Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) said on Thursday that he used “a poor choice of words” when he compared holding town halls to “the cleansing that the Orientals used to do where you’d put one person out in front and 900 people yell at them.”
“While there was no malicious intent, I regret that my words may have distracted from an important point,” Bost said in a statement emailed to TPM.
He described protests at town halls as “coordinated disruptions taking place across the country.”
“When the booing and shouting drowns out the conversation we’re trying to have with our constituents, it becomes that much harder to govern,” Bost said.
In a meeting with the editorial board of The Southern on Friday, Bost said that in-person town halls “are out of control.”
“You know the cleansing that the Orientals used to do where you’d put one person out in front and 900 people yell at them? That’s not what we need,” he said.
Just so we’re clear on what he, as one of the chosen — the yellers — is saying.
it’s hard to make a point about your cowardice when your racism keeps overshadowing it.
Oh we got the point all right. The point being that you are a stupid racist Christofascist; a disgrace to your district, your State, and America as a whole.
It’s not a conversation. They are our towns, our Town Halls, and you are our guest. You are there to listen to us, we are not there to listen to you.
“While there was no malicious intent, I regret that my words may have distracted from an important point,” Bost said in a statement emailed to TPM.
He added: “That point would be that I hold my constituents in contempt and don’t see any reason to meet with them, ever. Why should I care what they have to say?”