Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert is one of the five members of Congress, along with Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who wrote a letter charging that radical Muslims have infiltrated the government. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s aide Huma Abedin is at the center of that charge. Abedin is the wife of former Congressman Anthony Weiner. Fellow Republican Congressmen John McCain, Scott Brown and others have strongly criticized the modern-day McCarthy-like attack. That should be enough to get him into the hot seat this week, but Gohmert is going for the trifecta of foolishness.
This is not new behavior by Gohmert. In the past, Gohmert has claimed that terrorists are coming into this country and having “terror babies,” which are then indoctrinated and brought back into the country years later as terrorists. He has also claimed that if gays are protected under a hate crimes bill then so will bestiality, pedophilia and necrophilia.
In the last couple of days, Gohmert once again crossed into the absurd and shown that he lacks the wisdom sorely needed in Washington.
First, he demanded that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano answer a question only in yes or no terms. His insistence eventually drew the ire of Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith who tried to quell Gohmert’s attacks on Napolitano. Gohmert’s anger towards Napolitano centered on his old paranoia of radical Muslims in the federal government.
If that wasn’t enough, Gohmert responded to the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado, as the result of the “ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs” and that “we don’t want God around.”
Exactly what was going on in the mind of James Holmes, the shooter, is unclear. Like most killers who crack up and go on a killing spree, Holmes most likely has lost touch with reality. It is more a sign of the poor state of mental health in America than the result of “attacks on Judeo-Christian” beliefs.
Instead of seeing problems or tragedies and considering well-thought out legislation that might offer solutions, Gohmert jumps on top of a soapbox and tries to make political hay out of a horrible situation. He turned a tragedy into an opportunity to promote his political agenda. Somehow, he keeps being reelected and forces the country to deal with his nonsense.
