U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), right, has appointed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to ... [+]
Whom did new Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-California) appoint to serve on the House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic? How about that person who has used “medical brown shirts” to refer to the Covid-19 vaccination campaign? Or maybe that person who’s compared the Covid-19 coronavirus to farts? Could it be the the person who demanded Covid-19 answers by June 31, 2021? Well, McCarthy chose all of the above because one person, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) has done all of these things. And she was on McCarthy’s list for the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, that was posted on his website on January 24.
Hmmm, is Taylor Greene really the best person to sit on this Subcommittee? Is she your final answer? Do you want to phone a friend? How about ask the audience? Or perhaps you want to check your Peach Tree dish, which is what Taylor Greene apparently had called a Petri dish, as I covered before for Forbes?
In his announcement, McCarthy didn’t provide specific reasons why he chose Taylor Greene. Remember Taylor Greene is the person who tweeted once again on January 21 about using ivermectin for Covid-19. You know ivermectin that medication that multiple scientific studies have shown to not be effective against Covid-19. Yes, the ivermectin that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Covid-19 treatment guidelines have continued to recommend against using for Covid-19. prompted a flood of fact-checking responses. Well, Taylor Greene has continued to ride the ivermectin horse. And her January 21 tweet justifiably received another round of pushback from “neigh-sayers.” Here’s one example of a debunking response from Jonathan Reiner, MD, Professor of Medicine and Surgery at the George Washington School of Medicine:
From Twitter
As you can see, Taylor Greene’s tweet began with, “Remember when they told you not to take Ivermectin and HCQ to help you with covid?” It’s not clear whom she meant by “they.” But “they” could have been all of the scientific studies on ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to date.
McCarthy also selected Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) as Chair of the Subcommittee as well as Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-New York), Rep. Mariannette Miller Meeks (R-Iowa) Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Arizona), Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), Rep. John Joyce (R-Pennsylvania). Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), and Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Georgia). Jackson, by the way, is the Representative who tweeted the following on November 27, 2021, when the Omicron variant had first started spreading: “Here comes the MEV - the Midterm Election Variant! They NEED a reason to push unsolicited nationwide mail-in ballots. Democrats will do anything to CHEAT during an election - but we're not going to let them!” Hmm, is that what you’re going to elect to do, try to further politicize the virus and pandemic? Yeah, it turned out that the Omicron variant wasn’t just a midterm election thing. In fact, the Omicron-fueled Winter 2021-2022 surge at one point saw over 2,600 Covid-19-related deaths a day, as reported by Fenit Nirappil and Dan Keating for the Washington Post in February 2022.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), seen here with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to his right, was also ... [+]
The announcement also listed McCarthy’s selected members for the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and stated: “The Members selected to serve on these subcommittees will work to stop the weaponization of the federal government and will also finally get answers to the Covid origins and the federal government’s gain of function research that contributed to the pandemic.”
Really? That’s what the Subcommittee is going to focus on with an average of 35,647 Covid-19 hospitalizations and 542 Covid-19-related deaths a day happening right now? How about instead trying to put together a clear plan on how to deal with long Covid? Or maybe develop more clarity on how to handle Covid-19 vaccinations and other precautions in 2023? If you’re hoping that the current pandemic will transition to becoming more of a seasonal virus situation in 2023, there still needs to be some kind of transition plan. The question is whether Taylor Greene knows enough about how to make transitions go smoothly?
The big concern is that even more Congressional and thus tax payer time will be wasted with grandstanding about topics that shouldn’t be first and foremost right now while the Covid-19 pandemic is still going on and leading to suffering and lost lives. The “Select” in the name Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic shouldn’t mean that only politically expedient topics are selected. Instead, it should mean that those truly interested in supporting real science and scientists should be selected.
