Here is a tip: If you want to paint your opponent as a conspiratorial nut, it is best not to come across as a conspiratorial nut yourself.
In other words, do the opposite of what Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan did Tuesday during a congressional hearing on e-cigarettes. The moment occurred after a witness, vaping advocate Vicki Porter, smiled and winked at Wisconsin Republican Rep. Glenn Grothman as he formally introduced her during the hearing’s opening moments.
Tlaib found the show of familiarity disturbing.
“It is so important that you all continue to speak truth about this because long-term effects [are] very dangerous, especially because they have been targeted towards youth,” the congresswoman said.
Tlaib continued, addressing Porter directly, “I was reading, because I wanted to know more about you and your beliefs, and I respect that we all have different beliefs, but you call yourself a converted conservative and a reformed Marxist. Are you a conspiracy theorist?”
The confused-sounding witness replied, “I think my politics are entirely irrelevant to this hearing.”
“Oh, OK,” said Tlaib, adding “why were you winking at one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle? You winked.”
Porter replied simply that she and Grothman are friends, and that he had introduced her.
“Okay, I understand,” said the congressman. “I didn’t know what the winking was, because I thought maybe there [was] something like a conspiracy thing going on there. I didn’t know.”
“You think there is a conspiracy in this hearing, ma’am?” asked Porter.
“No,” Tlaib smiled, adding, “I actually think people are speaking truth here and you can provide information.”
.@RashidaTlaib attacks conservative vaping advocate Vicki Porter: “Are you a conspiracy theorist?” pic.twitter.com/Czf5cALRks
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 24, 2019
Let’s go back a tick. Either Tlaib tried to undermine Porter’s credibility as a witness with coy innuendo — which was surely her purpose — or the congresswoman really believed she had uncovered a possible far-reaching conspiracy because she saw the witness wink at a Republican lawmaker. Honestly, neither option reflects well on Tlaib, the smear merchant or the paranoid conspiracist.
Then again, there is no rule saying she cannot be both.
When Porter went on to note that she had “quit smoking with e-cigarettes and so did 8 million other people,“ Tlaib shot back with the very tendentious and certainly untrue, “You’re still smoking, ma’am. You’re still smoking.”
Later, the congresswoman claimed secondhand smoke is worse for one’s health than smoking a cigarette directly.
Tlaib’s performance Tuesday was every bit as embarrassing as when she and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley sat down for an interview in July with CBS News’ Gayle King, back when the Michigan congresswoman spoke for her Democratic colleagues like they were children.
Too bad King was not around Tuesday to tell the congresswoman again in so many words: Calm down.
