Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., is a tiresome windbag.
Whether it’s cashing in on the latest, wokest social media campaign, or walking out of the House chamber during a moment of silence for the victims of a mass shooting because “thoughts and prayers” just won’t do, no one is more impressed with Ted Lieu’s supposed moral superiority than Ted Lieu.
We’re not the only ones who think the California congressman would do well to dial back his constant, obnoxious preening.
CNN’s John Berman and Poppy Harlow, for example, took Lieu to task for his specific brand of “resistance,” which is basically just lobbing insults on Twitter and repeatedly threatening the president with impeachment.
In reference to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ testimony this week, Lieu tweeted Tuesday, “Brewing a tasty cup of @Keurig coffee to help get me through the Lyin’ Jeff Sessions hearing that is about to start. Do you think @seanhannity covers this hearing or does he discuss the threat of emojis?”
He then added in reference to the “Saturday Night Live” actress who commonly portrays Sessions, “Kate McKinnon about to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. Oh wait, that’s actually Lyin’ Jeff Sessions.”
“Lyin’ #JeffSessions takes the oath, which would be the necessary first step if he were to be prosecuted for perjury,” he added.
Harlow took exception specifically to the congressman referring to the attorney general as a liar.
“To prejudge [Sessions’] testimony, I mean, your tweets about him being a liar were before he even appeared in front of you. Why is that appropriate? Why prejudge him?” she asked.
“Because he lied to [the] U.S. Senate,” Lieu said.
The congressman also justified his tweets by saying he’s just throwing back what the White House is dishing out.
The CNN anchors didn’t seem satisfied by that answer.
“But does that make it right?” Harlow continued. “Do you like seeing the president use words like that, like ‘lying Ted,’ so then you repeat them?”
“I am absolutely highlighting it, and until the president changes, I am going to keep doing it because I do want to highlight how ridiculous it is,” Lieu responded.
“Is that a grownup thing to do, congressman?” Berman pressed.
Lieu explained, “So remember when Michelle Obama had that beautiful line, right, ‘When they go low, we go high’? My view is when they go low, we fight back, and I’m going to fight back.”
“When they go low, we stay low?” Berman asked.
Lieu explained that if the president can insult people, then he can too.
“Is that what you would teach your children to do? Is that what we should teach our children to do?” Harlow asked.
Lieu, for his part, explained that he attacks people on Twitter because he’s trying to teach his kids a lesson about standing up to bullies. It’s as vapid and empty an explanation as Lieu’s style of “resistance,” which has really gotten quite tiresome.
Good on CNN for holding the congressman to account. Hopefully they shamed him into toning it down a bit.
It’s bad enough we have the White House doing this sort of thing. We don’t need 535 Trump wannabes adding to it from Capitol Hill.
