House passes anti-hate resolution after furor over Ilhan Omar comments
LA TimesThe House voted Thursday to condemn anti-Semitism and other forms of hate after a protracted dispute fractured the Democratic Party over its handling of racially charged comments about Israel by freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar. Rep. Steve King, who has been admonished for racially charged remarks and apparent defense of white nationalism, voted “present.” Before the vote, Pelosi defended Omar, as well as the need to pass a resolution. “There is no obvious answer on when to and when not,” Raskin said, referring to the debate over whether there should also be a resolution to condemn Trump’s comments about “fine” white nationalists during the 2017 Charlottesville, Va., protests, or a 2016 Trump campaign ad featuring three Jewish Americans that Raskin called a “blatant appeal to anti-Semitism.” Similarly, last year Rep. Kevin McCarthy deleted a tweet in which he suggested Jewish donors were trying to “buy” the 2018 midterm election. He later told Fox News that the deleted tweet, which included pictures of three Jewish businessmen, had “nothing to do about faith.” Some Democrats on Thursday questioned why the House couldn’t single out anti-Semitism.