For Democrats, as the old saying goes, if it weren’t for double standards they’d have no standards at all.
Paging Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Recall that Pelosi got busted last year for getting a private hair-do at a San Francisco salon when the rest of the styling world and their clients were shut out by government decree.
Now, Pelosi is being called out by Republican lawmakers for flouting her own security rules.
Immediately after the tragic Jan. 6 riot at the U.S Capitol, Pelosi ordered metal detectors be installed at the entrances to the House floor.
Then a couple of weeks later, while decrying Republicans who publicly said they wanted to carry guns in the Capitol, as allowed by a 50-year-old congressional rule, Pelosi smeared them by saying “the enemy is within.”
It goes without saying that calling people who are your political rivals, but still American citizens, the “enemy” was a masterstroke for unity.
Yet this week, continuing to cater to the fears of people like Pelosi and democratic socialist Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the House voted to impose a fine on lawmakers who literally skirt the security system.
After the rule was adopted, Pelosi said in a statement, “many House Republicans began disrespecting our heroes by refusing to adhere to basic precautions keeping members of our congressional community safe — including by dodging metal detectors, physically pushing past police, and even attempting to bring firearms into the chamber.”
“It is beyond comprehension why any member would refuse to adhere to these simple, commonsense steps to keep this body safe,” Pelosi said.
On Friday, GOP Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Andy Clyde of Georgia were each zapped with a $5,000 fine for bypassing the metal detector.
Gohmert told Fox News that he had stepped off the House floor to use the restroom, and since he had not used one of the main entrances, he did not believe he needed to go through security when he returned.
“Unlike in the movie ‘The Godfather,’ there are no toilets with tanks where one could hide a gun, so my reentry onto the House floor should have been a non-issue,” he said.
But it was.
Yet now it seems also to be an issue for Pelosi.
According to the Daily Caller, at precisely 9:59 a.m. Thursday, a small group of Republican lawmakers witnessed Pelosi avoiding the security system she advocated.
In a letter to the sergeant-at-arms, the House’s top security official, Reps. Reps. Rodney Davis, Barry Loudermilk, and Bryan Steil wrote, “House Resolution 73 directs you in your capacity as Sergeant at Arms to impose fines against members of the House who fail to complete security screening prior to entering the House Chamber. The resolution, which went into effect upon passage of the House on February 2nd, imposes a fine for $5,000 for the first offense.”
They added, “It also directs you to promptly notify in writing of fines being imposed for violations of House Resolution 73. Yesterday, at approximately 9:59 am, multiple members observed the Speaker of the House entering the House Chamber without completing security screening. What was observed was a clear violation of House Resolution 73 and you are required by House Rules to impose this fine. Please inform us once the fine has been assessed,” the letter concludes.
No word, so far, on whether the House security team has the guts to make Pelosi live by rules she wants to apply to everyone but herself.
But perhaps, confronted once again by her own hypocrisy, Pelosi will spare us lectures about how it is “beyond comprehension” that any lawmaker would refuse “to adhere to these simple, commonsense steps” to keep people safe.