Posting a tweet “honoring” the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while voting to take away healthcare, food stamps, and against equality is pure hypocrisy.
The Twitter accounts of a great many politicians today are filled with posts supposedly honoring the great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but one astute journalist is exposing their hypocrisy.
Igor Volsky, Director of Video and Contributing Editor at ThinkProgress, and contributing host at the Bill Press Show spent a good part of Martin Luther King Day posting tweets of Republican politicians and right-wing pundits that claim to honor the late leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
For example, Illinois GOP Congressman Peter Roskam posted this tweet honoring “the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Roskam happens to be the powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, and has held several hearings attacking the Affordable Care Act and has voted dozens of times to repeal or dismantle the Affordable Care Act. He also voted against expanding SCHIP in 2007, which would have extended healthcare to an additional 6 million children.
Volsky posted this tweet in response:
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan posted this tweet that says Dr. King’s “words—& his example—inspire us now.” The tweet even includes a slickly-produced video clip including a message from the Speaker.
Volsky pointed out Ryan’s hypocrisy of not bringing to the floor a vote to fix the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which the Supreme Court gutted in 2013, and his work cutting vital programs for students and needy families:
Here are a few more. Visit Volsky’s Twitter timeline for the full collection, and feel free to retweet them!
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK):
Rep. Rod Blum (R-IA):Â
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chair of the House Financial Services Committee:
Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN):Â
Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA):
Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR):Â
Volsky has posted many more – visit his Twitter timeline to see them all, retweet them all, and to thank him!
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Image by jerry dohnal via Flickr and a CC license