Before the woke folks get their political correctness genes going off like a fire alarm, they should know that the formal definition of “cat fight” is a heated contest between women.
By definition, that is exactly what we saw on Capitol Hill during a hearing of the House Oversight Committee. In case you are just coming out of a coma, you may not have seen one of the many the top-of-the-news reports about mean girls in action.
It started when Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene implied that Democrat Representative Jasmine Crockett did not understand the subject by saying, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
That caused Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to go ballistic and inject herself with a bit of overreaction – turning an admittedly inappropriate comment into an overcharged … uh … cat fight. In her best elevated scolding voice AOC jumped in with, “THAT IS ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE. HOW DARE YOU ATTACK THE PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF ANOTHER PERSON!
Greene responded patronizingly,” Are your feelings hurt?”
To which AOC rejoined, “Oh girl. Oh, baby girl.”
Greene responded, “Oh, really?
AOC: “Don’t even play!”
Greene: “Baby girl?”
When the Committee took a pass on formally censuring Greene, Crockett entered the fray saying, “I’m just curious. If someone on this Committee just starts talking about somebody’s beach blond bad build butch body …” (WHAT! … a “bad build butch body”?)
Female voice, “We’re not going to do this like you guys earlier … literally … “
Crockett (screaming): “I’m trying to get clarification. I’m trying to get clarification.”
Greene: “Look it … Look it … calm down.”
Crockett: “No. No. No. Because this is what we all do.” (Is Crockett saying that this is what girls do?)
Tempers finally cooled enough to carry on with the business of the Committee, although none of the requested apologies were given.
Congress has now joined bikini mud fights and women’s wrestling as female entertainment. While many of the pompous newsies spun the verbal cat fight as an event with great political meaning, others saw it for what it was – a distraction … entertainment … even funny.
It had nothing to do with policies, issues or the purpose of the hearing – which was the question as to whether Attorney General Merrick Garland should be charged with Contempt of Congress for not providing the audio tapes of President Biden’s deposition in conjunction with his improper (illegal?) possession of top-secret government documents.
Instead, we got a girlie fight … a cat fight … over eyelashes and bleach blond hair. The comment that stood out the most to me was Crockett’s referral to Greene’s “bad butch build.” Whoa! That wreaks of homophobia and pejorative stereotyping. That should have set off the woke, political correctness, identity politics gestapo. But noooo! Methinks if a Republican had said that it would have been the highlight (or is it lowlight?) of all the left-wing news reports.
If the American electorate was not so evenly divided – and the political rhetoric not so red hot this season – this episode might have gotten a modest mention near the end of a broadcast or buried on an inside page of your favorite newspaper — for one day.
Like any cat fight – or bar fight – blame is impossible to place. Yes, Greene kicked it off is a childish insult that could have just been blown off with an admonition from the chair. It was AOC who elevated the exchange to a full-scale cat fight with here “baby girl” retort. And then it spread to Crockett with her own childish contributions to the cat fight. Personally, I am not taking sides in the fight. I am not a fan of any of those girls.
We should also keep in mind that Congress is notorious for heated exchanges – even physical violence between members on occasion. However, they are usually precipitated by issue disagreements – not eyelashes and dyed blond hair. And definitely not by reference to “bad butch bodies.”
While various political stakeholders are trying to infuse great partisan meaning into a classic cat fight, I believe most Americans are laughing at the exchange as political theater of the farce variety. The only things missing were the bikinis and the mud – oh yeah, and hair pulling.
So, there ‘tis.