(PresidentialWire.com)- On Monday as the House prepared a resolution to censure Arizona Republican Paul Gosar over that stupid anime video he posted on Twitter, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told CNN that he called Gosar last week to discuss the video, saying that Gosar told him that he wasn’t advocating violence against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or President Biden. McCarthy also pointed out that Gosar has already deleted the video from his Twitter feed.
Not that it matters.
On Wednesday, the House voted 223 to 207 to censure Gosar and strip him of his committee assignments. Voting along with the Democrats was Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
Before the vote, Ocasio-Cortez wailed and harangued against Gosar, but also Leader McCarthy whom she accused of “racist misogyny.” The drama queen complained that McCarthy would rather go off on a “tangent” about rising consumer prices and inflation than discuss Gosar’s already-deleted video. She claimed that by tweeting a silly video clip, Gosar would cause violence to trickle down. And after she prattled on for quite some time, Alexandria then laughably claimed that censuring Gosar “is not about me.” Sure, Jan.
Some Republicans made no bones about their disgust with Gosar posting the video. But they refused to support his censure because the measure was overbroad. Other Republicans warned that this kind of vindictive response from the majority party might come back to bite Democrats when they lose the House.
When he spoke on the measure, Leader McCarthy accused Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of “burning down the House on her way out the door.” Accusing the Democrats of a double-standard, McCarthy pointed out that nothing was done to Democrat Maxine Waters after she told an angry crowd awaiting the Chauvin verdict to stay on the streets and get confrontational.
Wednesday’s vote stripped Gosar of his place on the House Oversight Committee as well as the House Natural Resources Committee.
While censure is little more than a historical footnote in a lawmaker’s career, it is the harshest punishment the House can issue save for expulsion. Democrats, however, won’t be trying expulsion for Gosar or any other Republican since it requires a two-thirds vote.
Congressman Gosar is the 24th member of the House of Representatives to be censured.
