Editor’s note: John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast. Previously, he served as Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/10/09/wingnuts.grayson.gohmert.art.jpg caption="Rep. Alan Grayson (L) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R)."]
With Congress’ approval ratings hitting 21%, according to a new Gallup poll, the polarization and hyper-partisanship is taking a toll. This week we look at two more members of the House of Representatives who’ve been adding fuel to the fire, earning them entry into the Wingnut Hall of Shame: Republican Louie Gohmert and Democrat Alan Grayson.
On the right, Texas Republican Louie Gohmert drew stunned reviews after a rambling speech on the House floor, speaking on the subject of a hate crimes provision attached to a defense bill. Here’s part of what he said:
“If you’re oriented toward animals, bestiality, then that’s not something that could be held against you ... which means that you’d have to strike any laws against bestiality. If you’re oriented toward corpses, toward children. You know, there are all kinds of perversions, what most of us would call perversions, some would say it sounds like fun, but most of us would say were perversions and there have been laws against them and this bill says that whatever you're oriented toward sexually that cannot be a source of bias against someone.”
We’ve heard this riff before from conservatives like Rep. Steve King and Chuck Norris. It’s reaching for slippery-slope legal arguments sure sounds scary – but it’s thoroughly debunked by sources like Politifact – because for, among other reasons, pedophilia, necrophilia and bestiality are criminal acts while gays and lesbians are protected by basic civil rights.
Gohmert’s ramble somehow drew Hitler’s Germany into the conversation – which is an ever-popular wingnut tactic. He also took time to announce that he was not racist because he once voted for Alan Keyes for president – a man most recently seen calling Obama a communist and defending the birthers.
But Gohmert’s been busy developing Hall of Fame Wingnut credentials this year. He’s a co-sponsor of the Birther Bill and waded into the health care debate on 9/11 Truther Alex Jones’ radio show by stating "this socialist health care ... is going to absolutely kill senior citizens. They’ll put them on lists and force them to die early." Stay classy, Louie.
On the left, we have a relative wingnut novice who’s trying to make a name for himself as a liberal bomb-thrower, freshman Florida Congressman Alan Grayson. He echoed Gohmert’s health care death threats from the other side of the aisle in a speech on the House floor in which he said: “The Republican health care plan is this: 'Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.'"
It quickly drew fire from one senior Republican as "the most mean-spirited partisan statement that I've ever heard made on this floor.” After being pushed to apologize, Grayson responded by saying "I would like to apologize: I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven't voted sooner to end this holocaust in America." And with the Holocaust metaphor – which he later did genuinely apologize for – we got our wingnut on the left.
But Grayson seems to enjoy the attention that comes with pumping up the outrage. On CNN’s "Situation Room," he attacked Republicans as "foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who think they can dictate policy to America by being stubborn." Somewhere a caveman is crying.
Send in your suggestions for Wingnuts of the Week
What we see in both these folks is the increasing hyper-partisan hysteria emanating from Congress – quick to call your political opponents heartless killers, quick to invoke either Hitler or the Holocaust to score partisan points. It’s cheap and weak and beneath the basic levels of decency we all have a right to expect from our congressmen. What makes it worse is that their partisan allies are quick to defend these outbursts as spirited rather than unhinged. If you’re looking for a good explanation for why there is an increasing anti-incumbent mood out there in America, Congressmen Gohmert and Grayson are prime examples. They are not trying to carve out a new chapter in Profiles in Courage, instead they’re engaged in a race to the bottom.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Avlon.