One of the top reasons I enjoy writing about politics is that I look like a model citizen compared to a lot of politicians. We put them on pedestals (or rather, they install themselves there) and they wield a good deal of power, but plenty of them do and say ridiculous things — from the president on down to city councilmen. Cigars, f-bombs, hookers, drugs, and bigotry — our esteemed elected officials can behave just as poorly as the people they represent.
Of course, I also write about politics for the purpose of calling attention to issues, particularly those which parents ought to be concerned about. It’s just a bonus when that pursuit happens to cross paths with whack-job politicians. This time it’s Steve King, the Republican congressman from Iowa featured in a recent Gawker piece.
Gawker posits that King is at least eight times crazier than Republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Considering what comes out of her mouth, that’s an impressive assertion. Gawker cites the frequency of certain words spoken by both King and Bachmann on the House floor, including "ACORN" and "socialist." King blows Bachmann right out of the water.
While both King and Bachmann are in the top 10 lawmakers who’ve used the word "sex" most frequently in session (36 times for King, 18 for Bachmann), it’s King who’s really got a bee in his bonnet over "the gays", as Rachel Maddow might say. King leads the pack in terms of times these words have been uttered on the Hill: "homosexuality" (16), "homosexual" (13), and "sin" (6, tied with Rep. Gohmert, R-TX). Furthermore, Rep. King is the only person in the past two years to have talked about NAMBLA — four mentions, in fact — in session.
Gawker didn’t want to delve further into the reasons behind King’s citation of the group, but I did. Unsurprisingly, King had tried last fall to link an Obama appointee to NAMBLA – an appointee to a position related to public schools, and who happened to be gay.
King spoke up again last week about those sneaky gays and how they might try to "entrap Christian businesses" by "coming in and interviewing one day in man’s clothes and come back the next day and apply for a job in woman’s clothes, and then setting up a lawsuit in a sting operation to harass our religious organizations."
Yeah. That’s what the gays are all about. Undermining good Christians through the evils of cross-dressing.
His insistence that "if homosexuals want to avoid discrimination they should be more discreet about being homosexual" is right in line with the thinking behind "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," so it’s clear where he stands on that policy repeal. But what I want to know is how he expects people to be more discreet about their sexuality? Should we remove our wedding rings? Clear our desks of family photos? Make no mention of our loved ones? King himself has referred to his wife while speaking from the floor of the House; isn’t he technically flaunting his heterosexuality?
Iowa is actually one of twenty-one states that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, a fact that probably keeps Steve King up at night. Personally, I’m hoping that his currently bigotry will keep him up at night in the future.