The Wit And Wisdom Of Congressman Don Young

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) on Thursday invited a wave of criticism after using a racial slur to characterize Latinos, saying that he and his father, “used to hire 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes.” Young refused to apologize outright for the slur, and several GOP leaders have since called on him to do so.

But it’s not new for Young, one of the most senior Republicans in the House, to go off the rails. He has said a long string of crazy, offensive, or outright bizarre things during his 40-year tenure as a member of Congress. Here’s a look back at just a few of his most outrageous comments:

1. Drink alone to avoid domestic violence.

On the same day as his racial slur comment, Young also held a press conference in which he advised that the best solution to domestic violence is for people to do more imbibing in private: “”Watch the alcohol and the drugs,” he said. “You look at the relationship between violence against the loved ones you love, (it) is usually related to either one of those. And I’m going to suggest for those that may be drinking together – Stop it! If you want to drink by yourself, you may do it. But when you drink together, the possibility of harm becomes greater every day.”

2. Members of Congress should be hanged.

Young once misattibuted a quote to Abraham Lincoln on the floor of the House of Representatives. That quote called for members of Congress who opposed war to be hanged. “Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged,” Young claimed Lincoln had said. In fact, a conservative academic, not the storied former president, was responsible for the quote.

3. Environmentalists are “waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots.”

Young, who is a big advocate for drilling in the arctic and strongly disbelieves in climate change, said that environmentalists are a “self-centered bunch of waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots” and “are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans.”

4. Members of Congress are like mink. They bite.

When Young was in an education funding battle in 2007, he likened members of Congress to “the mink in my state that kill their own.” He went on: “There’s always another day when who that bite will be killed, too. And I am very good at that.” Later in the same speech, Young called on voters not to re-elect New Jersey’s representatives:

5. Funny hats prove a point.

Young once wore a hat with a propeller top while questioning Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to show how lightly he took the concerns about “the Obama energy program”:

6. Props prove a point.

Young once waved a walrus penis bone at the incoming chief of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Mollie Beattie.

7. The BP oil spill is not an environmental disaster.

Given his poor record on climate issues, it’s no surprise that Young is a fan of Big Oil. When the Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened, Young brushed it off by saying, ““This is not an environmental disaster, and I will say that again and again because it is a national phenomena. Oil has seeped into this ocean for centuries, will continue to do it.”

On a more serious note, Young has also been under investigation multiple times for ethics violations, including allegations that he used taxpayer money to fund private trips. Young was also responsible, along with his colleague former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) for earmarking the money for the infamous “bridge to nowhere.”

Thanks to the tip from @Apinak, here’s one more for the list:

In 1995, Young disparaged a 1990 exhibit in Cincinnati that included homoerotic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. In front of a group of 15- to 18-year-old high school students, Young said, “butt fucking… You think that’s art?”

Then, too, Young refused to apologize, saying, “I don’t apologize. You’re all adults, and if you have to ask the questions, I’m going to answer.”

By Friday afternoon, Young had issued a full apology for using the racial slur ‘wetbacks’:

“I apologize for the insensitive term I used during an interview in Ketchikan, Alaska. There was no malice in my heart or intent to offend; it was a poor choice of words. That word, and the negative attitudes that come with it, should be left in the 20th century, and I’m sorry that this has shifted our focus away from comprehensive immigration reform.”

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Republican Congressman Attacks Sasha And Malia Obama

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

This week, Breitbart News broke a long-standing security protocol and published a story detailing the precise location where President Obama’s daughters are vacationing this week. On Wednesday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) used the report to attack the First Daughters for taking a vacation.

King’s comments came during an appearance on Mickelson in the Morning, an Iowa-based radio show. A caller, Carla, brought up sequestration and proceeded to criticize the Michelle Obama and her daughters for taking a vacation in the Bahamas. King agreed — “Carla, you’re on point and on the mark all the way through” — before criticizing them for also taking a vacation last year in Mexico. “That was at our expense, too,” King bemoaned.

