The irony* of two January 6th related headlines today

Commentary

*For GOP readers:

i·ro·ny, a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.

I couldn’t help but notice the ironic juxtaposition of the two Associated Press headlines on Page A3 of today’s Palm Beach Post.

GOP censures Reps. Cheney, Kinzinger on the left; Pence says Trump was ‘wrong’ to claim election could be overturned on the right.

Let’s talk about the Cheney/Kinzinger situation first as it’s the more important of the two; after all, does what Pence says, more than a year after the January 6 insurrection, carry much weight? Certainly not among the RNC committee members who voted to censure the two truth-speaking members of their party.

Here’s AP reporter Sam Metz’s lede about the censure:

“The Republican National Committee censured two GOP lawmakers on Friday for participating on the committee investigating the violent Jan.6 insurrection and assailed the panel for leading a ‘persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.'”

Let me unpack this. The RNC, headed by Ronna McDaniel, a niece of former presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, the man considered to be a “voice of reason” in the GOP, assailed the Congressional January 6 Select Committee for persecuting “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

Of course, in an act of passionate leniency, only a censure of Cheney and Kinzinger was approved, not an expulsion from the Party, as originally recommended.

McDaniel denied that the ‘legitimate political discourse’ wording in the censure was referring to the violent attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump and said it had to do with other actions taken by the House committee investigating the Jan.6, 2021, insurrection.

And if you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

While the censure was the big news, some smaller, but important decisions came out of the RNC meeting.

As Metz reported, “RNC members also voted in favor of a rule change that would prohibit their candidates from participating in debates organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Republicans object to past moderators they perceive as left-leaning and remarks about Trump made by commission co-chair Mike McCurry.”

“Restoring faith in our elections means making sure our candidate can compete on a level playing field,” McDaniel was quoted as saying.

Ah yes, the famous, gerrymandered, voter suppressed, vote-counting “shenniganed” free and fair elections.

And Pence?

The AP’s Jill Colvin reported that Pence, in a speech on Friday called, Jan. 6 a “dark day” in history of the Capitol, going on to say, “Frankly there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”

Pence also intoned, “The truth is, there’s more at stake than our party or political fortunes…if we lose faith in the Constitution, we won’t just lose elections – we’ll lose our country.”

That final statement, juxtaposed with the RNC’s recent pronouncements, confirmed Pence’s irrelevance in the Republican Party