Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison blasted the Republican Party Wednesday morning, serving up a plate of truth to the far right, and slamming an outspoken GOP Senator for his vile attack on Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The GOP “is a party built on fraud, fear, and fascism,” Harrison told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” as Mediaite reported.
Harrison was angered by Cotton’s attack that Judge Jackson would have defended Nazis at Nuremberg because she worked as a public defender:
“In a Senate where there is Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton is the lowest of the low,” he said of the junior Republican U.S. Senator for Arkansas.
Harrison then shared a story that he said was representative of Cotton.
“You know, a few years ago when Barack Obama was President of the United States, there was a person that he had appointed to be Ambassador to Bahamas, a friend of his, Cassandra Butts,” Harrison said. “Cassandra worked on Capitol Hill, we all knew her she was brilliant. Cassandra had leukemia. She was up for confirmation and Tom Cotton blocked her confirmation. 835 days she waited to be confirmed Ambassador of Bahamas, and when asked why he was holding up her confirmation, he said because he wanted to hurt Barack Obama. It shows you who does little maggot-infested man he is. He does not deserve to have that pin. He doesn’t deserve to be in the United States Senate representing the good people of Arkansas.”
For those questioning Harrison’s story, The New York Times’ Frank Bruni detailed the event in a 2016 column. He says Butts “told me that she once went to see him about it, and he explained that he knew that she was a close friend of Obama’s — the two first encountered each other on a line for financial-aid forms at Harvard Law School, where they were classmates — and that blocking her was a way to inflict special pain on the president.”
Sen. Cotton, Harrison continued, “put his hand on the Bible took an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and he uses it as a play toy. That is the Republican Party that we see today. It is a party built on fraud, fear, and fascism. And they don’t deserve to be in power – and not because Democrats should, but because they don’t deserve to be in power of this great nation.
Harrison concluded by saying Cassandra Butts “died waiting to be confirmed.”
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