Dear Representative Omar

[dreamshark]

 I sent this to my US Representative today:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please stop with the ad hominen attacks. 

 

Thank you for apologizing for your ill-considered remarks and promising to "continue to learn," but I'm afraid that you may be learning the wrong lesson. It's not just about avoiding certain phrases that might sound anti-Semitic. It's about civility. 

 

I like to think that Minnesota is a place where we believe in what some have called "The Civil Society." We try to treat each other with dignity and compassion even when we disagree passionately about some things. Flippantly accusing your own colleagues of selling out their values for money is not civil, whether they are Jewish or not. You can disagree about policy, but unsubstantiated personal attacks are just  wrong. Please stop this, and stop it now. You are not representing me when you behave like this. 

Comments

[lydy]

I dunno. She represents me. I think it is incredibly difficult to argue against money in politics, and against the Israeli government. That the confluence of the two was weaponized is...she needs to be careful. Jews are very vulnerable, especially right now. But the critique from the right is in bad faith. Her apology seemed fine, to me. And yes some of her colleagues are selling their values for money, and I do not have a problem with her saying so. In a lot of ways, I could do with a little less "civility" and a lot more compassion. I think she has the latter, and am not so concerned about the former.

[dreamshark]

Her insult was content-free and flippant, and her apology sounded an awful lot like, "I'm sorry you were offended" to me, which is barely an apology. If nothing else, this kind of behavior makes her significantly less effective at her job. Note that it was not just Republicans that reprimanded her.

This is the kind of thing I was afraid we would see from Al Franken when he was elected, and I was pleasantly surprised that he was smart and disciplined enough to keep his SNL-style smart mouth under control and build good working relationships. I hope Omar catches on to that sometime soon.

[lydy]

Her apology was perfect. It acknowledged her behavior, that it was harmful, and promised to do better. It was, however, an apology to the Jewish community, not to her colleague. She stood by her critique that political support for the Israeli government is driven by lobbyist dollars, and I don't disagree. But if what you wanted was an apology for being uncivil to her colleague, yeah, she didn't do that.

Did you see her questioning Elliot Abrams? It was magnificent! She is also being accused of being uncivil there, too, but that is exactly, precisely, the sort of behavior I want from my representatives. Also, I hope Abrams rots in hell.

[dreamshark]

I did not see that. I rarely watch videos or news shows - print and audio works better for me.