So…Rep. Frank Wolf is outraged – OUTRAGED I tell you! – about the Obama administration’s (supposedly) horrible record on human rights. In this little “get off my lawn” tirade, Wolf rips Obama for people setting themselves on fire in Tibet, for the genocide in Darfur, and for persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt. More broadly, Wolf says the Obama administration has not advocated forcefully enough for the “oppressed, the marginalized and the vulnerable” (since when do Republicans care about any of those?!?).
Of course, all of those are bad things, and there’s not doubt the U.S. should stand up for human rights. But last I checked, Frank Wolf has been in Congress since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, and I don’t remember him ever giving a speech like this about the massive human rights abuses going on around the world while Reagan, George HW Bush, or George W. Bush were president. The list is basically endless, but as for Darfur, that horrible situation took place mostly during the 2000s, when George W. Bush was president. As for Coptic Christians in Egypt, sadly they’ve experienced persecution since the 1980s. Tibet, sadly, has had massive human rights problems for decades.
More broadly, I’m really not sure that Frank Wolf wants to start comparing the human rights record of President Obama to that of Reagan, Bush, Cheney, etc. But I’d love to hear him give a speech on the subject, that would certainly be enlightening! Heh.
P.S. As a friend of mine pointed out, Wolf “talks about human rights, yet opposes ENDA.” He also “consponsors the marriage inequality amendment.” He also voted to ban gay adoption in DC, etc., etc. In short, Frank Wolf is horrible on LGBT human rights in the United States, even while he’s hypocritically bashing President Obama for stuff going on in Tibet, etc. Pathetic.
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