Sen. Tim Scott’s office claimed that he wasn’t invited to the March on Washington event yesterday, but the truth is that every member of Congress including Scott was invited weeks ago.
The latest in Republican false meme creation began when ABC “Benghazi emails” News reported, “The only African American serving in the Senate, Republican Tim Scott, wasn’t invited to partake in the festivities today, a spokesman confirmed to ABC News.” This statement was also reported by the Newscorp owned Wall Street Journal, which was then quoted by The Washington Post.
But according to the event organizers, this isn’t true. Roll Call broke with the mainstream media tradition of taking a Republican’s word for it by actually asking the organizers of the event if Republicans were invited. In an email statement, a spokesperson for the event said, “This was truly a bipartisan outreach effort…All members of congress were invited to attend and the Republican leadership was invited to speak. Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s office was very helpful in trying to find someone to speak at the event. Making this commemoration bi-partisan was especially important to members of the King family, too.”
In fact, organizers of the event were desperately trying to find Republicans who would be willing to come and speak to the crowd of 100,000.
Organizers tried to find Republicans to come and speak, but Tim Scott claims that he wasn’t invited.
It appears that the Republican senator from South Carolina isn’t being honest.
It isn’t that Republicans like Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) were not invited to the event. The truth is that Republicans as a group decided that they wouldn’t attend. The Republicans were invited. Republican leaders were offered a chance to speak, and they said no.
Tea Partyin’ Tim Scott could have shown some real courage by defying his party and attending the event. He could have shown the world that progress has been made even in red state South Carolina. He could have demonstrated real leadership. Instead, his office decided that the best thing for the nation’s only African American senator to do was to play to the Obama hate/collective Republican persecution paranoia by claiming that he wasn’t invited.
For Tim Scott, pretending that his invitation “got lost in the mail” was a better political option than attending the event and reminding the tea party folks back home that he also is black.
Sen. Scott could have attended. He just didn’t want to.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
- The Supreme Court Hands Trump A Big Loss In Pennsylvania - Fri, Nov 1st, 2024
- US Intel Officials Confirm Putin Is Targeting Georgia With Election Misinformation - Fri, Nov 1st, 2024
- Battleground State Voters Are Breaking Big For Kamala Harris - Fri, Nov 1st, 2024
