Top Democrats Run for Cover on Rep. Kaptur's Defense of Terrorists

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NewsMax.com

Friday, March 7, 2003

WASHINGTON - House Democrat leaders have headed for the tall grass when asked about appeasement activist Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s comments equating Osama bin Laden’s mass murderers to patriots of the American Revolution.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has failed to respond to repeated calls and faxes from NewsMax.

Likewise, the second-ranking Democrat in the House, Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, while acknowledging the request from NewsMax.com’s Wes Vernon, will say nothing about Kaptur’s kind words for the world’s most wanted terrorist.

"Yes, I think he has no comment,” spokesman Katie Elbert told NewsMax.com.

Was Hoyer aware of the request for comment?

"Yes,” was the reply. And yet he failed even to disagree with Kaptur. (Not surprisingly, Hoyer refuses to list his e-mail address on his congressional Web site.)

Hoyer’s office had asked that we put our request for comment in writing. Shortly after the inquiry was e-mailed, NewsMax's Washington Bureau was contacted by phone to let us know the Maryland lawmaker would have nothing to say about Kaptur’s statement to her hometown paper, the Toledo Blade.

Ever since San Francisco Democrat Pelosi was chosen to lead her party in the House, whose numbers were reduced even further in last November’s elections, she has become increasingly strident in her daily shots at the White House, bolstered and encouraged by a belief that catering to the demands of the party’s far left wing is the sure ticket to taking back the House and for defeating President Bush next year.

'Outrageous Utterings'

Congresswoman Kaptur’s comments gave the GOP a golden opportunity to go on offense to remind voters of the appeasement mentality that permeates the leadership of the Democrat party.

The refusal of Pelosi or Hoyer to denounce or even comment on Kaptur’s statement comparing Osama bin Laden with the "religious purpose” of those who helped win the American Revolution validates a flat prediction made Thursday by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

In a statement directed to NewsMax by DeLay’s office, the top House Republican predicted that "Democrat leaders would look the other way despite the outrageous utterings of one-time Democrat presidential hopeful Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio.”

"This is not a gaffe and should not be treated as such,” DeLay said.

"It seems to me the Democrat leadership dons their earmuffs when it comes to insensitive and extreme rhetoric from their friends. We know the Democrats want this to go away, but not before we find out if they agree and if they are as outraged as we are.”

'Disturbing'

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Thomas M. Reynolds told the Washington Post it is "a disturbing commentary on the state of the Democratic Party that not one member of its leadership and not one Democratic candidate for president has the fortitude to step forward and repudiate her.”

Radio star Rush Limbaugh blasted Kaptur on his nationwide radio show Thursday, "and both the Democrat and the Republican on CNN’s 'Crossfire' criticized her," the Blade reported today.

Although Kaptur has won her heavily Democrat district with as much as 75 percent of the vote, Bernadette Noe, chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party, said she considered it her top priority to defeat Kaptur. "I’ve thought for years she is vulnerable."

Noe told the Blade she could not believe her eyes when she read Kaptur’s comments in the newspaper.

"I am an American Revolutionary War buff. I have studied these people. For her to compare people like George Washington with Osama bin Laden, well, it just struck my being as an American," Noe said.

"I was hoping she didn’t mean what she said, but she hasn’t retracted her words, so I guess she stands by what she said."

'Outrageous and Sick'

Lucas County Auditor Larry Kaczala, who is likely to challenge Kaptur as she seeks a 12th term next year, wrote that her comparison of terrorists to America’s revolutionaries was "the most outrageous and sick comparison I have ever heard." He called for her resignation.

Noe said the National Republican Committee has been in touch with her about helping a Republican candidate run against Kaptur. "I know they are very interested in Larry," she said.

Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, said: "Osama bin Laden is the face of pure evil. To compare his terrorist network to our Founding Fathers and to suggest that the heinous acts he committed were patriotic dishonors the Sept. 11 victims and their families."

'Big Mouth'

Ohio GOP Chairman Robert T. Bennett said Kaptur's "big mouth kicked in before her brain had a chance to catch up."

"To suggest any similarity between the great leaders who fought for our nation's independence and this insane madman is nothing less than repugnant and an absolute disgrace to the halls of Congress she walks everyday," Bennett said.

Before Kaptur's office decided to clam up and stonewall requests for a response, she was quoted as saying Republicans had "twisted" her words.

The Ohio Democrat claimed she "intended to point out that what faces us is a rising revolution being felt across repressive regimes of the Arab and Islamic world,” a point disputed by terrorism experts who note that the 9/11 terrorists were well-educated and not in any way downtrodden or mired in poverty. Their targets, after all, were in the United States, not the "repressive regimes in the Middle East.”

Terrorism as 'Acts of Sacred Piety'

Kaptur failed to say which part of her words had been "twisted" by those who dare question her. Was it her statement about terrorism being "acts of sacred piety"? Or terrorism being an "act of hope"? Those are Kaptur's exact words. Yet she refuses to explain.

NewsMax.com specifically asked if Kaptur would rethink her words, apologize for them, or resign. Her office failed to respond to three requests.

If the Democrats' stonewalling seems familiar, recall the recent scandal of the infamous Sen. Patty "Osama Mama” Murray, D-Wash., who ludicrously claimed the U.S. had not matched the terrorist leader’s prowess in building "day care centers" and other infrastructure.

Whereas the national media hounded Sen. Trent Lott for his gaffe until the GOP demoted him from majority leader, the Democrats and their media allies covered for Murray. She even attacked those who questioned her. It appears that Kaptur will succeed in following the party's politics of attack, unless the people create a loud enough roar.

Contact Kaptur, Pelosi, Hoyer

Be sure to keep up the pressure. Contact Kaptur and demand she apologize or resign. Keep contacting Pelosi and Hoyer until they make Kaptur take responsibility for the latest Democrat apologia for terrorism.

To contact Kaptur, call her Toledo office at 800-964-4699 or 419-259-7500. Fax: 419-255-9623. For her Washington office, call 202-225-4146 or fax 202-225-7711.

To contact Pelosi, call 202-225-4965 or 415-556-4862.

To contact Hoyer, phone 202-225-3130 or 202-225-4131 or 301-474-0119 or 301-843-1577. Fax 202-225-4300 or 301-474-4697 or 301-843-1331.

To really get their attention, send them an urgent PriorityGram.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Al-Qaeda
DNC
War on Terrorism