“You know, I think Mr. Burr’s statement was the most ridiculous, deaf-mute, God-fearing thing I’ve ever heard,” said Kliburn, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and his top-ranked black member, to John Berman of CNN. Day “said on. “It is unbelievable that the chief law enforcement officer in (the country) would equate human bondage according to expert advice to save lives. Slavery was not about saving lives, it was about devaluing lives.”
Barrow made the comparison at an event at Hillsdale College on Wednesday, calling it a “constitutional impediment to banning any church from meeting during Covid-19.”
Bar’s comparison is given to both the history of slavery and the current reality of the public health struggle to contain the coronavirus, its unique absurdity. The lockdown – which was implemented by the states, not by the coalition government, at the onset of the epidemic – was aimed at saving lives in the absence of a strong national testing and tracing system to end the spread of the virus. Slavery has been the systematic degradation, abduction, and torture of human beings legally as property for centuries.
The case also weighed in on three influential Senate Republicans on Thursday, with two of them more silently criticizing Barr’s remarks, while the other one backed the attorney general.
“I don’t think I’ll use this equality,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsay Graham told CNN. “I think that’s what he’s trying to say … it’s been tough. We’ve had to live in a shelter, our lifestyle has changed dramatically.”
“But no, I wouldn’t compare it to slavery – it’s probably just one thing (the 1915 flu pandemic),” added Graham, who represents South Carolina.
Republican Texas Sen. John Cornin, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, similarly said he would not have used words like Bar, but noted that he believes “some lockdowns have been arbitrary and inconsistent, and I think there is civil liberties.” There is anxiety.
Sen. Ted Cruz, however, had no issue with Barr’s comment that the lockdown was “unprecedented in modern times.” The Republic of Texas added, “The Washington Washington Democrats have advocated a big and relentless shutdown not for medical science but for political reasons because of their partisan desire to defeat the president in November.”
Kliburn, who represents South Carolina, also blasted President Donald Trump during the interview, saying he and Barr were both “deaf-mute to be great leaders.” That they will see in our lifetime. ”
Klebern also criticized Trump for handling the coronavirus epidemic, claiming that if his administration was “doing the necessary work to save the people of this great country, we would now overcome this epidemic.”
The story has been updated to include Republican legislators’ comments on Barr’s remarks.
CNN’s Caitlin Polantz, Christina Carega and Manu Raju contributed to the report.
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