Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature will be honoring the life of Rush Limbaugh after a resolution was approved in the Assembly on Wednesday.
But the move did not come without objection from Democrats, who passionately argued against the measure for an hour.
Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz says that Republicans seemed reluctant from the start to bring the bill to the floor. “If a sponsorship is a measurement of enthusiasm for a bill or resolution appears that less than a third of the Republican caucus felt strongly enough to put their name on this resolution.” The bill was originally on Tuesday’s calendar, but was pulled until the Senate passed the measure.
Representative Francesca Hong says that Rush Limbaugh’s rhetoric perpetuated a cycle of hatred among Americans. “Racism kills. We saw it last night. We’ve seen it on so many nights these past couple of years. Misogyny kills. Discrimination kills. Hate kills.” Hong referenced a killing spree in Atlanta earlier this week that left 8 people dead, most of them Asian women.
Representative LaKeisha Myers says Republicans tried to bargain with the Black Caucus on a Black History Month resolution, and turned around to pass one for Limbaugh instead. “‘But we can let you have a Black History Month resolution if you take our people that we want to put in it and you all don’t talk about it.’ So silence? Silence is what we were given. That’s the option. My name is LaKeisha Myers not Stepin Fetchit.”
Myers says Republicans are showing their true colors by passing the resolution. “When is enough enough and what the hell is the bar? Because if you wouldn’t honor the People’s Revolution, Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris, what is the bar? That’s what I want to know. It is disgusting that we have to sit here and go through this and deal with this.”
The only Republicans to support the plan on the floor were Representatives Scott Krug and Shae Sortwell, who authored the resolution. Sortwell says Democrats were speaking ill of the dead. “Because let’s be honest if you agree with him I absolutely everything I’d be shocked I mean we have disagreements on things but the personal attacks on a man, deceased, is a little bit disappointing.”
He went on to say that everyone offends everyone, and Limbaugh was no different. “Chances are at some time or another you’re going to say something that somebody objects to, that somebody may find offensive, that may even be offensive to most of us. President Biden certainly doesn’t have an innocent record on saying things with racial charges in there.”
The bill passed on a 56 to 35 vote, with only one Republican member of the Assembly voting against it. Rush Limbaugh is a Missouri native, with no connection to Wisconsin.