nearly anyone who disagrees with him?  Where were the senatorial concerns for civility then?

Under the Senate’s “Rule 19,” senators are not allowed to “directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.”

Reading a letter that was relevant when Jeff Sessions failed in 1986 to be approved by the Senate for a federal judgeship because of concerns about his racism is far from “impugning the character of a colleague.”  It is honestly and credibly sharing with the public information they need to know.

Speaking of rules — by the way.  The main one guiding much of government now appears to be doing whatever it takes to keep the public from information they need to have in order to make intelligent, wise decisions protecting their right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.