Watch: Dem. Rep. Freaks Out on House Floor, Says She Wants Opponent's Family to 'Suffer... Die'
It has been said, generally speaking, that Americans on the political right view those on the left as good but misguided people who have bad ideas that will be harmful to the country, while the far-left views those on the right as inherently bad people who need to simply die because they have evil ideas that will utterly destroy this nation.
That stark dichotomy played out on the floor of the Illinois House of Representatives on Tuesday as a Democratic representative literally wished death upon the family of one of her Republican colleagues during a debate over a bill.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the debate was centered on a bill passed earlier in the year that would raise the limit on damage claims — from $100,000 to $2 million — for the families of about a dozen veterans who’d died from outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease at an Illinois veterans home.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner had amended and vetoed the bill — he reduced the raised limit from $2 million to $300,000 — and the House was holding a vote to override that veto … which it ultimately did by a vote of 71-36. (The state Senate voted for the override two weeks ago, the Tribune reported.)
During Tuesday’s debate, outgoing state House Republican leader Rep. Peter Breen had objected to overriding the veto, citing the fact that details of how the bill would work were sparse and the state had no idea how much the increased payouts would actually cost.
That’s when Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit launched her disgusting diatribe and death wish against Breen and his family on the House floor.
Republicans in the House today exploded in anger over the comments of @RepKifowit in which she spoke of Rep Peter Breen’s family drinking a stew of Legionella bacteria. Kifowit said she was making a hypothetical comment, not actually wishing harm to Breen’s family @ilgop SB-2481 pic.twitter.com/eF6bDOKYIs
— IllinoisChannel (@IllinoisChannel) November 27, 2018
Kifowit said of Breen, “I would like to make him a broth of Legionella and pump it into the water system of his loved one, so that they can be infected, they can be mistreated, they can sit and suffer by getting aspirin instead of being properly treated and ultimately DIE!“
As can be imagined, there was an immediate uproar from Republicans following the conclusion of Kifowit’s malign statement against Breen’s family, and calls have ensued for her to resign in disgrace or be removed. Even some of her Democratic colleagues seemed to recoil at her remarks, as was evident on the face of the woman sitting near her, whose smile transformed into a look of stunned concern as Kifowit spoke of Breen’s family suffering and dying from the bacterial stew.
The Tribune reported that Kifowit attempted to wriggle her way out of trouble afterward by claiming that her words had been misheard and misinterpreted, then blatantly lied to suggest that she had said something else entirely different.
Kifowit told the Tribune, “Quite clearly what I said was ‘imagine if it was your family.’” Even the liberal-leaning Tribune noted that was not what she had said at all. She continued: “So if it was misheard, I’ll apologize for the misheard, but my words were clearly, ‘Imagine if it was your family.'”
Except that they weren’t.
Townhall reported that Kifowit tweeted a short time later to again attempt to claim that her clearly-spoken words were “twisted and misrepresented,” but rather interestingly those tweets no longer exist. Surprise, surprise.
Kifowit first tweeted, as presented by Townhall: “My words were twisted and misrepresented but keep in mind – he was angry at the thought. For the families of the Veterans who died and the individuals that were sickened – this is reality.”
She followed that with a tweet which read, “In response to remarks against giving restitution by Rep Breen I stated ‘imagine if it was your family’ as a hypothetical because it did happen to families. I never stated anything to wish his family death.”
Except, again, that isn’t at all what she said. The words “imagine if” never crossed her lips, and she quite clearly and vociferously wished a horrific and painful death upon Breen’s family.
While we are on the topic of “imagine if” … take a moment to consider what would have been the response if this had been the other way around, and it had been a Republican state representative who’d quite literally wished death upon the family of a Democratic colleague.
It isn’t hard to “imagine” exactly how that would play out … the Republican would have already submitted a resignation, mobs would be surrounding his family’s home, the entirety of the media would descend upon that person with claws and teeth bared, and the General Assembly would likely have called for an immediate vote to censure or otherwise punish the horrible person for their terrible screed.
It’s also worth noting that, according to the Tribune, Kifowit is a veteran of the Marines. If a Republican Marine veteran had done anything of the kind, progressives would likely have used it as an indictment of the entire military.
Alas, as Townhall noted, Kifwit is a Democrat in a deep blue state, so other than some minor embarrassment at having let the mask slip a bit during her speech, it is rather unlikely that she will be held the slightest bit accountable for her despicable and overtly publicized death wish against a Republican colleague’s family … over a simple question regarding the total cost of an expensive bill.
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