House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's position in the news cycle took – shall we say – a turn Tuesday evening when she decided it would be a good idea to react to the Derek Chauvin verdict by...thanking George Floyd for his "sacrifice." Minneapolis' Democratic Mayor tried to one-up her on tone-deafness but fell just short. Pelosi will no doubt attempt to make amends by pushing for a partisan police reform bill, having already accused a Black senator who introduced reasonable legislation on that front last year of being complicit in Floyd's murder, as her Senate colleagues filibustered even debating that bill. No word on whether her kente cloth will make another appearance. What a special lady. But earlier in the day, she was using her leadership clout to protect Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) from a censure resolution:
How seriously are Democrats taking the vote to defeat the Waters’ censure resolution? Pelosi is on one entrance greeting members, while Hoyer is at the other, leaving nothing to chance. Several vulnerable Democrats have voted with their party, a sign that Pelosi has the votes
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 20, 2021
Pelosi and Hoyer, who talk quite a lot about "accountability" when it comes to Republicans – engineering two impeachments and, even more recently, this maneuver to punish and elevate a crackpot GOP backbencher – worked overtime to ensure one of their party's committees chairs would face none. Waters will face no formal reprimand for her deeply reckless comments in advance of the Minneapolis resolution, which are hardly out of character for her. Another member of the House Democratic leadership team pulled a version of Republicans' patented "I didn't see Trump's tweet" dodge, quickly changing the subject with high-grade whataboutism:
Here's the Q and A: "Perhaps he should sit this one out. When you think that Kevin McCarthy has the nerve to say something about anyone, when he supported the violent insurrection. pic.twitter.com/PbKLkW1DqE
— Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff) April 20, 2021
This seems to be the go-to move for most partisans in the current era of American politics. Deflect to the other tribe, back and forth, on and on. Clean up your own house, they cry, evincing little appetite to do the same. And even if you think McCarthy punted on accountability for the cause of the disgraceful and deadly January 6 riot, he did not support the violence. But if Jeffries believes otherwise, and thinks it's deeply harmful for leaders to excuse or avert their eyes from highly irresponsible words under combustible circumstances, he should be leading the censure push against Waters. He's not, of course, because he's a hack, like most of them. So he's playing defense via indignant offense and umbrage. Some anxious rank-and-file Democrats were reportedly worried enough about Waters' awful comments that they were open to censuring her, but they all ended up saluting Pelosi when the chips were down. Of course. Democrats didn't even attempt their own, er, watered-down version, like their pathetic "All Hate Matters" resolution to duck upsetting their base by condemning one of Rep. Ilhan Omar's bigoted spasms. They just lined up their people and voted down the rebuke. Republicans blasted the move:
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?? BREAKING ? Every single House Democrat just voted to stand with Maxine Waters.
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) April 20, 2021
They made it clear: Democrats are fine with Democrat politicians inciting violence and chaos.
As for Waters, I'll leave you with her unrepentant victory lap:
Maxine Waters, after the failed vote to censure her, dismissed it as just “politics.” I asked if she regrets putting House members through the vote stemming from her remarks, Waters said: “No.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 20, 2021
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