In the midst of their midterm results coverage on Wednesday, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News touted the diversity of the Democratic Party’s field of winners. But in the process, they celebrated the election of Congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. The problem? She’s been accused of anti-Semitism because of her anti-Israel stance.
In a November 2012 tweet, Omar lashed out at the Jewish state of Israel by playing on anti-Jewish tropes. “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. #Gaza #Palestine #Israel” she wrote. And in a response to someone who called her out as a “Jew hater”, Omar called Israel an “apartheid” state.
Despite this incident, CBS national correspondent Jim Axelrod touted Omar for becoming “the first-ever Somali-American elected to Congress.” “Born in Somalia, she and her family fled the violence of civil war when she was eight. After years in a refugee camp in Kenya, she immigrated here when she was 12, learning English in three months,” he added.
On NBC, congressional correspondent Kasie Hunt rolled Omar into a report that touted gains for Democratic women. “The newest Congress featuring more than 100 women, a new record. Among them, the first Muslim women, Michigan's Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota's Ilhan Omar,” she praise.
Of course, neither of them mentioned Omar’s controversy. Omar replaced Democrat Keith Ellison, who won his bid to become Minnesota’s attorney general. He has been seen palling around with rabid anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan and, on a separate note, was accused of abuse by a former girlfriend. The liberal media more often than not ignores anti-Semitism on the left and pretends it only exists on the right.
Axelrod also noted how “27-year-old Democrat Safiya Wazir is the first refugee ever elected to New Hampshire's state house,” while Hunt celebrated the “year of the woman” by only celebrating Democratic ones:
Also winning, New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. At 29, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Then there is Deb Haaland and Sharice Davis, the first Native American women. Mikie Sherrill is one of more than a dozen veterans who won.
While these liberal broadcast networks wanted to just praise the diversity and historic elections for Democrats, Townhall political editor Guy Benson pointed out on Twitter how the GOP broke many glass-ceilings of their own:
- First woman elected as governor of Iowa in Kim Reynolds
- First woman elected as governor of South Dakota in Kristi Noem
- First Korean American woman elected to Congress in Young Kim of California
- First woman elected to be a senator from Tennessee in Marsha Blackburn
- First woman elected to be a senator from Arizona in Martha McSally (results pending)
- First Latina lieutenant governor of Florida with Jeanette Nunez
- First woman elected to be a senator from Mississippi in Cindy Hyde-Smith (favored in the runoff)
The only thing either of the networks noted for Republican victories came from Hunt, who noted the GOP elected some veterans.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
November 7, 2018
6:50 p.m. EasternJEFF GLOR: It appears diversity was perhaps the biggest winner of this year’s midterm elections, which saw a record number of women run for office. Jim Axelrod introduces us to two from the class of 2018.
[Cuts to video]
JIM AXELROD: While election day marked its fair share of first, the stories of two particular trailblazers may well carry the most power, that is if you're taking their measure not by where they finish their journeys but from where they started.
(…)
AXELROD: In Minnesota, 36 -year-old Ilhan Omar became the first-ever Somali-American elected to Congress.
ILHAN OMAR: Here in Minnesota, it's a cold state, but the people have warm hearts. And we don't just welcome immigrants, but we send them to Washington.
AXELROD: Born in Somalia, she and her family fled the violence of civil war when she was eight. After years in a refugee camp in Kenya, she immigrated here when she was 12, learning English in three months.
(…)
AXELROD: And mastering politics in the years that followed.
(…)
AXELROD: 27-year-old Democrat Safiya Wazir is the first refugee ever elected to New Hampshire's state house. Her family fled Afghanistan and the Taliban 21 years ago, spent ten years in a refugee camp before making their way here. She studied the dictionary at night to learn English.
(…)
AXELROD: These days our politics clearly can frustrate, anger and divide, but these two winners provide a much-needed reminder our elections still have the power to inspire. Jim Axelrod, CBS News, New York.
NBC Nightly News
November 7, 2018
7:11 p.m. EasternKASIE HUNT: This is Kasie Hunt on Capitol Hill where history is about to be made. The newest Congress featuring more than 100 women, a new record. Among them, the first Muslim women, Michigan's Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota's Ilhan Omar.
(…)
HUNT: Also winning, New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. At 29, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Then there is Deb Haaland and Sharice Davis, the first Native American women. Mikie Sherrill is one of more than a dozen veterans who won.
(…)
HUNT: Other veterans include Greg Pence, the brother of the Vice President, and Dan Crenshaw, one of the first millennial Republicans elected. And a trail blazed in Colorado Democrat Jared Polis is the first openly gay man elected governor. Next door in Utah, a fresh face to Congress, also one of the most familiar, the state's newest senator, Mitt Romney.
(…)
HUNT: Kasie Hunt, NBC News, the Capitol.
