GOP Now Taking Action to Boot Bowman After He Pulled Fire Alarm, as Old Tweet Comes Back to Haunt Him
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) has certainly provided us with some unique drama for the day, on top of the drama over averting a government shutdown after he pulled the fire alarm. He came up with the most ridiculous excuses, including saying he thought somehow the alarm would open the door. No one was buying that one, as people excoriated him on X, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called for him to be prosecuted.
While Democrats said they wanted to see the video (too late), House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said he wanted to see what legal action would be taken and seemingly referenced the Jan. 6 defendants. Then other members moved to censure and/or to expel Bowman. So, we'll have to see how all of that works out.
Even though he was caught on video and he's admitting the action, he's trying to spin it as some kind of mistake. It remains to be seen how seriously that idiotic defense is treated by the Capitol Police and potential prosecutors.
What has to be the capper of the day, though, comes from Rep. George Santos (R-NY), the guy who has his own issues with questionable actions. Now, this is some truly funny stuff -- and Santos does an epic burn of Jamaal Bowman.
The presentation is priceless. "If you lift this part here, and pull this down, you trigger an alarm. Don't do it. Stay good, kids."
People on both sides of the aisle loved it, with even progressives calling it comedy gold and saying they would miss that if he, Santos, left.
In addition to being incredibly funny, Santos' little tutorial makes it painfully obvious that you can't mistake the fire alarm for anything but a fire alarm. So, whatever Jamaal Bowman is trying to spin on us -- about it somehow being an accident -- isn't anything grounded in any reality.
If a student in Bowman's school offered up such a ridiculous excuse, I doubt Bowman would have believed it. At the school where Bowman was a principal and founder, someone who set off a false alarm would face consequences up to and including expulsion.
I think obstructing a vote and just the ridiculous excuse alone should count toward an expulsion. If he did it to delay the vote, but got caught, he shouldn't have said anything to protect his legal defense. But if he admitted it, he should have just been honest. Because the silly excuse he came up with makes him look even worse, if that's possible.
We wrote earlier about some of the media's reaction to the pulling of the fire alarm by Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).
There will doubtless be more spin to come, but there was an effort from MSNBC that just has to be mentioned for being vague and trying to paint it all somehow as just an unfortunate accident, despite the existence of a picture of him deliberately pulling the alarm.
Yasmin Vossoughian accepted the statement that it was just an accident. This was some masterclass in downplaying and malarkey about the incident.
“Last thing I wanna mention and then we’re going to take a quick break. There was a mention of Jamaal Bowman, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, and the pulling of some sort of fire alarm," Vossoughian said.
"The pulling of some sort of fire alarm?" He pulled a fire alarm. You can't downplay it by trying to be more vague about it.
"I just want to read for some reporting, so you understand what actually went on there," Vossoughian continued."There were some reports that began to emerge about Representative Bowman, who was seen pulling some sort of fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building earlier today.”
Vossoughian then goes on to mention the statement from Bowman's office.
We got a statement on that saying "Congressman Bowman did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rushing to make an urgent vote, the congressman regrets any confusion," just to clarify some things on because I know there was some likely some folks—kind of, scratched their heads, wondering what it was they were asking Speaker McCarthy about.
Vossoughian went on at 3:32 p.m. Eastern time, according to Newsbusters, so they had the picture then of Bowman pulling it deliberately. We updated our story with the picture of Bowman pulling the alarm at 2:53 p.m. EST. That picture made clear that the pulling of the alarm was a deliberate act.
But Vossoughian doesn't say any of that, nor does she share the picture.
Instead, she just uncritically accepts that pap, as though it explained anything and moves on, end of the matter. She doesn't even question how can you not understand that pulling a fire alarm is pulling a fire alarm. How can she even pretend to be a "journalist," when she does things like this and doesn't even push back on the Bowman's team's statement?
That last one, the "death of shame" is the problem here. They no longer care if it makes any sense; all they care about is the best spin that seems to help the Democrats.
The House passed a temporary 45-day measure on Saturday to keep the government open.
But amid that drama, we had the additional drama of Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) pulling the fire alarm. He admits he did it. But now he's trying to claim that he "thought the alarm would open the door." He shouldn't be making statements, as he could potentially be charged. But that's just nonsensical. He's been in Congress for a while, and he was a school principal. He knows the difference between an alarm and how to open a door.
The problem for him is he's in an untenable position to defend: he did something incredibly stupid and got caught, on camera before the world. But stupidity isn't an excuse for breaking the law, and we're going to see if there are truly any consequences for a Democrat. Are we fully in the two-tiered system where he will get a pass -- even when he does something for all the world to see?
People lit him up on social media with his actions, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) calling for him to be prosecuted.
It's not clear yet what the legal consequences might be for Bowman. The Capitol Police is now investigating the incident.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said he wanted to see the video, when he was grilled by reporters. That shows you how much they will spin.
Bowman admitted it, guys, so that ship has sailed.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is calling for an ethics investigation into Bowman.
McCarthy said it would be interesting to see what the response to this would be, given how people have been treated in the past "if they've done something wrong in [the] Capitol."
Politico's Olivia Beavers, who broke the story originally, said that members were taking action to censure and/or expel Bowman for his actions.
"Rep.Malliotakis (R-NY) is drafting a resolution to have Rep. Bowman expelled, her spox Natalie Baldassarre tells me," Beavers reported. Rep. Lisa McClain is also drafting a resolution to censure him, her office confirms. Bowman’s office said alarm incident bc “confusion”/rushing to vote."
What perhaps caps off the story of the day was how there's always a tweet for everything, and it looks like there's one that didn't age well for Bowman.
"No one in this country is above the law," Bowman posted.
We're about to find out if that's true.
Post a Comment