Is Rep. Cohen Grayson-Lite?

Is Rep. Cohen Grayson-Lite?
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

January 20, 2011

As a Jewish Republican I have a thick skin. Why? Because I am a Jewish Republican. That said, US Rep. Steve Cohen’s (D-TN) incendiary remarks likening the GOP to Nazis simply for the desire to repeal a poorly conceived healthcare bill not just crosses the line, but pole vaults it. As one who is Jewish, Cohen should know better than to cavalierly toss around such epithets, but he did so, seemingly, for shock value and the attention it garnered him.

When the left behaves in an uncivil manner, excuses are bandied about like candy on Halloween, yet dare a conservative utter a single syllable the left finds remotely inappropriate, that conservative is excoriated to the ends of the earth and hunted down with pitchforks and torches. Even the left-leaning Anti-Defamation League took Cohen to task for his remarks on the House floor.

As a firm believer in the First Amendment to the Constitution, I am not seeking to squelch Rep. Cohen’s right of free speech, just remind him that words have meaning and he might employ his brain prior to putting his mouth in motion. May we now call Rep. Cohen “Grayson-lite?”

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.