CNN held a town hall on Sunday for a one-on-one discussion with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who is running for president next year. During the conversation, CNN's Dana Bash asked Gabbard what she thought about Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D-MN) anti-Semitic comments. Gabbard attempted to spin the scenario so it looked as those Omar was misunderstood or her words weren't synonymous with what she meant.
"There are people who have expressed their offense at these statements. I think that what Congresswoman Omar was trying to get at was a deeper issue related to our foreign policy, and I think there's an important discussion that we have to be able to have openly, even though we may end up disagreeing at the end of it, but we've got to have that openness to have the conversation," Gabbard said. "What she was trying to bring up was something that was a deeper issue. And I don't believe that her intent was to cause any offense to anyone."
Why is it so hard for Democrats to take a stand on something that shouldn't so controversial? Omar has made anti-Semitic remarks. Period. End of story. There's no denying it.
Democrats need to stop trying to defend her actions. It's disgusting and, quite honestly, if she made similar remarks about a different group of people, whether they were LGBT, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. her fellow Democrats would be quick to bust her chops. But because this is about Israel and Jews, Democrats look at this as an easy "pass." They figure that their base doesn't care. After all, conservatives are more pro-Israel than Democrats.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on Rep. Ilhan Omar's Israel controversy: "What she was trying to bring up was something that was a deeper issue and I don't believe that her intent was to cause any offense to anyone" https://t.co/XdvLmR7ErB #CNNTownHall pic.twitter.com/sMoi5Wn3gU
— CNN (@CNN) March 11, 2019
This post has been updated with video of the event.
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