Rep. Steve Cohen references slavery in Giuliani tweet
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) caused a stir on Twitter on Friday afternoon in attacking Rudy Giuliani over his comments that President Barack Obama âdoesnât love America.â âRudy Giuliani questioned how much, or even if, President Obama loves America. Maybe he thinks he loves it 3/5 as much as Giuliani & his pals,â Cohen tweeted at noon Friday â an apparent reference to the pre-13th Amendment constitutional compromise between Northern and Southern states that said slaves should be treated as three-fifths of an American for taxes and congressional representation. Cohen told POLITICO he has been getting both negative and positive responses about the post. Story Continued Below âIâm always going to have criticism from the extreme right,â he said, calling the attacks on Obama part of a âcontinuing strainâ with racial undertones since the president took office in 2009. âThis is code,â he said. Itâs not the first time the Tennessee Democrat has made the news for a tweet. In 2013, Cohen exchanged tweets during the State of the Union with a 24-year-old woman he later revealed to be his daughter, only to find out from a paternity test that she was not. Days later, Cohen tweeted: âTold AfricanAmerican towdriver my week -father -DNA test not father reporter/ attractive fallout.he(not aware of TN9)says,Youâre BLack! Yo.â