Hate-Filled Congressman Tries to Tie Pro-Life States to the Confederacy
To say that U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) has a flair for drama and hate speech as he tries to incite his liberal base is an understatement.
The congressman demonstrated this toxic trait yet again this month. Cohen suggested that states that want to enact pro-life policies are on the same level morally as states that legalized slavery more than 160 years ago.
As a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, Cohen has clout, not only in Congress but also in the Democratic Party. On July 14 he questioned expert witnesses at a hearing. He was clearly displeased with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.
“Right now, Canada is the freest country in the world. And there are a few other countries along with Canada that are more free than America when you cut women away from having the opportunity to get their families and their bodies and [have] their choices. The whole idea of it [abortion] being not outlawed but going back to the states is a red herring. The fact is that hard core red states in the Southeast, one time known as the Confederacy, there is but one or two states that would not ban abortion entirely,” Cohen said.
“Those states did not offer many votes for the civil rights laws. They were passed by Congress, without many votes from those red states and even the red states outside of the Confederacy. So, we have to be concerned. The idea of the states having power was not because states were concerned about an oppressive government or because of abortion. It was because of slavery. And slavery was wrong, and outlawing abortion is wrong and outlawing gay marriage is wrong.”
Among Cohen’s past examples of hate and hyperbole:
• Two years ago Cohen said African-American Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) “might as well be” white and ridiculed the death of former presidential candidate Herman Cain.
• Also in 2020, Cohen endorsed a video of actor Robert De Niro bragging he wanted to punch former President Donald Trump in the face.
• In 2018 Cohen compared U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to Adam Sander’s socially inept Waterboy character.
• In a public speech, also in 2018, Cohen wished for Blackburn to jump off the Harahan Bridge, which overlooks the Mississippi River and connects Arkansas to Tennessee.
• In 2014, Cohen tweeted that the Ebola virus would mutate into a Biblical-style plague that would devastate Tennessee — unless, of course, the Republican majority Tennessee General Assembly complied fully with Obamacare and expanded Medicaid in the Volunteer State.
Cohen’s district includes most of Memphis. He has represented that district since 2007.
