Why are Democrats so afraid of Lauren Boebert?

Progressives want to punish Boebert for her Islamophobia. Other Democrats aren’t so sure.

Despite calls from progressives, many House Democrats are cagey about punishing Rep Lauren Boebert after sanctions against two like-minded demagogic right-wing members of Congress.

On Wednesday, a host of progressive Democrats led by Rep Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts – and including Rep Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, Jimmy Gomez of California, Cori Bush of Missouri and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – called for a resolution to strip the Colorado Republican of her committee assignments.

“Words have consequences,” Ms Pressley said at a press conference. “We must acknowledge that and respond with action.”

The calls came after Ms Boebert was caught on tape saying that Rep Ilhan Omar, who is Muslim and wears a hijab, was a member of the “jihad squad” and making an off-colour remark about a potential suicide bombing.

Lauren Boebert appears in a video claiming that Ilhan Omar put the phone down on her when she demanded the Democrat apologise to her (Lauren Boebert / Twitter)

Ms Boebert’s remarks came after the House censured Rep Paul Gosar and stripped him of his committee assignments after he tweeted an anime video with his head doctored onto a character who kills a character with Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s head. Similarly, the House stripped Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene for her inflammatory rhetoric.

But despite Ms Omar saying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her that there would be swift action, Ms Pelosi has laid the blame at the feet of Republicans for failing to hold the most extreme elements of their caucus accountable.

“It’s their responsibility to deal with their people,” she said Wednesday. “How we deal with addressing the fear they have instilled with their Islamophobia and the rest is something that hopefully we can do in a bipartisan way. But the responsibility is on them.”

Over the weekend, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn told Axios that it was Republicans’ responsibility to strip Ms Boebert of her colleagues.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez did not deny that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is responsible for the bigoted rhetoric from Ms Boebert and others.

“I would argue at this point, the pattern is now established that Leader McCarthy encourages and is accepting of this sort of targeting, particularly of women of color,” she said.

At the same time, plenty of Democrats are cagey about holding Ms Boebert accountable.

Rep Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said she hadn’t heard Ms Boebert’s remarks.

Rep Dan Kildee of Michigan, an ally of Ms Pelosi who represents a state with a large Muslim population, denounced Ms Boebert’s words but also blamed Republican leadership.

“It’s unconscionable that she would say these things,” he told The Independent. “Secondly, it’s painful that her own leadership provides really only a tepid response. It seems as though she and others are trying to normalise racism again and raise money off of it and it’s unconscionable.”

Still, Mr Kildee said he would support stripping Ms Boebert of her committees.

“I think so, I mean, that’s my view,” he said. “I think the problem we’re running into is that we’re treating this like it’s problem with individuals expressing racism when I think the bigger problem is that you have Republican leadership to look the other way.”

Mr Kildee noted how when Mr Gosar was censured, many of his colleagues stood beside him.

“He went there with a band of brothers,” he said. “That was offensive.”

Rep Jamie Raskin of Maryland said there needed to be a standard for reprimanding members.

“And I think the standard should be whether or not people are either engaged in violent threats towards fellow members or whether they are putting them in danger with their speech,” he said.

Rep Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, who was with Mr Raskin at the moment, echoed his sentiments.

“I believe the comments of Rep Boebert were threatening the life of our colleague and I think for myself, threatening the life another colleague is a step too far,” she said.

Ms Kuster said given the number of threats facing members at in their home districts, they could not afford to have colleagues threatening them.

“None of us will be safe if that’s the case,” she said, but when following up whether she would vote to strip Ms Boebert, she said, “there should be a series of sanctions.”