Any day that Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) commits a self-own is a good day.
But sometimes a little prodding is necessary to achieve the desired result, and that’s exactly what happened during a fascinating exchange Tuesday between Waters, who is the former Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) at a House Rules Committee hearing.
The subject of the hearing was a discussion of a resolution titled “denouncing the horrors socialism,” which is sponsored by Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) and which was introduced on January 25th.
At one point during the hearing, Roy confronted Waters with her own words where she essentially endorsed socialism.
Before he addressed Waters, though, Roy stated that “I was intrigued by an op-ed that I saw not too long ago by a Democrat from Cuba commenting on one of our colleagues, an avowed socialist [AOC], and essentially pointing out the extent to which ‘democratic socialism is a lot like the system my family fled except its proponents promised to be nicer when seizing your business.'”
“That’s the truth,” Roy remarked. “We can talk about these terms as if they don’t matter, but they do. They do matter. They’re actually at the core of who we are.”
“I’ve got one question for the ranking member,” Roy continued, looking at Waters and then his notes. “Ranking member Waters, in a 2008 hearing you said quote, ‘and guess what, this liberal will be all about? This liberal will be all about socializing, would be about basically taking over the government and the government running all of your companies,’ end quote” Roy said. “Simple question: Do you stand by that statement?”
Waters responded by first claiming that socialism was “basically a non-issue” and saying that the federal programs she was trying to protect were the same ones Roy wanted to protect.
Roy didn’t take the bait and insisted on Waters addressing the 2008 remarks he referenced where she appeared to advocate for a government takeover of the oil industry. Waters denied twice during their back and forth that she was a socialist. She later claimed she was a “capitalist” in what hilariously came across as Maxine Waters denouncing Maxine Waters when all was said and done.
Watch:
"I am NOT a socialist!!"
Watch this incredible clip of Chip Roy quoting Maxine Waters' own words right back to her face…
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 31, 2023
I remember just a few weeks ago when certain “conservatives” were bemoaning the fact that Roy and other members of the House including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) were pressing for concessions from Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) over the course of several rounds of voting in the House Speaker battle.
One of the things Roy pushed for was to be on the Rules Committee.
As we saw from his exchange with Waters, it’s to our benefit that he got what he asked for. We need to see more of this. A whole lot more.
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