Congressional Bigots, Racists and Utter Morons

Ever since day one, Congress has been peopled with generations of Blue Bloods like the Saltenstalls, Cabots Lodges, and Freylinghuysens, as well as the Dingells of Michigan, The Chaffees of Rhode Island and the Tafts of Ohio. Then too, there are the California actors who served in Congress; their numbers include the very first, Julius Kahn, a noted Shakespearean actor whose San Francisco district has long been represented by Speaker Nancy Pelosi; former Broadway star (and wife of Melvin Douglas) Helen Gahagan (who was derisively called “The Pink Lady” by California ultraconservatives); Sonny Bono, George Murphy (whom satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer noted “Now we’ve got a senator who can really sing and dance”); and of course two non-members of Congress: Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Moving away from the Golden State, Minnesotans sent Al Franken to the U.S. Senate, Fred Grandy (A.K.A. “Gopher” in The Love Boat) represented an Iowa house district for 8 years, and The Dukes of Hazzard’s Ben “Cooter” Jones, was a two-termer from Georgia.

Among the professional athletes who became successful politicians, several were Hall of Famers in their respective sports: New Jersey Senator and basketball legend Bill Bradley (who was also a Rhodes Scholar and an Olympic Gold Medalist); Kentucky Senator (and Hall of Fame hurler) Jim Bunning; Seattle wide receiver and 4-term member of the House from Oklahoma, Steve Largent.

Congress has also had more than its share of morons, bigots, anti-Semites, and outright intellectual lightweights. One of the most obnoxious of ‘em all was a sixteen-term Democratic Representative from Mississippi, by the name of John E. Rankin (1882-1960). Rankin, who served in the House from 1921-1953 at one point chaired the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee. He was a thorough-going racist and anti-Semite. He hated anything involving Hollywood . . . which he believed with all his heart and soul was the American capital of the Communist conspiracy. That’s Rankin in the picture to the left, enswathed in an endless petition demanding a thorough investigation into the producers, directors, writers and actors in Hollywood . . . all of whom he was certain were card-carrying Jewish Marxists. One wonders if it ever dawned on him that being draped in all those signatures made him look like a rabbi!

In 1944, Time Magazine reported Rankin referring to Jewish columnist Walter Winchell (Winshell) “the little Kike.” This incident inspired the novelist Laura Z. Hobson to write her world-famous story of antisemitism, Gentleman's Agreement (1947).

Today’s 117th Congress likely has more bigots, racists, anti-Semites and utter morons than any gathering in the past 100 years. Among the worst are:

North Carolina Freshman Republican Madison Cawthorn, the youngest member of Congress, who defended his having missed the most votes in Congress by claiming that it was far more important servicing his wife during their honeymoon than serving the people of his district. "If I have to choose between voting with Nancy Pelosi or spending time with my beautiful wife, I’m choosing Cristina every time," he said. Cawthorn further admitted he had missed a number of votes in the week he was gone but said it was all "Democrat garbage."
Georgia Republican Andrew Clyde who likened the mob’s breaching of the Capitol on January 6 to a “normal tourist visit,” despite photos from that day showing him, mouth agape, rushing toward the doors to the House gallery and helping barricade them to prevent rioters from entering. The images resurfaced this week on social media amid a wave of disbelief and outrage over Clyde’s comments, including from several Republicans. (It should be noted that the actor who probably played more dumb sidekick parts in Hollywood Westerns than anyone in history was the Scottish-born actor Andy Clyde, best known for playing Hopalong Cassidy’s comic relief, “California Carlson.” Oddly ironic, no?)
Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, who is so far out of it that even his siblings want him expelled from Congress.
Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert who freely concedes that people believe that he’s the “dumbest member of Congress.” Among his loopiest actions are claiming his face mask likely gave him COVID-19 (on the extremely rare occasions he wore one) and then taking the failed Donald Trump “cure” hydroxychloroquine to fight it. He has said that caribou love to “date” over oil pipelines and nominated Republican Newt Gingrich to be speaker of the House 13 years after Gingrich left Congress.
Georgia Freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene who, among many other inanities, recently likened Congressional leaders forcing members to wear masks during their time on the House floor to the Holocaust. Furthermore, she was voted off all her Congressional committees due to her steadfast support of QAnon supported-reality, and has spent the lion’s share of her free time stalking the likes of Representatives Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Eric Swalwell as well as Marjorie Stoneman Douglas survivor David Hogg. Moreover, even before she won her seat in Congress, Greene suggested that a bank controlled by the Rothschild family, who are Jewish, a utility company responsible for the fire and then-Gov. Jerry Brown had a compelling motive to spark lethal forest fires in California, thus clearing the path for a high speed rail project that Brown wanted.
Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert who, like her freshman colleague M.T.G. is out on the edge of political sanity, recently posted a tweet asking her followers to reveal their favorite verse from the Bible. Unfortunately for Rep. Boebert, her public tweet garnered responses from people who are decidedly not impressed with the Colorado legislator’s overall performance as one of Congress’s most notorious wanna-be seditionists and gun-rights advocates.

It would seem that Rep, Boebert, who knows as much about the Bible as yours truly does about about lobster bisque, has posted her question in order to gather in more reelection cash. How in the world could I be so dismissive of another’s religious convictions? Well, it seems to me that one who truly knows their Bible, would be aware of certain verses, such as:

Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (L) & Lauren Boebert (R)

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others,” (Matthew 6:15);
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25, 35)
If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you.” (Lev. 25: 35)
'"Before the blind, do not put a stumbling block- (Lev. 19:14).

This last verse, "וְלִפְנֵ֣י עִוֵּ֔ר לֹ֥א תִתֵּ֖ן מִכְשֹׁ֑ל” is, in my humble opinion, one of the most important of all verses in the Bible, and an exceptionally important lesson for anyone who makes their living as an elected official. For this verse makes crystal clear that those who place what we today call a “big lie” before the people, are committing a fundamental sin - not to mention breaking several Divine Commandments. Whether it be getting the public believing that that the last election was purposefully stolen; that the Holocaust was an invention of the Jews; that the COVID-19 pandemic was the intentional work of Dr. Anthony Fauci or that all those who broke into the the U.S. Capitol on January 6 were either “left-wing radical Marxists” or “peace-loving patriotic Americans” are knowingly driving a lethal wedge between neighbors and moving America ever closer to a second Civil War. And for what purpose? To put money in their pockets? To destroy the planet’s oldest and most successful democracy and replace it with a malevolent autocracy? To sell as many stumbling blocks as the market will bear?

An even more basic question has to be “Do the people spewing all this fraud and rhetorical deceit really believe what they are saying?” To be perfectly honest, I don’t know what is worse: believing with a full heart that the 2018 California wildfires were caused by Jewish space lasers (just ask Rep. Taylor-Greene) or knowing that they (the liars-in-chief) know full well that they are absolutely full of what Granny would call “canal water.”

My hope, prayer and dream is that come November 8, 2022, the public will give the likes of Reps. Clyde, Gosar, Gohmert, Greene and Boebert (not to mention Senator Ted Cruz and Florida’s own Matt Gaetz) their walking papers and replace them with ladies and gentlemen (of either party, but hopefully Democrats) who know that Congress is no place for bigots, racists, morons and habitual liars.

There are 532 days left until November 8, 2022.