BETTE REBUKED: BLACK CONSERVATIVES PAN DIVA’S ATTACK ON SENATOR
RAISING THE BARR
By: David Almasi
The Divine Miss M is belting out sour notes these days.
Fading celebrity Bette Midler – and Twitter – are being criticized by members of the National Center’s Project 21 black leadership network after Midler used the social media platform to speak fondly about a brutal attack on Senator Rand Paul.
It’s not the first time Midler has done this, or been criticized by Project 21 for her boorish behavior. It’s also not the first time, and probably not the last time, it will be said that she needs to be “Raising the Barr” in how she engages in political discussion. Right now, she’s acting no better than when Roseanne Barr was ranting, raving and losing her standing in Hollywood due to her own boorishness.
Because Midler disagreed with Paul and his support of a Trump Administration plan to draw down American forces in Syria, she took to Twitter to pretty much praise Paul’s neighbor – who went to jail and paid a large fine for attacking the lawmaker.
Paul ended up with six broken ribs after he was attacked by Rene Boucher in 2017. The injuries resulted in Paul contracting pneumonia and losing part of a lung. Boucher pled guilty to the felony crime of assaulting a member of Congress and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 100 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine. Paul also won over $580,000 in damages from Boucher in a civil lawsuit related to the brutal attack.
In Expressing her disapproval of Paul’s position on the Syria pullout, Midler posted to Twitter on October 23 that “I DO NOT promote violence, but… Rand Paul says the Kurds are being ‘ingrates’ for taking their frustrations out on U.S. troops. Which is a good reminder for us all to be more grateful for the neighbor who beat the s— out of Rand Paul.”
Paul had used the term regarding Kurdish soldiers who were reportedly throwing food at American forces in Syria. Midler later deleted her tweet.
This is only the latest incident in Midler’s longstanding animus toward the junior sentator from Kentucky. She has referred to Boucher’s attack before – in February 2018 – when she was mad at Paul about something else. She asked in a tweet: “Where’s Rand Paul’s neighbor when we need him?”
Neither of these occasions appeared to have brought any retribution for Midler despite people pointing out in 2018 that her comment appeared to violate Twitter’s policy against using the platform to wish harm on others. Midler’s latest verbal attack comes as Disney announced it might make a sequel to an old film of hers, “Hocus Pocus.”
Speaking about Midler’s crassness, Project 21 member Derryck Green says:
Senator Paul had hernia surgery and a portion of his lung removed as a result of being attacked by his neighbor, Rene Boucher. And yet, Bette Midler celebrates and makes light of it.
So, in other words, Midler’s tweet amounts to: I don’t support violence until I do. Especially against people who hold views that are different from mine.
Will Bette Midler say the same thing about Congressman Steve Scalise if and when he says something she disagrees with? This kind of rhetoric is way out of bounds, and Midler needs to be called on it.
Disagreeing with people is OK. Advocating violence against those you disagree with is not just wrong – it’s immoral.
Project 21 member Martin Baker adds criticism of Twitter when he says:
Comments such as this tell me all I need to know about Bette Midler’s compassion.
To applaud an unprovoked attack on anyone, much less a United States senator, is a sad cry for relevance. Where is this tolerance the left and its shills like Midler speak of?
Apparently not on Twitter.
Midler even lost a fan in Project 21 member Marie Fischer:
Growing up, I used to always hear that if you could not say something nice you shouldn’t say anything at all.
Bette Midler is a bit older than me, so I know she heard that suggestion as well. So why in the world would she tell people to be grateful for Rand Paul’s neighbor, who severely injured the senator that he is still recovering from an assault that occurred over two years ago? And her basis is for what he said in just the last few weeks.
Her statement sounds like something out of “Minority Report,” where people are punished for possible future actions. She either truly believes this, or is so starved for attention she will say anything.
Midler was once a role model for me growing up. Now I pray no one grows up and be as bitter and caustic as she is.
And Project 21 member Deroy Murdock says:
The Divine Miss M does not sound so divine these days.
It would be really nice if the same Trump-haters who scream about the need for civil discourse tried civil discourse sometime.
This is not the first time Project 21 members have said that Midler was due for Raising the Barr when it comes to civil discourse. Also on Twitter, this past July, she made the allegation that black people at a rally appearance by President Donald Trump were paid to be there, tweeting, “How much did he pay them to be in the ‘blackground’?”
At that time, Deroy took her to task for “dismiss[ing] these grown black men as props for hire.”
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To schedule an interview with a member of Project 21, contact Judy Kent at (703) 759-0269.
BLACK LEADERSHIP NETWORK
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The above article (BETTE REBUKED: BLACK CONSERVATIVES PAN DIVA’S ATTACK ON SENATOR) was originally created and published by Project 21 and is republished here with permission and attribution to author and nationalcenter.org/project21/
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