Sen. Barbara Boxer vilified the GOP on Monday by comparing them to domestic abusers. She was speaking of the government shutdown and the debt limit deadline fast approaching when she said:
I never questioned, never questioned the fact that Republicans, Democrats, and independents love this country. Love this country. I never questioned it. But I have to say, when you start acting like you’re committing domestic abuse, you’ve got a problem. ‘I love you dear, but you know, I’m shutting down your entire government. I love you dear, but I’m going to default and you’re going to be weak.’ Something is dreadfully wrong.
Boxer has used this analogy with the GOP in the past; during the 2012 campaign she said, “There is a sickness out there in the Republican Party, and I’m not kidding. Maybe they don’t like their moms or their first wives; I don’t know what it is.”
She then invoked the name of one of the most racist senators in the twentieth century, saying:
And then as if that isn’t enough, they have another stone in their other hand called default, so just as you’re beginning maybe to see the light of day, you hit yourself again and say to the world America could actually default on its debts. And the full faith and credit of the United States is in question. Robert C. Byrd, one of the great senators and historians, always tells us to read the Constitution. He told us to read the Constitution. So in my desk, I have a couple of copies and every once in a while, I’ll look at it, and in that Constitution, it’s pretty clear–and I’m not quoting verbatim, but it says that the debts of the United States shall not be questioned.
Byrd joined the KKK in 1942, and was later elected Exalted Cyclops.
In 1947 he wrote to a Grand Wizard of the KKK. “The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia and in every state in the nation.”