Did the Republicans not even bother with an excuse?
No. They just stuck to their excuse the blacks violated decorum.
Actually, now that I have had time, the first
news article for the subject had the following quote from the TN legislature.
Speaking in defense of Johnson, they argued:
Before the vote, House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, argued that there was not sufficient evidence to prove claims in the expulsion resolution.
“The record thus far simply proves that Rep. Johnson walked from there to there, and you want to expel her for that?” said Rep. John Ray Clemmons, motioning from Johnson’s desk to the podium. “She did not yell. She did not pound the desk. She did not hold a megaphone, she did not have a button on. She did nothing. She walked from there to there.”
Good lord, and that defense only held by 1 vote?