CALLER: When I see the First Lady and the beautiful girls going off to the Bahamas waving goodbye to us, it’s really hard to stomach. When we’re tightening our belts, either all of us should do it or none of us should do it. This, I am pretty tolerant, I always have been, I usually shut my mouth. This is not acceptable.

KING: Carla, you’re on point and on the mark all the way through. […] You’re right on the president. He needs to show some austerity himself. Instead he wanted to tell America how bad it was going to be. […] We’ve got the president doing these things. He sent the daughters to spring break in Mexico a year ago. That was at our expense, too. And now to the Bahamas at one of the most expensive places there. That is the wrong image to be coming out of the White House.

Listen to it:

This notion that the Obamas are living a life of excess is beginning to take hold among conservative members of Congress. At the CPAC conference earlier this month, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) smeared Obama for enjoying “the perks and the excess of the $1.4 billion presidency,” a charge that “fail[s] on the facts in simple fairness,” according to CNN.

King is strongly considering running for Iowa’s open Senate seat in 2014. His potential candidacy is already causing consternation among establishment Republicans who worry that he will be a Todd Akin-redux, appealing only to far-right conservatives and turning off everyone else.

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GOP Congressman Says Supreme Court Doesn’t Actually Get To Decide Whether Laws Are Constitutional

Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK)

Still smarting over last year’s ruling upholding Obamacare, freshman Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) dismissed the idea that the Supreme Court decides whether or not laws are constitutional.

“Just because the Supreme Court rules on something doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s constitutional,” Bridenstine said in a Daily Caller interview posted Sunday. After accusing Democrats of “stacking the courts in their favor” — five of the current nine justices were appointed by Republican presidents — Bridenstine dismissed the idea that Congress must write laws within the boundaries set by the Supreme Court. “That’s not the case,” the Oklahoma congressman said.

The interviewer, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife Ginni Thomas, didn’t have the heart to correct Bridenstine’s peculiar view of the Court’s role.

BRIDENSTINE: Just because the Supreme Court rules on something doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s constitutional. What that means is that that’s what they decided on that particular day given the makeup of the Court on that particular day. And the left in this country has done an extraordinary job of stacking the courts in their favor. So what we have to do as a body of Congress is say, “look, just because the courts” – and I hear this all the time from Republicans – they say that the court is the arbitrator and after the arbitration is done, that’s the rules we have to live under and we can go forth and make legislation given those rules. That’s not the case. A perfect example if Obamacare. Obamacare is not constitutional, the individual mandate.

Watch it:

There is certainly good reason to doubt the way this Supreme Court reads the Constitution — Citizens United alone proves that point. Our current court gave sweeping legal immunity to wealthy corporations. It took away Lilly Ledbetter’s right to equal pay for equal work. It shrinks reproductive freedom because women may “come to regret” the choices they make if they have control of their own bodies. And it appears poised to strike down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

But the idea that this particular Court distorted the Constitution to uphold Obamacare does not even pass the smell test. In the words of Judge Laurence Silberman, a leading conservative who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush, the case against the Affordable Care Act has no basis “in either the text of the Constitution or Supreme Court precedent.”

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Congressman Considers Gabby Giffords A ‘Prop’ For Gun Regulations

Congressman Joe Heck (R-NV) on Tuesday agreed that he considers former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), who was a victim of an assassination attempt two years ago, a “prop” in the debate over gun regulations.

Jon Ralston of Ralston Reports, uncovered the audio of Heck, speaking with conservative radio talk show host Alan Stock, agreed that Giffords was nothing more than a “prop” at the State of the Union:

STOCK: At the end of the president’s State of the Union when he said have a vote for Gabby Giffords, have a vote for this and that. I found that to be nauseating and you know what else is nauseating too is putting Gabby Giffords up there, who can’t even clap her hands, as a figure of somebody being — having shot her. I think it’s a shameful act putting her up there as a prop. I’m sorry. I really do.

