OpEd: Hawley's sprint was more than just funny. It encapsulated his core cowardice.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-hawleys-sprint-was-more-than-just-funny-it-encapsulated-his-core-cowardice/article_c4331e60-888a-5676-9869-7d65265d2506.html


By now, it’s likely that every politically sentient person in Missouri has watched and re-watched the brief video aired in Thursday night’s House committee hearing showing Sen. Josh Hawley darting through the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, like Road Runner with Wile E. Coyote in hot pursuit. Laughable as the video is, it’s important to remember the deadly serious context surrounding this sidesplitting comeuppance for a politician who so richly deserves it. Lives were lost that day, the seat of government was breached for the first time in more than two centuries, American democracy was destabilized in what may yet prove to be permanent ways — and Missouri’s junior senator was instrumental in all of it.

When then-President Donald Trump refused to accept his clear defeat in the November 2020 election, every congressional Republican had a choice to make: Endorse Trump’s scheme to undermine public confidence in the results by falsely claiming that mass voter fraud had cost him reelection, or put party aside and stand up for democracy. Hawley, like far too many of his fellow Republicans, chose the former.

It was a common betrayal of duty within the party, but Hawley’s betrayal had unique consequences. Under a byzantine electoral process that both parties in Congress are even now attempting to reform, it takes just one member of each chamber objecting to a given state’s electoral results to trigger floor debate over those results. The House, being the House, had plenty of Trump sycophants lining up to pull that trigger, but it looked for a time like Senate Republicans would do the responsible thing and decline.

Then Hawley — and, initially, only Hawley — announced he would object. With that, the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 went from being a pro-forma rubber stamp of a settled election to a showdown over Trump’s big lie that would make the Capitol a target for the mob.

*snip*

[underpants]

1. Not one Dem Senator contested W's non-win in 2000

Not a single one and there was PLENTY of reasons to.

[TheBlackAdder]

2. That's where the Forrest Gump references fail. Forrest ran into fire to save others. He was not 🐤

[2naSalit]

3. K&R

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[TheBlackAdder]

5. Is this Josh Hawley's family farm. It sure would explain a lot.

.

https://www.hawleyfarms.org/shop

.

[MiniMe]

6. This has been making the rounds on Facebook. Cracks me up

[calimary]

9. Excellent!!!

[Torchlight]

7. Hey, Josh... like it or not, you've illustrated yourself accurately

for all the world to see and from that, judge you on your merits.

You've created your own living epitaph that you'll be forced to wear for the remainder of your miserable, cowardly life.

[Martin68]

8. Let's throw in a little "hypocrisy" with that "cowardice." He talks the talk, but he doesn't

walk the walk because he's too busy running. He's a hypocritical coward.

[ZERTErYNOthe]

10. It's more dangerous than stated

From the article:

Think about that. Faced with constituents who had been misled by a lying president to reject the results of a fair election, Hawley doesn’t seek to educate them on the facts but rather agrees to give official voice to the lie, because that’s what they want. That’s not a leader, it’s a follower — one who follows the worst elements of his party, even after an attack that endangers him, his congressional colleagues and democracy itself. And that’s a legacy from which Hawley can never run.

Not just a follower (that implies some passiveness), but an active leader in the overthrow of our democracy, someone who continued to do so despite personally being in mortal danger. He was that dedicated to the overthrow of our government.

Mitch McConnell wouldn't put his own life in danger to obtain his goals, but Josh is willing to do whatever it takes, and happy to do so if it furthers his goals. That says a lot.

He must REALLY hate america.