Elizabeth Warren plays King race card against Sessions

Here we go again. Play the race card. Rinse. Repeat. It's the never-ending tactic the left uses to smear character and shut down debate. This time, however, it was the left-wing tactician who got shut down. Senator Elizabeth Warren took to the Senate floor in a last-ditch effort to derail Sen. Jeff Sessions' confirmation as attorney general. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell demanded she take her seat, however.

Warren, who seems to be positioning herself for a 2020 presidential run, endeavored to read a letter from Coretta Scott King, Dr. Martin Luther King's widow, in which Mrs. King expressed opposition to the nomination of Sessions for federal judge in 1986. McConnell, however, employed Senate Rule 19, which states which prohibits senators from "directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator."

Warren was as calculating as ever, exploiting a civil rights icon for one motive, which was to say, "See? My colleague is a racist. Even Martin Luther King's widow agrees." Before she could finish the letter, McConnell shut her up, but not before the intended damage was done. In fact, some have said that not allowing Warren to read the letter written by a revered figure only drew more attention to the letter and to Warren's allegations -- that it furthered the appearance of a racist Republican party, as evidenced by its willingness to shut down one of the most notable blacks.

We could certainly debate McConnell's decision and come up with an argument for both sides, but that's not even the point. The point is that far-left radicals have no shame. They themselves exhibit the racism that is, of course, inherent in their history. They trot out blacks and black causes when doing so serves them. They see black people as a means to their big government end and their quest for power. This they do with no regard to truth. So what if Sessions' actual record includes securing the death penalty for a Ku Klux Klan member and working to desegregate schools? Who cares if the various allegations leveled against him have been both denied and debunked throughout the years? When power is your pursuit, someone like Sessions, by all accounts a good man, is just a pawn, collateral damage. Let him take one for the team. They're fine with using Mrs. King -- because, with radicals, the end always justifies the means.

A couple of weeks ago, I took journalist Zeke Miller to task because on Inauguration Day, he tweeted that President Trump had removed the Martin Luther King Jr. bust from the Oval Office, then had to apologize when he realized it was still there. He was eager to use Dr. King to advance the Trump-is-racist narrative. Warren's actions were no better -- willing was she to ignore and/or omit facts and use Coretta Scott King for her purpose -- because using the King name would shield her accusations from doubt. She was banking on people thinking, "If Dr. King's wife saw it this way, it must be true."

Dr. Alveda King, Martin Luther King's niece, weighed in. She said, "I believe certainly that if [Coretta Scott King] could look at the record of Senator Sessions today, with integrity, she would say, 'Well, he has worked to prosecute the Ku Klux Klan. He has worked to desegregate public schools.' So it's almost like a bait-and-switch. Stir up the emotions. Use the name of King -- and my name is Alveda King. Stir up people's emotions. Play the race card." She concluded, "Aunt Coretta was a very reasonable woman, and she, with integrity, would have noted that [Sessions] had done some great work in fighting against discrimination."

Facts should matter, and falsehoods should be called out. One falsehood is that in 1985, Sessions prosecuted civil rights activists for racial reasons in a voter fraud case. His accusers conveniently leave out that as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, he prosecuted the case on behalf of Perry County black citizens. So how does that work? If on behalf of blacks, one prosecutes blacks, he's a racist? That must be what we call a catch-22. Warren didn't discuss this or his putting the KKK member to death or working to desegregate schools or getting an award from a local chapter of the NAACP or his fight for good-paying jobs for black workers orÂ… anything that would shed a positive light on the then-AG nominee, whom the Senate has since confirmed.

Being truthful does not fit the agenda of people like Warren, Sen. Cory Booker and other Democrats who opposed Sessions on the grounds that he is a racist, as they are more concerned with obstructing President Donald Trump's cabinet nominations than they are doing what's best for the country.

Adrienne Ross is an author, speaker, columnist, editor, educator and Southeast Missourian editorial board member. Reach her at aross@semissourian.com.