Rep. Paul Gosar /Gage Skidmore/Flicker
Opinion: Censure was warranted. But stripping Gosar of committee assignments denies his constituents equal representation and invites retaliation.
By Robert Robb | Arizona Republic
I have no objection to Democrats in Congress censuring Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar for an anime cartoon depicting him slaying Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden.
I wouldn’t even have an objection if Gosar had been booted from office, so vile was his offense.
However, if Gosar is to remain in Congress, it was wrong for Democrats to strip him of his committee assignments. That deprives his constituents of equal representation in the body.
And it invites retaliation if Republicans take over the House after the 2022 election.
Congress was right to censure Gosar
Gosar claims that the video is a metaphor for open-borders immigration. According to Gosar, he wasn’t figuratively slaying Ocasio-Cortez and attacking Biden. He was slaying and attacking the idea of open-borders immigration, which Ocasio-Cortez and Biden were figuratively representing.
Gosar’s defense against censure was two-fold. He has a First Amendment right to make his points the way he wants to make them. And the cartoon was just a cartoon. It wasn’t an incitement to violence.
Another view:Republicans’ defense of Gosar in censure vote is sickening
But the question before the House wasn’t whether the cartoon violated the First Amendment. The question was whether it constituted unacceptable conduct by a member of Congress.
