House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy should be publicly condemning lawmakers such as GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert and Paul Gosar when they've acted inappropriately toward other members of Congress, Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday.
"I think whenever, even in our own caucus, our own members, if they go the wrong direction it has to be called out," Hutchinson said on CNN's "State of the Union." "It has to be dealt with, particularly whenever it is breeching the civility — whenever it is crossing the line in terms of violence or increasing the divide in our country."
Boebert, of Colorado, came under fire after she made comments to supporters suggesting that Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who is a Muslim, is a jihadist. She has apologized, but Omar has called on McCarthy and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to "take appropriate action."
"Saying I am a suicide bomber is no laughing matter," Omar said on Twitter.
"Normalizing this bigotry not only endangers my life but the lives of all Muslims. Anti-Muslim bigotry has no place in Congress."
Meanwhile, the House voted earlier this month to censure Gosar, of Arizona, after he posted an animated video on Twitter depicting him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., with a sword.
"One of the things that is really important to us in the future is increasing the civil debate and civil discourse," Hutchinson said Sunday. "We've got to look for ways that we can bring people together and not divide and certainly along racial lines. I think this last week, our justice system gave two very good verdicts that indicated that we can hold people accountable whenever they go after somebody because of their race or whenever they take the law into their own hands. Let's look for ways to bring people together and decrease that divide."
The governor also discussed the new omicron coronavirus variant. More than half of Arkansas' residents are unvaccinated, even though the shot rates are climbing, said Hutchinson, adding that delta variant "has been tough on us."
"We don't welcome a new variant, and it is a great concern," said Hutchinson. "The message as a governor is steady as you go. We obviously have to have more information and get better prepared in increasing our vaccination rates."
However, even though the state's rates remain low, Hutchinson has refused to institute any vaccine mandates and he still believes that his approach works.
"What we've seen is that through education, through information, vaccination rates go up," he said. "That's more productive than a mandate that comes down that people will resist. You have to know the culture and you have to know how people respond to it. And in Arkansas, that information-based education is what is working and will be effective. The mandates are not something that the people of Arkansas are going to respond well to."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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