The media have been "complicit" in hiding the most radical parts of the Green New Deal, in what amounts to a "Stalin-like or 1984 technique of disappearing it," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has charged.
In an interview Tuesday with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Cotton blasted the white paper that accompanied the Green New Deal resolution proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
The "frequently asked questions" paper included language and policies not included in the resolution itself — like providing economic security to those "unwilling to work" and ruling out nuclear power as part of the solution to the climate crisis.
Ocasio-Cortez's office deleted the white paper, claiming it was released too early in an unfinished version by mistake, The Washington Post reported.
The New Green Deal itself has won widespread support from top Democrats — including those who are lining up to take a 2020 White House run — and Cotton condemned that as well.
"[I]t's pretty remarkable that when these Democrats put out the Green New Deal last week that you had many Democrats running for president leap onto a proposal that was going to confiscate every privately owned vehicle in America within a decade and ban air travel so we could all drive or ride around on high speed light rail, supposedly powered by unicorn tears," Cotton said.
"Well, we can all become vegans since cows are gone as well, since cow flatulence is a mortal threat to the world," he added. "Look, this is a classic example of a gaffe being when you say what you really mean. I understand the Democrats that proposed this immediately tried to retract that white paper that went along with their resolution. And too many people in the media have been complicit in the Stalin-like or 1984 technique of disappearing it, sending it down the memory hole.
"But this is where their heart lies. They believe that Americans driving around in trucks on farms, or commuting from the suburbs where they can have a decent home into the city to work are a fundamental threat to the world, and they have to have the power and the control of those Americans' lives to implement their radical vision for humanity."
A video clip was posted by RealClearPolitics.