Elected yet unelectable
Louie Gohmert
Currently in his 5th term in the 1st Texas Congressional District
“Louie Gohmert Portrait” by United States House of Representatives – http://gohmert.house.gov/images/officialphoto.jpg.
The next individual in this series is currently an elected offical, unlike my inaugural nitwit, Jody Hice. Louie Gohmert of Texas, is currently running for a sixth term in the United States Congress. He represents a conservative area, mostly centered around the far east edge of the state, including Tyler and Nacogdoches. The Cook Partisan Voting Index of his district is R+24, so it seems that the Republican Mr. Gohmert will have to be deemed truly deranged to be voted out. Well, I think I can give some examples of his derangment.
Well, let’s start off with something that Jody Hice also articulated. Somehow, for both men, mass murder is the result of rampant secularism. After 12 people were butchered in a movie theater in Colorado two years ago, Representative Gohmert stated, “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. … 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.” Yep. James Holmes shot up a movie theater because… America rejected god? This, as I stated with Hice’s similar statements, (https://askewedperspective.net/2014/08/19/elected-yet-unelectable-jody-hice-2/) is pretty much the same thing Jerry Falwell said after the 2001 terror attacks. It is a disgusting, reprehensible statement, that should produce revulsion in any thoughtful person who reads it. Sadly, not enough of his constituents have read this. Or they agree with him. Note to self: avoid Tyler, Texas.
Okay, so, right off the bat, we know he’s as rotten and thoughtless as Jody Hice and Jerry Falwell. Still, that was one quote. Anyone can stick their foot in their mouth. What else has he said or done?
Well, we can also determine when he’s not being mean-spirited and thoughtless, he’s also kind of dumb. In an odd attempt to defend an oil pipeline, he decided on an “environmental” defense. Mr. Gohmert believes that caribou are attracted to the warmth of an oil pipeline, and that the demise of said pipeline may cause them harm. Yep. He said it. Or more precisely, this: “So when [caribou] want to go on a date, they invite each other to head over to the pipeline. … So my 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?”
Yep, that’s pretty dumb. But, wait, he’s also dumb in other ways. For example, he doesn’t seem to keep up very well with the comings and goings of his own governmental body. Or he just doesn’t care. In January 2013, he voted for Allen West to become the Speaker of the House – 2 months after West lost his bid for reelection, and was thus no longer a member of the House.
Dumb, yes. Not really evil. His belief that global warming caused by climate change is a hoax, is pretty dumb, too, and clearly an ideological knee-jerk reaction. But not exactly evil, either.
Fortunately for this article (and unfortunate for decency), Gohmert has said plenty of other really stupid things. Ask him about terrorism, for example. Or, specifically, terrorists’ power and influence within the United States government. Mr. Gohmert has asserted that the Muslim Brotherhood (a right-wing, pan-Arab Islamic organization) had infiltrated the highest levels of the Obama administration, and was influencing the President’s policies. His proof? Um… well, he doesn’t like President Obama much. Oh yeah, and Huma Abedin was Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff. And she must be related to the Muslim Brotherhood, because she’s from… Kalamazoo? Okay, well, that’s pretty silly. So silly, that even fellow Republican John McCain denounced that conspiracy theory. So did the Washington Post, Seattle Times, and the Anti-Defamation League.
Yeah, it seems that Mr. Gohmert’s paranoia is showing. But slandering government aides and accusing the President of being influenced by terrorists isn’t enough for our buddy Louie. He also claims that terrorist cells frequently send pregnant women to the United States so they can give birth to US citizens, who can then enter the country with impunity after, of course, being indoctrinated into anti-American terrorism. His evidence? About as solid as his Muslim Brotherhood claims. As in, no evidence whatsoever. And yet, his beliefs persist, especially among some of his less stable cohorts (cough, Michele Bachmann, cough).
So, Louie is a conspiracy theorist who has no problem slandering people and lying in general. He’s a religious whacko who uses Falwell-like tactics when blaming tragedies on secularism. He’s not terribly smart about science. Anything else? Well, yeah, let’s go back to President Obama.
Mr. Gohmert has stated that the President is purposely trucking refugee children into the US from Central America in order to steal elections, or at least create a future Democratic majority. Yes, he actually believes this. A member of the United States House of Representatives believes this. Here’s what he said to Newsmax: “In the end, they have said that they want to turn Texas blue, they want to turn America blue. And if you bring in hundreds of thousands or millions of people and give them the ability to vote and tell them — as Quico Canseco said, he had illegals in his district that were told, ‘If you want to keep getting the benefits, you have to vote, and President Obama’s lawyers are not going to allow them to ask for an ID, so go vote or you’re going to lose the benefits you’re getting now.’ That drives people to vote and it will ensure that Republicans don’t ever get elected again.”
So, even the most irrational and easily debunked conspiracy theories are completely legitimate in the mind of Louie Gohmert. He clearly believes President Obama is a diabolical despot bent on destroying America, apple pie, and freedom. Obama is so evil, that he even wants to make sure more American soldiers are killed in Afghanistan, and that he wants them defenseless. He pointed to statistics that showed more combat deaths under in Afghanistan under Obama compared to President Bush, ignoring the fact that more troops total served in Afghanistan under Obama than Bush. This had nothing to do with an increase in troops, and everything to do with Obama being a supervillian, in the eyes of Gohmert.
Yes, I will repeat, A United States Congressman believes insane conspiracy theories that would be embarrassing for a Free Republic poster to articulate, much less a man tasked with representing 650,000+ Americans.
Is there any more? Oh, yes. Too much, in fact, I had trouble whittling down the crazy into a piece shorter than a novel. Most of it is the standard right-wing, fundamentalist crap, and sadly quite common, especially in Texas and much of the South. But I think at this point, what I have listed is sufficient to indict Congressman Gohmert on multiple counts of paranoia, slander, defamation of character, perjury, ignorance, and general stupidity. Again, as I stated in the introduction to this series, it’s not ideology that I’m watching for. It’s the type of opinions and behaviors that are downright dangerous for an elected government official to possess that concerns me. And Louie Gohmert has done his best to prove that he’s not fit to work as a Congressional janitor, much less a Representative.
For more information related to Louie Gohmert, check out these fine links:
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/news/2013/05/gohmert_muslim_brotherhood_ter.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Gohmert
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas’s_1st_congressional_district
A Skewed Perspective 
