Let the record show. On Dec. 2, 2010, Democratic Representative Charles Rangel was censured by the House of Representatives for a range of financial irregularities. 

The vote was 333-79, with 170 Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, voting to condemn their own powerful chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

Let the record also show. On Nov. 17, 2021, the first censure vote since, Republican Representative Paul Gosar was censured by the House for posting an anime video in which he appeared to kill Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attack President Biden. The vote was 223-207, with only two Republicans, notably NOT including GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, voting to condemn one of their own.

The contrast between then and now shows how one political party has become bereft of any ethical or moral core, how consumed the Republican Party has become with total, blind, unbending partisanship, and how, under the feckless Kevin McCarthy, anything goes – even suggestions of murder!

In the history of the House, only 23 otheMembers have been censured, and Gosar deserved it as much as any other. How can he or anyone else defend posting a video in which he kills another Member of Congress and threatens the president of the United States? As Congresswoman Cheney – one of two Republicans, along with Congressman Adam Kinzinger, to vote for censure – told reporters, “This is not an issue about party. The glorification of the suggestion of the killing of a colleague is completely unacceptable.” Republican or Democrat, Congress had no choice but to censure Gosar, Cheney noted: “I think that it’s really important for us to be very clear that violence has no place in our political discourse.”

The only thing remarkable about Gosar’s censure is that it took so long. As CNN’s Chris Cillizza reports, this is hardly the first time Gosar’s stirred up controversy. He’s known for his ties to white nationalist groups like Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and he actually spoke at an America First conference led by Holocaust-deniers in February 2021. After the violent white supremacy rally in Charlottesville in 2017, Gosar suggested the rally was actually organized by the left and funded by George Soros.

Then came January 6, when Gosar defended the terrorists who assaulted the U.S. Capitol as “peaceful protesters.” No wonder. As Hunter Walker reported in Rolling Stone, according to several organizers of the insurrection, Gosar told them ahead of time that, after speaking personally to Donald Trump, he could guarantee them a “blanket pardon” for whatever havoc they caused at the Capitol.

In response to an avalanche of criticism, Gosar briefly took down his offending video. But he never apologized for it. And, in fact, in a giant “F-You” to the House of Representatives, re-posted the video immediately following his censure.

Gosar’s so far off the rails that in 2018, six of his nine siblings actually appeared in a TV ad endorsing his Democratic opponent. But, no matter how odious his actions are to his own family, Gosar still has the undying love and support of cowardly Kevin McCarthy.

Indeed, the only thing more disgusting than Gosar’s violence-laced video is McCarthy’s failure to deal with it. McCarthy said he had a “conversation” with Gosar about the video, but refused to condemn it. Which, we now know, is par for the course for McCarthy. He’s so determined to become Speaker of the House someday that he’ll defend actions of any Republican, no matter how outrageous.

McCarthy still supports Matt Gaetz, even though he encouraged members of America First to shoot Silicon Valley executives over their alleged suppression of conservative votes. He defends Lauren Boebert, despite a string of hate-speech, most recently calling Congresswoman Ilhan Omar a “jihad squad member.” He’s never condemned Mo Brooks for appearing at the January 6 rally on the Ellipse and encouraging Trumpers “to start taking down names and kicking ass.”

And, according to her, McCarthy’s promised tgive back nutty QAnon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene all her committee assignments, even though she once endorsed violence against Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, insists an airplane never hit the Pentagon on September 11, and alleged that a space laser started the California wildfires to benefit a Jewish bank.