If ever there were an appropriate time to wish your colleague would die, it’s at a prayer breakfast. Right?
Speaking at the Broadway Baptist Church in Memphis last month, during a prayer breakfast hosted by former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen’s senatorial campaign, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., joked that he wished Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., would jump off a local bridge. Blackburn is running against Bredesen for retiring GOP Sen. Bob Corker’s seat. HuffPost obtained audio of Cohen’s remarks this week.
[Audio: Dem rep says Trump should tell Marsha Blackburn to jump off a bridge]
“The big orange president. …. He’s going to come down here and he is going to endorse Marsha Blackburn, because Marsha Blackburn, if he says, ‘Jump off the Harahan Bridge,’ she’ll jump off the Harahan Bridge. I wish he’d say that,” Cohen bellowed. The audience, made up mostly of Bredesen’s Democratic supporters, laughed right along.
That’s one way to celebrate a prayer breakfast.
Given the opportunity to clarify his remarks, Cohen still insisted on trashing Blackburn. “It was obviously humor,” the congressman told HuffPost on Thursday. “I wish her no harm. I hope she doesn’t get the Senate. And I wish she wasn’t a lackey for Trump. But I don’t wish her physical harm.”
Classy!
According to HuffPost’s write-up, the Bredesen campaign does not appear to have condemned, distanced itself from, or apologized for Cohen’s quip, and instead simply “pointed to Bredesen’s remarks at the same breakfast,” which were not so ugly.
HuffPost was right to publish the audio, but most of the national coverage has so far been isolated to right-leaning outlets (with the exception of Roll Call and, of course, HuffPost, as of early Friday afternoon). It goes without saying that, were Cohen a Republican and Blackburn a Democrat, this story would be dominating the media. There’s time for other outlets to catch up, but their silence in the story’s first 15 hours of its existence is telling enough.
If their parties were reversed, Cohen would be an incorrigible sexist, and Blackburn would be a victim. Which, she’s not, by the way. She’s capable of handling a dumb joke. But should she have to?
It should also be noted the central assertion of Cohen’s joke was that Blackburn doesn’t think for herself and takes her cues from a man. Under different circumstances, I imagine feminists would have something to say about that.
Those concerned about the coarsening of our political dialogue have reason to complain about the president, of course. But this isn’t a problem created or exacerbated exclusively by him or his party. So if you’re one of those people, own it, and hold Cohen accountable for his part.
