Illinois Congressman Compares Town Hall Attendees To Yelling 'Orientals'

MURPHYSBORO, IL — A downstate Republican congressman is taking heat for a comment he made to a newspaper's editorial board comparing citizens at town hall meetings to "cleansing" by "Orientals."

Rep. Mike Bost, who represents the 12th District, met with staff from the Southern Illinoisan, who asked about his reluctance to heed his constituents' calls to host a town hall meeting.

Saying his time at home in Southern Illinois is "minimal," Bost reportedly told the paper, "You know the cleansing that the Orientals used to do where you’d put one person out in front and 900 people yell at them? That’s not what we need. We need to have meetings with people that are productive.”

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His comment apparently referred to so-called "struggle sessions," a form of public torture — sometimes to the death — used by the Communist Party of China under Mao Zedong. During a struggle session, an accused would be physically and verbally abused by a crowd until he or she confessed.

Bost later said he regretted his "poor choice of words" but doubled down on his stance on town hall meetings. "While there was no malicious intent, I regret that my words may have distracted from an important point," Bost said in a statement to CNN. "When the booing and shouting drowns out the conversation we're trying to have with our constituents, it becomes that much harder to govern. It's time for Republicans and Democrats to get back to the point where we can disagree on the issues but give everyone a chance to have their voice heard."

Bost chose to let constituents have their voices heard during a tele-town hall meeting rather than in person while he was home in Murphysboro last week. Some constituents said they weren't given enough notice of the event, the Southern Illinoisan reported.

Bost isn't the only member of Congress who seems resistant to hosting in-person town hall meetings. Last month, Rep. Peter Roskam, a Republican from Wheaton, responded to constituents' request for a meeting by hosting a tele-town hall that drew 18,000 callers. Although Roskam's office previously agreed to include Patch on the call, a Patch editor was not given access to the meeting.

Bost's use of the term "Orientals" — a term so outdated that then-President Barack Obama last year signed a bill eliminating its use from federal laws — drew fire from some. One Twitter user called it "bigotry pure and simple," while another offered to show Bost "what being yelled at by 'Orientals' is really like."

Others had a simple request for Bost with regard to listening to his constituents, seeming to agree with Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who last month told GOP representatives, "You asked for the job. Go do it." One Twitter user wrote simply, "Hey, Mike," adding the hashtag "#doyourjob."

Photo via Rep. Mike Bost's office