Rohrabacher Also Under Fire for Questioning Validity of Rape in High School, Racist Remarks About Asians
IRVINE – This week, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, already struggling in the polls and in the fight of his political life, came under fire again after a series of offensive remarks about rape, Asians, and his endorsement of one anti-Semite and his defense of Holocaust denier Chuck Johnson. Despite the public and well-documented knowledge of these comments, the NRCC and Congressional Leadership Fund are actively supporting his re-election bid.
“Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s support for those peddling hate speech and conspiracy theories is beyond disturbing – and for the Congressional Leadership Fund and the NRCC to spend millions of dollars to support Rohrabacher’s re-election makes them no better. Dana Rohrabacher’s support for Holocaust deniers and flippant dismissal of sexual assault of minors is disqualifying from serving in Congress – and the NRCC and CLF should immediately cut him off.”
Read the coverage below:
Mother Jones: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher Endorses Local Politician Accused of Peddling “Racist Conspiracies”
Last week, Mother Jones reported that controversial, Putin-loving Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) had hobnobbed at a fundraiser with an alleged Holocaust denier—after being criticized for his previous association with the man. This week, Rohrabacher, who is in a tough race to hold on to his Southern California congressional seat, pulled a similar move: He endorsed a local politician who has been described by one media outlet as a “peddler of racist conspiracies.”
On Tuesday, Rohrabacher posted a photo on Instagram of him with Gracey Larrea-Van Der Mark, a candidate for a school board seat in Huntington Beach, California. Rohrabacher endorsed her and called her a “patriot.”
The Republican Party of Orange County also endorsed her candidacy, according to Larrea-Van Der Mark’s Facebook page.
Last month, OC Weekly, which covers Orange County, California, published a story on Larrea-Van Der Mark that makes these endorsements seem odd. The story chronicled her known associations with alt-right activists and white nationalists and previous remarks that have been criticized as racist and and anti-Semitic. The headline: “Gracey Van Der Mark, peddler of racist conspiracies, runs for school board in HB.”
In April, Larrea-Van Der Mark ran into trouble when it was reported that after joining an alt-right protest in summer 2017 against a local workshop about white privilege, she posted a YouTube video from the event with this comment: “This meeting was being ran by the elderly Jewish people who were in there. The colored people were there doing what the elderly Jewish people instructed them to do.” OC Weekly also reported at the time that “one of her YouTube channel playlists dubbed ‘Holocaust hoax?’ includes half-a-dozen anti-Semitic videos.”
On Facebook, Larrea-Van Der Mark insisted, “Nothing I wrote was Anti-Semitic or demeaning to black people.” And at a public forum, she said she had posted the Holocaust denial material to question its content, not support it.
But she was removed from two school district commissions because of her remarks. A letter sent by the Anti-Defamation League maintained, “There is ample evidence she has made bigoted and hateful comments and that she has participated in activities organized and led by white supremacists. These words and actions call into question her ability to serve as an appointed leader in the Huntington Beach community.” (Larrea-Van Der Mark remained on a city finance commission.)
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Los Angeles Times: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, facing a tough reelection fight, ridicules sex assault accusation against Kavanaugh
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-me-ln-rohrabacher-kavanaugh-accusation-20180920-story.html
Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, in a tight race to retain his Orange County seat, ridiculed the decades-old allegation of sexual assault that has thrown the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh into turmoil, according to a recording acquired by Talking Points Memo.
“This guy who’s going to be our Supreme Court justice,” he said, “and he better be our Supreme Court judge, he’s a perfect candidate. And what do they say? ‘Well, in high school you did this.’ High school? Give me a break.”
The recording appears to have come from a recent campaign event with young supporters, with Rohrabacher warning them that technology made it possible to track down and judge “every phone call you make, every deal you make, every time you click something on . . .your home computer.”
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Talking Points Memo: GOP Rep. Rohrabacher On Kavanaugh Accusation: ‘Give Me A Break!’
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-rep-rohrabacher-on-kavanaugh-accusation-give-me-a-break
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) seems to think it’s ridiculous that allegations of teenage sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have become a part of the discussions over his confirmation.
“George Orwell, he was so incredibly insightful and could see what’s going to happen. But that’s the challenge you’re going to have. At least I didn’t have to deal with that,” he said. “Look at right now. This guy who’s going to be our Supreme Court justice, and he better be our Supreme Court judge, he’s a perfect candidate, and what do they say? ‘Well, in high school you did this.’ High school? Give me a break.”
An audio recording of Rohrabacher comments was shared with TPM and appears from context to have been made last Saturday at a campaign event with supporters, after the details of the accusation had been made public but before California-based professor Christine Blasey Ford agreed to identify herself in a Sunday interview with the Washington Post in which she accused Kavanaugh of drunkenly sexually assaulting her when the two of them were in high school.
Rohrabacher’s campaign didn’t respond to multiple requests for clarification as to when the event took place or about the remarks themselves. Rohrabacher’s wife and campaign manager Rhonda seemed to hang up the phone after this reporter identified himself as working for TPM during a brief conversation Wednesday morning. Subsequent calls went straight to voicemail, and she didn’t respond to text messages.
