Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
There are many members of Congress who can compete for the titile of "Worst Member of Congress," but Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas 1st District) is a real competitor — he really wants the title.
The troubling part is that Gohmert appears to be playing the role of buffoon to appeal to the voters of his 1st District. He has a surprisingly stellar background. Louie Gohmert – Wikipedia:
Gohmert received his B.A. from Texas A&M University in 1975. At A&M, he was a brigade commander of the Corps of Cadets and class president. He later received his Juris Doctor from Baylor University in Waco in 1977 where he also served as class president. Gohmert served in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, at Fort Benning, Georgia, from 1978 to 1982. The majority of his U.S. Army legal service was as a defense attorney.
Gohmert was elected as a state district judge for Texas's 7th Judicial District comprising Smith County (Tyler) in 1992 and was reelected two times before being appointed by Governor Rick Perry to fill a vacancy as Chief Justice on Texas's 12th Court of Appeals, where he served from 2002 to 2003.
Gohmert has been elected to Congress since 2004 with virtually no opposition. On November 6, 2012, Gohmert was elected to his fifth term with 182,621 votes (71.7 percent) to the Democrat Shirley J. McKellar's 67,758 (26.6 percent).
During his time in Congress, Gohmert has played the role of buffoon to perfection. He is always available to the media for a "crazy quote." Here are just a few examples:
Caribou sex: "When [the caribou] want to go on a date, they invite each other to head over to the pipeline. So [his] real concern now [is] … if oil stops running through the pipeline … do we need a study to see how adversely the caribou would be affected if that warm oil ever quit flowing?”
Terror baby plots: In an interview on FOX Business News, Gohmert asserted that pregnant women from the Middle East are traveling to the US on tourist visas, planning to deliver the child there. Gohmert asserted that this gives the child U.S. citizenship, and the child is then returned to the mother's home country to be submitted to a life of terrorist training.
Aurora, CO shootings: Gohmert appeared on The Heritage Foundation's "Istook Live!" radio show the day of the shootings and said said: "You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of terror like this takes place. Some of us happen to believe that when our founders talked about guarding our virtue and freedom, that that was important," he said. "Whether it's John Adams saying our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people … Ben Franklin, only a virtuous people are capable of freedom, as nations become corrupt and vicious they have more need of masters … We have been at war with the very pillars, the very foundation of this country. People say … where was God in all of this? We've threatened high school graduation participations, if they use God's name, they're going to be jailed … I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don't want him around. I kind of like his protective hand being present." Gohmert went on to say "It does make me wonder, with all those people in the theater, was there nobody that was carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?"
Which brings us to Fox News Sunday in the wake of the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School this past Friday. Gun control debate begins to simmer after massacre:
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, was the sole representative of gun rights' activists on the various Sunday talk shows. In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Gohmert defended the sale of assault weapons and said that the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who authorities say died trying to overtake the shooter, should herself have been armed.
"I wish to God she had had an M-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out and she didn't have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands. But she takes him (the shooter) out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids," Gohmert said.
Gohmert also argued that violence is lower in cities with lax gun laws, and higher in cities with stricter laws.
"The facts are that every time guns have been allowed _ conceal-carry (gun laws) have been allowed _ the crime rate has gone down," Gohmert said.
Gohmert is rather proud of his interview on Fox News Sunday. it is prominently featured on his congressional member web page. Louie Gohmert.
So what's next, Gohmert? Elementary school children should be armed? What could possibly go wrong?
And about arming teachers. These would be the same teachers whom Tea-Publicans like Gohmert routinely vilify as public employees who are members of the hated teacher unions. Tea-Publicans do not want to pay these teachers for their skills as teachers, now they want them to do double-duty as armed police, for which they also will not be adequately compensated? Teachers are not trained police. Get real.
And by the way, Gohmert. Those teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary were far braver than you; they were unarmed yet selflessly confronted the gunman in an attempt to stop him and to protect the children in their care. Rather than vilifying school teachers, we ought to be building a monument to these brave teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary. I am in awe of their selfless act of bravery.
Gohmert's asertions about gun laws are doubtful:
Gun-control advocates say that isn't true. A study by the California-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence determined that 7 of the 10 states with the strongest gun laws - including Connecticut, Massachusetts and California - are also among the 10 states with the lowest gun death rates.
"If you look at the states with the strongest gun laws in the country, they have some of the lowest gun death rates, and some of the states with the weakest gun laws have some of the highest gun death rates," said Brian Malte of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Yeah, yeah, spare me your "It's a biased study from a gun control group." Just like all those biased studies from the gun lobby for the merchants of death. We can play this game all day to no end.
Does Gohmert really believe the crazy shit he says? Or is he simply playing the role of a buffoon, as I suspect, to appeal to the voters of the 1st District? And which is worse, a cynical politician who plays the role of buffoon to appeal to the idiot voters of the 1st District of Texas, or the idiot voters of the 1st District of Texas who make him possible?
In either case, East Texas owes this nation an apology.