Playing Politics with Airline Security
Charles Johnson
Mon Apr 2, 2007 at 1:56 pm PDT • Views: 302
Debra Burlingame has a column in the New York Post about the disgraceful response of House Democrats to the transportation security bill amendment that protects people who report suspicious behavior from being sued by the likes of CAIR: Lawsuits first, safety second. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)
This is the kind of no-brainer legislation that every member of Congress should vigorously support. Yet House Democrats reacted to King’s proposal as if he’d thrown a bomb into the House chamber itself.
According to witnesses in the gallery and on the floor, Speaker Nancy Pelosi displayed a classic deer-in-the headlights look as the Democratic leadership went into a huddle - plainly eager, not to embrace this common-sense measure, but to sidetrack it.
Meanwhile, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, took the floor to oppose King’s motion - and to defend the lawsuit against John Does. “We should be tolerant,” he argued; people shouldn’t be singled out because they “look different.”
In fact, the flying imams triggered concerns by a variety of unusual actions, as well as words that roused the concern of another Arabic-speaking passenger. Witnesses say that House members started booing Thompson.
Finally, a member of the leadership realized how this would look to Americans watching on C-SPAN: Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) was seen staring at Thompson and repeatedly drawing his hand across his throat - an urgent signal to get off the floor.
Previously at LGF:
A Defeat for CAIR in the House of Representatives
Frank says: