The New York Times has criticized Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), for failing to attend commemorations of the January 6 attack on the Capitol on Thursday — although he and others attended a funeral for the late Johnny Isakson, a Republican who had represented Georgia in both chambers of Congress.
The New York Times tweeted a photo of Senator McConnell on Thursday with the message, “Top Republicans were nowhere to be found at the Capitol on Thursday as President Biden and lawmakers marked a year since the Jan. 6 riot, reflecting the party’s refusal to accept or address its own role in stoking the violent attack.”
“Top Republicans, who have downplayed and denied the riot, are absent from the commemorative events,” wrote Catie Edmondson. “Top Republicans were nowhere to be found at the Capitol on Thursday as President Biden and members of Congress commemorated the deadliest attack on the building in centuries,” she added, although the only person to die on the day of the attack was an unarmed protester, Ashli Babbitt.
An accompanying story by Katie Rogers noted that “many Senate Republicans were out of town for the funeral of a former colleague” in the 20th paragraph.
That proved too much for Scott Jennings, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush who hails from McConnell’s Kentucky. “They are at a funeral for their colleague, Johnny Isakson. Who died,” tweeted Jennings, a PR strategist who serves as a CNN contributor. He also noted that House Republicans had a good reason not to be in the Capitol. “Not to mention that the House isn’t even in session this week,” he wrote. “Most [Republicans] are back home working in their districts. Unlike a lot of Dems who live in DC full time and never see their constituents.”
Not to mention that the House isn’t even in session this week. Most Rs are back home working in their districts. Unlike a lot of Dems who live in DC full time and never see their constituents.
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) January 6, 2022
Senate Minority Leader McConnell, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) were among the numerous lawmakers to attend Isakson’s funeral.
“I haven’t seen this big of a bipartisan group of Senators together off the floor since September” at the “Johnny Isakson barbecue lunch,” said Senator McConnell during the funeral, according to a report in … The New York Times. “In Washington on Thursday, most Republican legislators refused to take part in the commemorations …. But they came together at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, to honor Mr. Isakson,” wrote Times reporter Richard Fausset.
Wtf? Literally the same newspaper also published this at the same timehttps://t.co/XXUHxbWbub
— Davey Crockpot (@CrockpotIi) January 6, 2022
The funeral — which took place at 2 p.m. on Thursday — conflicted with the event, where Vice President Kamala Harris likened January 6 to Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which claimed more than 5,000 Americans’ lives.
Earlier in the day, McConnell issued a statement praising D.C. police for their actions during January 6, before accusing Democrats of trying to purge Republicans from
“It has been stunning to see some Washington Democrats try to exploit this anniversary to advance partisan policy goals that long predated this event. It is especially jaw-dropping to hear some Senate Democrats invoke the mob’s attempt to disrupt our country’s norms, rules, and institutions as a justification to discard our norms, rules, and institutions themselves,” McConnell said. “Senators should not be trying to exploit this anniversary to damage the Senate in a different way from within.”
Other Republican leaders shared the sentiment. “This is their Christmas, January 6th,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). “They are going to take this and milk this for anything they could to try to be able to smear anyone who ever supported Donald Trump.”
Perhaps the most extreme version of that is a plan floated by Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias to invoke a Civil War-era provision to ban numerous Republicans from running for re-election.
“They want a one-party state,” Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), one of the Republicans Elias has targeted, told Fox News. “That’s just plain un-American.”
Even some figures in the media agreed that Democrats have used January 6 as cover to promote a deeply partisan agenda. “This is about not letting a crisis go to waste,” Bill McGurn of the Wall Street Journal told Fox News on Thursday afternoon. “Instead of making good on the pledges for unity and so forth and insisting on a fair and balanced assessment of the riots that happened that day, they have gone off to try to demonize Republicans.”
“The whole thing has been a political operation from the start,” said McGurn.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.