Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) trended on Twitter on Wednesday evening as left-wing users expressed outrage at him for allegedly mocking people with disabilities in commenting on remarks on Tuesday by Vice President Kamala Harris.
As Breitbart News reported, Harris introduced herself to a group of community activists by sharing her gender pronouns. In addition, as Breitbart News noted, she “described herself as ‘a woman wearing a blue suit’ on behalf of the visually impaired.”
Kinzinger seized on a video clip posted by the @Breaking911 account and criticized Harris without noting the context:
If you ever wonder why the left still can’t win elections despite the insanity of Trumpism, save stuff like this for reference later 👇👇👇. You can get mad at me, but I’m not wrong. https://t.co/6FYtxRdl77
— Adam Kinzinger🇺🇺🇸✌️ (@AdamKinzinger) July 27, 2022
Many Twitter users responded by accusing him of mocking the disabled. Some on the left saying they admired him for attacking former President Donald Trump as a member of the January 6 Committee, but would not support him beyond that.
You are wrong, though. This was for accessibility reasons.
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) July 27, 2022
Some immediately pointed out that other speakers had described themselves — aside from their pronouns — for the blind:
Actually Adam, you are wrong! Vice President Harris was describing herself to people who are sight impaired, the other people at the table did the same. https://t.co/rmQNkvplCf
— Jules Morgan 🇺🇸🇺 (@glamelegance) July 27, 2022
“I really do think you’re still a silly frat boy at heart,” tweeted Joan Walsh, a left-wing pundit who writes for The Nation.
Are you serious? You don’t know that this is how speakers deal with people with disabilities, especially obviously blindness? You’ve done so well on the January 6 committee. I really admire that about you. But I really do think you’re still a silly frat boy at heart. God bless.
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) July 27, 2022
My father was blind. Many visually impaired people remember colors, even though they can't see them any more. I grew up describing people, objects and scenery to him. It gave him a more complete picture of happenings and the world around him.
— Just another Bozo (@Slc1021) July 27, 2022
Faced with criticism, Kinzinger did not apologize, or clarify: rather, he accused his critics of not wanting to be challenged.
Until your thinking was challenged?
— Adam Kinzinger🇺🇺🇸✌️ (@AdamKinzinger) July 27, 2022
Kinzinger ran for Congress in 2010 as a Tea Party Republican. Democrats redrew his district to force him to compete with another Republican. Following that bruising 2012 contest, he moved to the left.
He became a strident critic of President Donald Trump and has been an eager participant in the January 6 Committee, after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) barred other Republicans. In 2022, Illinois Democrats rewarded him by redrawing him out of his district completely.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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