Fox propagandists want you to think that Rep. Jamaal Bowman setting off a fire alarm at the Capitol is just as bad as the violence and insurrection committed by January 6 rioters.
In case you missed it, Democrat Bowman set off a fire alarm during Saturday’s government shutdown drama. NPR explains:
Republicans alleged that Bowman was trying to delay the vote and have called for him to be punished, but the Democrat said in a statement that the incident occurred as he was rushing to cast his vote and arrived at a closed door that is usually open.
"I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door," he said. "I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused."
Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy seized on the moment to suggest that Bowman’s behavior was on a par with the January 6 rioters. Coincidentally, making an issue of Bowman conveniently distracts from the near-shutdown debacle that may end McCarthy's speakership. "When you think of how other people are treated when they wanted to come in and change the course of what was happening in this building," McCarthy said, as per NPR.
Voila! The same talking point made it to Fox News, but with more smears and more demonization of Bowman.
Personally, I believe Bowman. But even if he’s lying, even if he deliberately set off the alarm to delay the vote (Democrats had wanted to delay the vote to give themselves more time to read the bill), this is hardly an important takeaway from the right-wing civil war that nearly shut down the government. And it’s certainly nothing like January 6, where insurrectionists attacked and wounded police officers, broke windows, ransacked the Capitol and chanted “Hang Mike Pence.”
And let’s not forget that Fox pretended the Jan. 6 insurrection was either no biggie or some kind of false flag operation.
Let’s also not forget that McCarthy and his GOP House are allowing the shockingly fraudulent, criminal and federally-indicted George Santos to keep his seat.
But Fox News and their right-wing pals obsessively attacked Bowman in two days, possibly more than they have ever criticized Trump or his Jan. 6 MAGA insurrectionists.
On Saturday, The Big Weekend Show made Bowman the big takeaway of the shutdown drama (right after its top story about medical psychedelics) and spent 8:35 sneering, jeering and smearing him.
On Sunday, The Big Weekend Show revisited the Bowman story again with more sneers, jeers and smears. The discussion began with clips of various Republicans attacking Bowman on other Fox shows.
Cohost Joey Jones took time to attack Rep. Alexandira Ocasio-Cortez accusing her of “predictable spin.” Earlier, on CNN, she defended Bowman, saying that some of the exits normally open in the building had been closed (I believe she meant they had been locked) and she also brought up the GOP acceptance of Santos.
But the AOC clip left out Santos' name and also the fact that she was responding to host Jake Tapper’s questions about the incident. In other words, she did not make a point of “coming to Bowman’s rescue,” as Jones suggested.
Then the jeers, sneers and smears came fast and furious. Oh, and Jones also baselessly declared Bowman tried to create a shutdown so that Democrats could blame it on Republicans. Never mind that Democrats were key to passing Republicans’ continuing resolution that kept the government open. In fact, more Democrats than Republicans supported the bill. I guess that was all a clever ruse, eh, Joey?
JONES: So, what I really find atrocious about this is not just how horrible of a person Jamaal Bowman has been to pull a fire alarm to stall a vote, but the Democrats were willing to do that. To create a shutdown so they can blame it on Republicans.
Cohost Dagan McDowell sneered that Bowman is “so stupid” for saying he mistakenly pulled the alarm “rather than admit that he did it to stall the vote. … Well, instead of calling them the Squad now, we’re just gonna call them the Ninth Circle to Hell.” She and Jones laughed. Dowell also took a swipe at Bowman for calling opposition to TikTok “racist and xenophobic.” It's a common Fox tactic to accuse Blacks of making up racism.
Next up was breast radiologist and cohost Dr. Nicole Saphier. Saphier never hesitates to play an expert on just about anything: public health, infectious disease, mass shootings and legal matters, to name a few. Besides that, she opposes Obamacare because it gives too many people health insurance, has called for fewer people to have health insurance and advocates for people getting sick and dying. The fact that her employer, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is fine with this makes me NEVER want to go there.
Saphier now opined that because she works in a hospital with “a lot of locked doors,” that Bowman is so “dumb” and “lazy,” she’s “not sure he should be representing our nation.” Then she parroted the J6 lie: “If they're going to hold others accountable for similar offenses, hopefully this continues to gain some tension.”
Cohost Jason Chaffetz, a former Congressman, declared Bowman “knew exactly what he was doing,” suggesting that Bowman's job as a former school principal is at least part of the proof.
You can watch this shameful and shameless exhibition below, from the October 1, 2023 The Big Weekend Show.