Freshman Democratic Rep. from Minnesota Ilhan Omar has gotten herself into trouble again and members of the media are rushing to her defense and condemning Republicans for their reaction to her comments.
On Monday's edition of Morning Joe on MSNBC, co-host Mika Brzezinski was the latest in the media to say that Omar's "some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties” comments at a banquet hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Referring to a tweet by President Trump, she said argued, "The video tweeted by the President Congresswoman Omar saying 'some people did something' rather than her entire quote."
Brzezinski is not the first, to try to defend Omar for saying her quote was taken out of context. It was originally Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post, not Omar herself, that ridiculously tried to compare Omar's remarks to the Bullhorn Address where President Bush told the world that, "the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!" What made Omar's comments so despicable was not the "some people," but rather the "did something." Bush did not say "the people who did something will hear from all of us soon."
Was the phrase, "and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties" critical to the context of Omar's quote? No, and the New York Post addressed the charge in a post by the editorial board after they ran a similar front page headline, "What’s out of context? She claimed that Muslim civil liberties suffered as a result of the nation’s reaction to 9/11 — even as she completely, intentionally disregarded the grim facts of that day."
Closing out the segment, Brzezinski mentioned that the House Sergeant at Arms is conducting a security assessment to safeguard Omar, her staff, and her family after received death threats in the aftermath of Trump's tweet and teased, "There is a lot to talk about with this. We're going to attack this story straight ahead with a great group next hour."
That conversation with "a great group" never came. The only time Omar came up in conversation for the rest of the show was during an interview with Democratic Presidential candidate and fellow Minnesotan Amy Klobuchar where Klobuchar accused Trump of inciting hate against Omar and that there was a connection between "that kind of hate" and violence. If the standard is that Trump is responsible for death threats against Omar, then everyone from The New York Times to Bernie Sanders is responsible for violence against Republicans.
Here is a transcript for the April 15 show:
MSNBC
Morning Joe
6:55 AM
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar says she’s received an increase in death threats following a tweet by President Trump, in a statement put out last night, the Congresswoman says in part, "Violent crimes and other acts of hate by right-wing extremists and white nationalists are on the rise in the country and around the world. We can no longer ignore that they are being encouraged by the occupant of the highest office in the land." That statement comes after President Trump posted an edited video of the congresswoman superimposed over images of 9/11 terror attacks. The audio of a speech of Omar was taken from a speech she gave last month. Here is some of what she said.
ILHAN OMAR: Far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second class citizen. And frankly I'm tired of it and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it.[Cut]
CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.
BRZEZINSKI: The video tweeted by the president featured Congresswoman Omar saying some people did something rather than her entire quote. House speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that U.S. Capitol Police and the House Sergeant at Arms are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family, and her staff following the president's tweet. There is a lot to talk about with this. We're going to attack this story straight ahead with a great group next hour.
