She persisted

The U.S. Senate has a rule that senators are not allowed to criticize their colleagues by name on the senate floor. It’s a rule they usually ignore.

They ignored it when Ted Cruz called Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar (to be fair, most people ignore Ted Cruz). They ignored it when Republicans accused Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of having “crocodile tears.” They finally enforced it when a female senator read a letter from a black woman criticizing Senator and now Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Senator Elizabeth Warren read a 30-year-old letter from Coretta Scott King opposing Sessions when he was nominated for a judgeship by Ronald Reagan. Mitch McConnell shut her down and later said “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” Those statements have now become a rallying cry. Millions of women protested Donald Trump worldwide his first weekend as president. Do you really wanna give them a new rallying cry?

Furthering their hypocrisy, Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico read the same letter the next day without being interrupted.

The rule, titled Rule XIX, may be a decent rule for procedure, but should probably be put aside when the senator being criticized is a nominee for a cabinet position. It’s just an excuse to kill debate. It especially looks bad when you come off telling a female to shut up, which has never worked out for any male in the history of forever. It especially doesn’t work out when the woman is smarter than you.

If Republicans don’t like women who persist, they probably shouldn’t tell them to shut up. They’re in for a rude awakening.

Creative note: I had a lot of fun with this cartoon. It’s not everyday I get to draw a Mason jar, bug zapper, raccoon, rooster, and a man-turtle in a wife-beater. I know it’s an ugly term, but I didn’t come up with it and you know what I’m talking about when I use it.

I spent about five hours on this cartoon. The Bear cartoon from yesterday has been shared over 500 times on Facebook alone. Can we do better with this cartoon? I believe in you.

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