Pelosi: Ilhan Omar isn’t anti-Semitic; she just has a ‘different experience in the use of words’

Pelosi: Ilhan Omar isn’t anti-Semitic; she just has a ‘different experience in the use of words’
Nancy Pelosi, Ilhan Omar

Ah, that explains everything! Except what “different experience in the use of words” means.

It was part of a curious statement made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during an interview at The Economic Club of Washington D.C. Friday, where she was asked by club president David M. Rubenstein about the final version of the erstwhile House resolution condemning anti-Semitism. The watered-down document that arose out of the original resolution’s ashes seemed to let the freshman representative off the hook for the anti-Semitic comments she had made, prompting Rubenstein (who is Jewish) to ask Pelosi if she was satisfied with the revised document condemning “hate speech.”

In her rambling affirmative response, Pelosi interjected (at 1:24 in the video that follows):

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

I don’t think our colleague is anti-Semitic. I think she has a different experience in the use of words, doesn’t understand that some of them are fraught with meaning, that she didn’t realize.

Pelosi’s words almost seemed to suggest that Omar is fresh off the boat from Somalia, where she was born, but nothing could be further from the truth. Omar emigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1995, when she was 14. She learned English shortly after arriving and has had twenty-three years to familiarize herself with American customs and values, which include disapproval of religious bigotry.

Ben Bowles

Ben Bowles

Ben Bowles is a freelance writer and regular contributor to "Liberty Unyielding."

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