Fighting for Rational, Mature Discourse on Capitol Hill
Whenever Michele Bachmann took aim at Hilary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, Gohmert hopped on board and demonstrated that rational, mature discourse on Capitol Hill is not dead. In a series of letters to the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department, Bachmann, Gohmert, and three others linked Abedin to a conspiracy that placed Islamic Brotherhood sleeper agents in the highest levels of government with the goal to enact Shiara law across The United States.
It might be true that those letters were based on evidence gathered by Frank Gaffney, a man who has seen Islamic conspiracies including conservatives like John Bolton (the US Ambassador to the UN under George W. Bush and FOX News regular) and Grover Norquist (who opposes all taxes forever). Even though many of Gaffney's claims had already been investigated and dismissed by the FBI as baseless, and even though he's been condemned by the American Conservative Union for his assertions, Gohmert has stood by him in an act of integrity and commitment that surpassed common rational thought.
Now, spamming the national security apparatus doesn't smack of "rational discourse," but the response to the letters accused Gohmert and others of McCarthyism. Even conservatives, like Senator John McCain of Arizona came out against him.
Gohmert isn't the type to be shaken by namecalling like "baseless," or "reprehensible," or "McCarthyism." In a rebuttal, he maturely and accurately pointed out that the Senator had numb nuts and had changed his attitudes towards the Muslim Brotherhood. I wasn't aware of the nuts situation, but given McCain's time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, that sounds reasonable. I don't understand how that or McCain's change in attitudes towards the Muslim Brotherhood play into serious policy discussions, but I'm sure it's part of a larger professional discussion on the issue I'm just not privy to.
Blamed the Aurora Shooting Victims for Getting Shot
On July 20th 2012, the sun had barely risen on the theater in Aurora Colorado--the site of ten deaths, two fatal shootings, and over seventy associated injuries--whenever Louie Gohmert went on a Heritage Foundation radio show and commented:
“It does make me wonder, you know, with all those people in the theatre, was there nobody that was carrying? That could have stopped this guy more quickly? I mean, in Tyler, Texas, we had, in my hometown, we had a shooter come in over a domestic matter and just start shooting people, and it was a guy with a concealed carry. He got killed, but his shooting at this guy caused him to run and no doubt saved a lot of lives. He was a real hero. “Yes, if someone sitting in a dark theater had drawn a weapon and accurately put one bullet into James Holmes, Holmes would have died and no one else would have suffered. That's literally a thing that could have possibly happened.
It's a naive, simplistic envisioning of a scenario that in reality was jagged, emotional, and chaotic. It reminds me of when I have anxiety about an interview and someone says, "Well, just answer all of their questions correctly and they'll hire you." It's the kind of solution to a problem that no one who's ever lived through it would offer up.
The real issue isn't that Louie Gohmert doesn't know what he's talking about--as a member of the House of Representatives, I think he's sworn to never say anything intelligent--it's that his remarks blame the victims of the shooting for not doing more to protect themselves.
Whenever someone points the finger that those who have suffered from crime, they forget that the purpose of civilization is to allow people to relax and let down their guard in order to enjoy life without fear of being victimized. When they elucidate their vision of society as a place where everyone is expected to be a hyperviigilant, gun-wielding martial artist with a chastity belt or else they deserve what they get, I feel like I should hire Dolph Lundgren to kick their guts through their spine and then laugh at them for not spending their entire life learning to dodge the piston kicks of Nordic ubersmench.
Actually, maybe Gohmert is just a shallow piece of shit with less hair and no private pool.
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