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Splinter: What’s Dana Rohrabacher’s Deal With the Racist Trope of Chinese People Eating Dogs?
https://splinternews.com/whats-dana-rohrabachers-deal-with-the-racist-trope-of-c-1828993003
In newly surfaced footage from a February 2018 interview on Voice of America (VOA) China, the U.S. government-funded broadcasting service, Republican U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was asked if he wanted to offer a message to the network’s audience, which at the time was celebrating the Chinese New Year. He took the opportunity to riff on the racist trope about Chinese people eating dogs.
“Well, let me just note, coming in is the Year of the Dog,” Rohrabacher said. “Now, there are some people in the United States who don’t like it that Chinese people eat dog. And I want them, the Chinese people, to know, that we eat bunnies over here, and we eat all kinds of little animals. I don’t blame them for eating dog. I mean, if that’s what tastes good, that’s what tastes good.”
Mother Jones: Two Republican Congressmen Hobnob With an Alleged Holocaust Denier. Again.
A Republican congressman who earlier this year got into trouble for hobnobbing with an accused Holocaust denier held a small fundraiser this summer, and the attendees included, yes, the very same alleged Holocaust denier. Also at the event was another GOP congressman who, too, had previously been criticized for associating with this fellow.
In January, Rep. Matt Gaetz, a conservative Republican firebrand from Florida, invited right-wing troll Charles C. Johnson to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech. Johnson, a notorious social media figure accused of being a white nationalist, had been permanently banned from Twitter for declaring that he wanted to “take out” a leader of Black Lives Matter. And in early 2017, Johnson had come under fire for denying the Holocaust. During an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit’s alt-right section, Johnson had been queried, “what are your thoughts on the Holocaust, WW2, and the JQ in general?” (“JQ” is neo-Nazi shorthand for the Jewish Question.) Johnson replied, “I do not and never have believed the six million figure. I think the Red Cross numbers of 250,000 dead in the camps from typhus are more realistic. I think the Allied bombing of Germany was a ware [sic] crime. I agree…about Auschwitz and the gas chambers not being real.”
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Eight months later, these remarks caused a political stir. In October 2017, news reports revealed that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) had welcomed Johnson to a Capitol Hill meeting with Sen. Rand Paul. In response, the Anti-Defamation League urged Rohrabacher to “discontinue any association with Johnson and repudiate his views.” The ADL, citing Johnson’s “Ask Me Anything” statements, noted that it considered him a Holocaust denier. (In August 2017, Johnson had helped arrange a meeting between Rohrabacher and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and weeks later he donated $5,400 in Bitcoin to Rohrabacher’s reelection campaign.)
Rohrabacher did not heed the ADL’s call to disassociate himself from Johnson. In a letter to the ADL, he said Johnson had been “allowed to sit in [on the Paul-Rohrabacher meeting], only in the sense that no one said no and told him to go.” Rohrabacher noted that he “strongly” disagreed with Johnson on some issues—including “those same beliefs you mention in your letter”—and that he hoped to have a “positive influence” on Johnson.
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A spokesman for the ADL says, “Charles C. Johnson is a known Holocaust denier, who has suggested the number of Jewish victims was inflated and has posited that neither the Auschwitz concentration camp nor the gas chambers ever existed. ADL is extremely troubled by reports that Rep. Matt Gaetz allegedly hosted Johnson at a recent fundraiser. ADL previously called on Gaetz to discontinue his associations with Johnson and to publicly repudiate his views after it was revealed Johnson was Gaetz’ guest at President Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address. We renew those calls in light of this new report, as it is completely inappropriate for a sitting U.S. member of Congress to continue to knowingly associate with an anti-Semite and bigot like Charles Johnson.”
Roll Call: Rohrabacher Ridicules Kavanaugh Accusation
https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/rohrabacher-ridicules-kavanaugh-accusation
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher dismissed the sexual assault claim leveled against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a selective smear effort by the left that should have little bearing on Kavanaugh’s confirmation because it allegedly occurred in high school.
“This guy who’s going to be our Supreme Court justice, and he better be our Supreme Court judge, he’s a perfect candidate, and what do they say? ‘Well, in high school you did this.’ High school? Give me a break,” the California Republican said in a recording obtained by Talking Points Memo.
The recording is from a campaign event with mostly young volunteers last Saturday, according to TPM.
In the audio, Rohrabacher was delivering a stark warning to the group that we live in an Orwellian society that monitors your every online movement and electronic communication. Then, he suggested, “the bad guys” with an “anti-American philosophy” will determine whether or not the content of those communications are acceptable.
“Every phone call you make, every deal you make, every time you click something up on your word processor, or your home computer, they’re going to have records of this,” Rohrabacher said.
“And then the bad guys are determining what’s hate speech and what’s not. And if you’re sending something over the internet or Facebook and they determine that it’s hateful — and of course anything that disagrees with their anti-American philosophy is hateful,” he said.