The Patriot Post® · Scalise Returns

By Gary Bauer ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/51571-scalise-returns-2017-09-29

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise returned to Capitol Hill yesterday after a long hospital stay and rehabilitation. As you recall, Rep. Scalise was shot by a radical leftist who opened fire on a group of Republican congressmen practicing for the annual congressional softball game.

Thankfully, Rep. Scalise was there with his security detail. Had the officers protecting Scalise not been there to return fire, it could have been the worst political assassination in modern history.

At the time, there were many pledges to tone down the political rhetoric. It didn’t last long.

A Democrat consultant in Pennsylvania posted tweets reading “#HuntRepublicans” and “#HuntRepublicanCongressman.”

Officials at the Nebraska Democrat Party (here and here) were exposed for cheering the Scalise shooting.

A Democrat state senator in Missouri posted on Facebook, “I hope Trump is assassinated!”

A left-wing activist shot and killed a Pennsylvania Republican Party committeeman.

Antifa thugs have continued attacking conservatives at peaceful public rallies.

After the Charlottesville riots, Congress passed, and President Trump signed, a resolution condemning white supremacist hate groups. The resolution also called on the federal government to investigate groups that are “fomenting and facilitating additional violence.”

Scalise’s would-be assassin was a fan of a Facebook page called “Terminate The Republican Party.” Is the FBI investigating this group?

Incredibly, that page is still active. Facebook doesn’t hesitate to pull content it finds offensive. But I guess that doesn’t qualify as “hate speech” to the progressives who dominate Silicon Valley and the tech industry.

On a much more positive note, Rep. Scalise received a tremendous reception in the House of Representatives Thursday morning. He spoke to a packed chamber and talked openly about his faith and his prayers that morning. You can watch his remarks here.

She Said What?!

If people were asked to name the leading feminists in America today, no doubt Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama would be at the top of every list. Yet, ironically, they seem to have little respect for the choices women make when it comes to politics, unless those choices agree with them.

Speaking at a conference in Boston Wednesday, former First Lady Michelle Obama said, “Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice.”

How arrogant and condescending! Women are not a monolithic group and Hillary certainly does not speak for every woman in America.

Earlier this month, during an interview with NPR, Clinton recalled a conversation she had with a Facebook executive. Clinton claimed that this executive told her that women — and Hillary emphasized “principally white women” — would be under enormous pressure by the men in their lives “not to vote for the girl.”

She then went on to blame Bernie Sanders supporters for being sexists: “We saw a lot of that during the primaries from Sanders supporters, really quite vile attacks online against women who spoke out for me.”

Of course, when it comes to pro-life women, feminists have taken this approach for years. They just can’t imagine why any woman would be uncomfortable destroying the innocent life within her.

In reality, however, abortion is the most fundamental betrayal of womanhood and motherhood. Being a woman means embracing the blessing of giving life, not taking it.

This is a prime example of how progressives don’t practice what they preach.  They talk a good game about diversity and tolerance. But when it comes to diversity of opinion or tolerance for conservative values, forget it.

Not Backing Down

President Trump isn’t backing down from the NFL’s national anthem controversy. I’m glad. As president of the United States and especially as commander in chief, he has every right, if not an obligation, to speak out against the NFL’s growing disrespect for America, those in uniform in the Armed Services and in law enforcement, as well as our veterans.

During an interview on Fox & Friends, President Trump said the following:

“Well, it is an important issue. It’s not a distraction at all… The NFL cannot disrespect our country. They cannot disrespect our flag or our national anthem… And the NFL is in a box. They have to do something about it…

"It’s for the honor of the country. They have to respect our country. They have to respect our flag and our anthem.”

The president went on to say that he has spoken to a few NFL owners, adding, “I think they’re afraid of their players, you want to know the truth. And I think it’s disgraceful.”

When that flag is raised and the anthem is sung, the people we naturally think of are the men and women in the military and those who have served.

I think they can tell us what is appropriate to be afraid of — the jihadist screaming “Allahu Akbar” or Viet Cong snipers in the jungle. My father talked a lot about how Japanese soldiers, hoping to undermine morale, would yell out at night, “You die, Yank!”

But wealthy football team owners being afraid of ill-informed millionaire athletes is just embarrassing.

Kudos to Allen Jones of Hardwick Clothes. His company had been outfitting NBC’s NFL commentators. Not anymore. He tweeted recently, “Our companies will not condone unpatriotic behavior!”

Jones pulled his corporate sponsorship and ads from the league this week. I hope more CEOs follow his example and stand up the country that has done so much for them and their employees.

Where is the NFL headed? Is it going to rename Chicago’s Soldier Field? Are the New England Patriots, named after our Founding Fathers, going to become the New England Pacifists?

Speaking of our founding fathers, taking a knee used to mean something very different.