US Representative from the great state of Texas, Louie Gohmert
Ah, the sweet tradition of civil debate in the hallowed halls of Congress:
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Thursday objected over and over again in order to keep statements out of the congressional record that accused Republicans of hurting working families by taking food stamps out of the farm bill. (
Raw Story)
It is a sad, sad thing to be a Democrat in the US House of Representatives these days. Unable to move any legislation for the betterment of the country, they are forced to sit idly by and watch as the bumbling clown circus, also known as the Republican caucus, takes meaningless votes to repeal Obamacare for the eleventyith time or to appeal to women voters by attacking their reproductive rights, all while stymieing any hope of passing legislation which anytime prior to 2010 would have been bipartisan-feel-good ventures.
But just because you may not have the votes to make anything happen in the House doesn’t mean you aren’t there to represent the people. Sometimes, the best you can do on that front is to simply insure that you voice strong opposition to what the majority is doing.
So today, numerous Democratic reps took time on the House floor to ask their colleagues for unanimous consent to allow their concerns over the removal of the food stamp (SNAP) program from the Farm bill to be reflected in the Congressional record. It’s not going to change anything, of course, but their concerns that the GOP bill would hurt hungry American families would officially be on the record. Perhaps it’s unmeaningful in the larger scheme of things, but it is a quaint and civil form of minority protest which has always been respected in the House.
But that was before Louie Gohmert (R – Jackassville) got a
hard-on to put the undeserving poor on a diet. Allowing members of the minority party to place their concerns with pending legislation into the congressional record is Just. Not. Okay. with Louie “The Troll King” Gohmert. As Democrat after Democrat asked to “revise and extend” their remarks in opposition to what the GOP is doing to the Farm Bill, putting nutrition assistance for the nation’s most vulnerable in jeopardy, Louie Gohmert repeatedly shouted, “Objection!”
As several more Democratic representatives attempted to insert remarks that the bill “hurts the working poor” and “increases hunger and poverty,” Gohmert repeatedly objected.
“I think it is extremely unfortunate that that members on the other side of the aisle would deny members on this side of the aisle the ability to insert written materials in the record,” McGovern noted. “In all my years here, I’ve never seen such uncourteous gesture.”
It’s not terribly exciting to watch, but you can view the proceedings here:
Louie Gohmert has become a bit of a celebrity compared with the national stature of most House members. (Politichicks even put him on their list of “Hottest Conservatives”.) –
shudder– So maybe his increasingly dickish and bullying behavior should be expected. Ho hum, right? I mean, who the hell cares if one congresscritter is a complete ass to a bunch of other congresscritters about something that won’t ultimately matter to anyone?
But it’s just another in an ever-growing list of examples of Tea-Party affiliated congresscritters being assholes in D.C because it makes their supporters
all wet between the knees happy. It’s a huge part of why Congress
no longer works at all. For all the talk of the Tea Party being over (“so 2010!”), the impact of the idiots they put in office and the ones, like Gohmert, that have been bolstered by Tea Party reactivistim is far from over. Just ask John Boehner.
It is also an example of what happens when a complete nincompoop like Louie Gohmert decides to affect public policy. You need look no further than Gohmert’s own House floor
arguments against the food stamp program because of this one guy who told him about being in line at the grocery store buying ground beef and watching the people in front of him buying king crab legs with their food stamps. And Louie has just about had it with that!
Perhaps it is unsurprising that someone of Gohmert’s intellectual capacity can be fed
a tired old trope and choose that as a jumping off point for serious policy discussion. But it should infuriate the rest of us that the “elites” representing us in Washington are so dim-witted (or think we are) that they choose to govern based on stereotyping and urban legend.
