Omar: I’m Only ‘Controversial’ Because People Want Controversy

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) hit back at her Republican critics on Sunday, saying that they often try to find controversy in her comments.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1248446

Omar, Tlaib, AOC…they’re being used. All of this extraordinary exposure is for one purpose and one purpose only.

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The GOP tried to shut down Elizabeth Warren by denying her leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and ended up amplifying her voice, possibly sending her to the Oval Office. They really don’t learn from their mistakes…

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The Muslim congresswoman, who sought asylum from Somalia as a child, is a frequent target of attacks from conservatives over supposedly being “un-American” or “ungrateful” toward the U.S.

And yet I find her just the opposite.

ETA: Of ‘The Squad,’ I find Rep. Omar the most interesting and would like to have a long lunch with her some day. A gay, Southern, citified white boy (yes, I still call myself a boy … at heart) Miss Omar could teach me a lot.

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I cringe every time an interviewer leans into a question with "…but you did/didn’t mean to imply blabbety, blabbety, blah - (his/her own interpolation)…? - as though already impugning the intent of the interviewee. This strikes me as rather prejudicial. Many do it all the time, and it grates on me every time. Might it not be more professional to simply ask: “Tell us what, if anything, you meant to further imply by making that statement?”

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I don’t see the point in making these comparisons — both sides agree on what is happening: children are being separated from their parents and locked in cages in an effort to deter asylum seekers. That is morally outrageous from top to bottom, on its own terms, without drawing tenuous connections to slavery or the Holocaust.

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Perhaps. However, I feel there’s more meaning to what she said. What Trump is doing is a sure way down that slippery slope to what happened in Germany all those years ago, as well as human slave labor. The most-recent contracts to build and run those future detention centers are to corporations that cut corners so deeply, hire the worst of the worst for guards and medical attendants, etc., that you’d never convince me those very same corporations wouldn’t try their damnedest at squeezing some labor out of the (forever) detainees on the guise of “keeping them busy, building character, pay their own way while the taxpayer is paying us to house and feed them,” and on and on. I don’t trust them as far as I can throw the building I live in.

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It’s all on the same continuum. It’s all white “Christian” people treating people of color as less than human.

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The Muslim congresswoman, who sought asylum from Somalia as a child, is a frequent target of attacks from conservatives over supposedly being “un-American” or “ungrateful” toward the U.S.

Talk about privilege. Trump literally got elected by criticizing America at every opportunity, especially while Obama was President. But when Omar points out real problems, she’s “unAmerican”? Ridiculous.

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The right wingers can’t handle intelligent women period.

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Your OneWordAnswer™: Yes.

But that would require journalists to be actual journalists and elicit information from an interview.

Whereas most talk shows now are about the entertainment factor, wherein a good argument is always preferable to merely laying out the facts.

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And this particular avenue entertainment is clearing the runway for the hatefest that is going to be the 2020 election.

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You are really good at turning my obscurities into plainspeak. Thanks for that. :clap:

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I’m a simple person, I like breaking things down into the simplest and bluntest terms possible.

It’s a gift. I respect you for it - on the days when I am not worried about you firebombing the opposition… (kidding). LOL

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I would never participate in acts of violence, I’m very non-confrontational.

Now, would I be glued to the TV screen, possibly recording it for re-runs, with plenty of beer at hand…

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I saw a report recently that detainees have been put to work…it wasn’t clear exactly what that meant but it sure sounded like they were being treated as prisoners and working without pay. It would be nice if that was tracked down by someone and confirmed, if we are making asylum seekers into another free source of labor for corporations then that’s pretty horrific, on top of all the other abuses they are being subjected to.

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She’s controversial because she’s a woman of color who’s been gaining prominence and does not take insults lying down.

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Infotainment is what we have with an emphasis on the 'taiment.

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That’s why I gave up the tv machine and quit watching news in 1989. Found other ways to stay informed, since I was no longer being informed, but told what to think about what they were telling me.

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