Hostage Situation

While it wasn't on my formal list, I propose that one of our collective new year's resolutions be to remember that one does not, under any circumstances, have to hand it to Elise Stefanik:

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) went after Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) on Sunday after Stefanik called those found guilty of crimes related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots “hostages,” claiming that her divisive remarks are part of her efforts to join former President Trump’s 2024 ticket.

[....] 

“I have concerns about the treatment of Jan. 6 hostages,” [Stefanik] said. “We have a rule in Congress of oversight over our treatment of prisoners. And I believe that we’re seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just President Trump, but we’re seeing it against conservatives.”

In the immediate aftermath of January 6, Stefanik was vocal in demanding the Justice Department prosecute those responsible “to the fullest extent of the law.” But that was then, and this is now, and now Stefanik sees an opportunity to pander.

That Stefanik is a craven opportunistic weasel is too clear to need remarking on at this point. Kudos also to Raskin for taking the obvious but nonetheless necessary shot:

Raskin also demanded that Stefanik apologize for her comments, pointing to approximately 130 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza amid the brutal war with Israel.

“People convicted of violently assaulting police officers and conspiring to overthrow the government are not ‘hostages,’” he said on X. “Stefanik must apologize to the families of 130 people being held hostage by Hamas right now. Her pandering to Trump is dangerous.”

Israelis being raped and brutalized in Hamas captivity are "hostages". Insurrectionists imprisoned after being duly convicted for crimes following due process of law are not. Simple. And while Stefanik's casual insult towards actual hostages is hardly the primary story, anything that dims the ill-gotten luster Stefanik "earned" via her bad faith grandstanding about campus antisemitism is worth applauding.

(Actually, I'll make one more observation here, which is that somehow prison abolitionists -- who might agree in concept with characterizing workaday criminal convicts as "hostages" and certainly would support greater scrutiny of how we treat prisoners -- have somehow managed to resist any "well, I may not like her, but you've got to hand it to Stefanik ..." temptations. Fancy that.).