Hoyer criticizes Bachmann for denying racial epithet was hurled at Lewis

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday chided Rep.
Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for denying that a protester shouted a racial
epithet at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) during last month’s healthcare battle.

Lewis
said protesters used the n-word as he walked to the Capitol during the weekend
healthcare debate that led to the bill’s final passage. Conservative
commentators and Bachmann have questioned whether the racial insults actually
took place.

“I
think it undermines the credibility of somebody who’s a denier. People
denied a lot of things happened, bad things that happened,” Hoyer said Tuesday
at a press conference. 

{mosads}“I don’t think there’s any doubt that
what John Lewis said happened and what others saw and heard happen did, in
fact, happen.  That’s why I think the credibility of that assertion is
questionable.”

Hoyer
urged a return to civility following the emotional healthcare debate, and
continued to sound warnings about overly heated rhetoric from public officials.

“There
are obviously clearly differences of opinion in the country and among members
of Congress and the parties, but the debate ought to be civil, it ought to be
constructive and ought to be designed to educate the public, not incite the
public,” Hoyer said before taking questions at his weekly meeting with
reporters.

Hoyer
stressed the “need for all public officials, all members of Congress from
either party, to try to urge the American people and conduct ourselves in a way
that provides an environment for the civility of debate.”

House
Democrats in particular have felt under assault from angry anti-government
activists, and were subject to a number of threats, slurs and reported physical
altercations in the weeks surrounding the House passage of healthcare reform.

Hoyer,
who spent the two-week recess campaigning for a number of vulnerable Democrats,
noted that a “more civil environment” seems to have taken hold across the
country since the healthcare bill passed.

“I
found the atmosphere somewhat toned down,” he said.

At
the same time, he warned his colleagues about the dangers of keeping that anger
alive.

Hoyer
said he was “very, very concerned and disappointed” about a reference to congressional
Democrats as a “lying, thieving … bunch of commies,” which was made by talk
radio host Chris Baker at a Minnesota campaign rally on Thursday for Bachmann. The appearance of Sarah Palin drew thousands to Bachmann’s campaign stop.

“I
don’t think that’s very useful. And not only do I not think it’s useful, I
think it creates an atmosphere and debate that is [not] constructive and can
sometimes be dangerous,” Hoyer said.