Republicans are wilding out. Ever since Jack Dorsey freed them from having to pretend they hadn't seen Donald Trump's latest outrage, they are suddenly VERY CONCERNED about mean shit people post on Twitter. And if they can clutch their pearls over a woman using foul language — even, GASP, a brown lady! — well, so much the better.

Hence this morning's preposterous hearing at the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Neera Tanden's nomination to head the Office of Management and Budget.

"I believe that the tone, the content, and the aggressive partisanship of some of your public statements have added to the troubling trend of more incivility and division in our public life. And in your case, I'm concerned that your personal attacks about specific senators will make it more difficult for you to work with them," said Ranking Member Rob Portman, furrowing his brow to convey the seriousness of the matter.

Oh, noes! Not Voldemort! What a vile slur, so disqualifying. By which we mean BITCH, PLEASE, we all sat here and watched you guys look away when your Dear Leader said E. Jean Carroll was too ugly to rape, called multiple women dogs, and said he'd like to see Senator Gillibrand on her knees.

"There are still nine pages of tweets about Senator Cruz," Portman said in his best Vice Principal voice. Never mind that the former president called Ted Cruz's wife ugly — the same Ted Cruz who is so roundly despised by his own Republican colleagues that they openly joke about murdering him. "How do you plan to mend fences and build relationships with members of Congress you have attacked through your public statements?"

But Tanden handled it like a pro.

"Senator, I very much appreciate that question. I recognize the concern. I deeply regret and apologize for my language and some of my past language. I recognize that this role is a bipartisan role, and I know I have to earn the trust of senators across the board," she said. "I will work very aggressively to meet that concern. I know the last four years, or last few years, have been pretty polarizing, and I hope that we can work to address the country's challenges in a bipartisan and nonpartisan manner."

"I appreciate people's concerns about my tweets, and I deleted tweets because I regretted my tone ... but for those concerned about my rhetoric and my language, you know, I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for any hurt they have caused."

Well, what the hell were they going to say to that? Yell at a tiny woman over Zoom and let her bully them into beating up on her? Only Ted Cruz would be that kind of a dumb dick.

Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma gave it another go, trying to accuse Tanden of attacking "people who have personal religious conviction" because she once tweeted that the Little Sisters of the Poor used their faith as a cudgel in the lawsuits to stop Obamacare's mandate that employers cover contraception, but in the main the fight went out of them. Which is probably for the best, considering that Trump's OMB Director Russ Vought once wrote that "Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned." Boy would Senator Lankford have been upset if one of his fellow committee members had to remind him about that one!

Ron Johnson, whose title as Senate's Dumbest Republican looks to be in danger since Tommy Tuberville got to DC, went haring off about the national debt, which he suddenly remembered he cares so much about, and also that crazy hyperinflation he's been hearing about so much on Tucker Carlson's fine program. He also managed to completely flub the Supreme Court's ruling on DACA.

Your move, Tubs!

And Josh Hawley, who is currently making bank off of being cancel cultured by corporations that won't donate to his campaign anymore, wonders how Tanden can work for the government when the Center for American Progress, her former place of employment, took money from big tech companies.

"How will you advocate for working people, given this history of soliciting tens of millions of dollars from the biggest and most powerful corporations on the planet?" he demanded.

And then he and the rest of his Republican cohort launched into a colloquy on the absolute necessity of transparency from the Office of Management and Budget. Yes, the same OMB that deliberately hid from the Senate the fact that Trump had placed a hold on the defense allocation for Ukraine in hopes of shaking loose an investigation of Joe Biden and his son. And then refused to testify about it in defiance of congressional subpoena because of the magical cloak of presidential immunity.

It was a perfect, perfect call! Unlike Neera Tanden's tweets, which were mean, and evil, and unacceptable, and disqualifying.

What. Ever. Here, watch this Nicetimes exchange with Jon Ossoff where Tanden, who was raised by a single mother on food stamps, talks about using the government to actually help people.

So much winning!

Whoops forgot to add: OPEN THREAD!

[C-SPAN]

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