Tennessee Republicans Still Not Ready To Say Nazis Bad, Because Reasons

Yes, 'Kawaii Hitler' is a thing. Don't worry, it's ironic!

For the second time in less than a month, Republicans in the Tennessee state House of Representatives have killed a resolution condemning white supremacists and neo-Nazis. You have to hand it to these guys: They certainly aren't worried about looking like they're friendly to hate groups. As for what you have to hand to them, we'd suggest a flaming bag of dog poop.

The first time around, the resolution denouncing and opposing white nationalists was introduced (last August) by the sole Democrat on the House State Government Subcommittee, in response to the deadly white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia. It died in committee last month, in just 36 seconds, when no Republicans would second it. The chair gaveled it down and it was gone, baby Hitler, gone.

One of the Republicans on the committee, state Rep. Bob Ramsey, explained the bill's language was too vague, since it called on law enforcement to treat white nationalists and neo-Nazis as terrorist threats. Ever careful about the misuse of state power, the Rs couldn't vote to sic John Law on people without clearer definitions, you see. Also, Ramsey worried about how sometimes bills are just introduced to make Republicans look bad, and no way was he going to support such games.

The latest version of the resolution was introduced by House Republican Caucus chair Ryan Williams, which one would assume would have taken care of the latter objection, and it stripped out the language calling for law enforcement to treat Nazis and white nationalists like terrorism suspects, which ought to have addressed the former one, yes? It was now just a nice symbolic resolution saying Tennessee is officially against white nationalist hate groups because they are bad.

The Tennessean reports the new bill was supposed to advance to the "Delayed Bills Committee" on Tuesday, but instead, Rep. Williams asked for it to be pulled from consideration Monday evening.

In a statement, Williams said the "bill's caption was too narrow and couldn't be amended to incorporate additional feedback gathered from our members over the past couple of days," though it wasn't immediately clear what kind of input Williams had received on the resolution from other Republicans.

Williams said the revised version of the resolution was based on feedback from his Republican colleagues, but that after filing it last week, he'd gotten more input from other Republicans. The Tennessean notes he "didn't elaborate" on what changes they'd suggested or what comments made him decide to pull the bill.

Yr Wonkette, which is not unfamiliar with Stupid Shit Rightwingers Say on Twitter, would be willing to bet a shiny new donkey that the resolution was deemed unacceptable because it didn't also, for the sake of "balance," include a condemnation of Antifa, which didn't even have a permit. We also wouldn't be the least bit surprised if some members also wanted to include a line denouncing Black Lives Matter for hating police. Hell, some closet member of the League of the South may have demanded a censure of White Genocide, too.

Nonetheless, Williams said he will soldier on to put forward a condemnation of hate that will be acceptable to everyone in his caucus:

"I still believe it is important for our General Assembly to condemn groups that support racism and hatred," he said in the statement. "I look forward to working with members on both sides of the aisle on a future resolution which can meet the expectations of all of our House members, as well as the citizens of Tennessee."

You just know that the Final Resolution will condemn "hatred and racism" without actually naming white nationalists or neo-Nazis, or anyone in particular. That should be just fine, because there's hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides, many sides. As any fool knows, it takes one person to be racist and another person to make that person hate them.

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[ The Tennessean via CNN / Image: "Baby eer Loves Hitler" by humon on DeviantArt]