HECK: Yeah, no I agree. I think again in the cloud of emotion surrounding Connecticut those who are anti-gun want to use that to limit their Second Amendment rights.

Listen to it:

Giffords has made a remarkable recovery since she was shot through the head at a town hall in a parking lot in Tucson, AZ, two years ago. In fact, the experience has prompted Giffords, along with her husband Mark Kelly, to found an organization called Americans For Responsible Solutions, devoted to combating gun violence.

Heck’s office release this statement on the incident:

My statement was in reference to the idea of gun control grab coming out of Washington DC. Of course there is no way that I think that Gabby Giffords is a prop… Should I have come to her defense? You know, in a fast-moving interview, in retrospect, I should have said something but I didn’t. I was just looking to get past that and talk about gun control in general.

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Texas Congressman Invites Ted Nugent, Who Threatened The President’s Life, To The State Of The Union

Congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX) has announced that he would be bringing musician and conservative loudmouth Ted Nugent to President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.

“I am excited to have a patriot like Ted Nugent joining me in the House Chamber to hear from President Obama,” Stockman said on his congressional website on Monday.

Traditionally, State of the Union attendees are given the opportunity to invite distinguished guests or prominent constituents to sit in during the President’s remarks. And while past honorees include war heroes and selfless public servants, Stockman has instead invited someone who has threatened the President and Democratic officials:

Nugent called President Obama a criminal and denounced his “vile, evil America-hating administration” which is “wiping its ass with the Constitution.” Taking it a step further, he said that “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”

Following his remarks last April at a National Rifle Association annual convention, the Secret Service brought in Nugent for questioning.

Ted Nugent responded to the swift condemnation of his invitation to the State of the Union address via Twitter on Monday afternoon:

well well well, there will be a freedom addicted all American uppity Motown guitarplayer facing the POTUS at the SOTU addresss tomoro-lovely

— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) February 11, 2013

ThinkProgress reached out to the Secret Service for a reaction, but they responded with a simple “no comment.”

Nugent spoke with the New York Times on Monday to reassure people he would be unarmed while inside the House chambers:

In interview, Ted Nugent tells the NYT he won’t be carrying a gun with him to State of the Union. “I’ve got to demilitarize before I go.”

— Jeremy W. Peters (@jwpetersNYT) February 11, 2013

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Congressman Receives Threats From Gun Advocates Warning Him To ‘Watch His Back’

Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN), gun safety advocate who represents “real gun country,” told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Saturday that his office is receiving anonymous threats, warning the Congressman to watch his back.

“I have never, ever in all my life feared for my security, and I’m not fearful of it now,” Nolan began. “But I’m a little more [fearful] than I ever had been before. We’ve been getting a lot of not very thinly veiled threats and calls into my office. You know, things like, ‘you tell Nolan he better watch his back’”:

NOLAN: Nobody has actually come out and said they’re gunning for me, but the messages are quite angry, vitriolic, and a little bit frightening to people at my front desk who have been taking the calls. I’m a little nervous about it. I’ve never been nervous before. [The NRA] are very toxic in the effect they’re having on the American public.

Watch it:

Nolan added that during his Congressional campaign, NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre, crisscrossed his district telling voters with hunting licenses that he “is going to take your guns away.”

Since the shooting in Newton, Connecticut, the NRA’s efforts have only intensified. The organization cast its opposition to President Obama’s gun safety regulations as “the fight of the century,” circulating a letter characterizing Obama’s proposals as “about banning your guns … PERIOD!” “Barack Obama, Joe Biden and their gun ban allies in Congress only want to BLAME you, VILIFY you, BULLY you, and STRIP you of your Second Amendment freedoms,” the letter says. NRA President David Keene even blamed Obama for the death threats the organization received.

But while the NRA’s over-the-top rhetoric and tactics have polluted the gun debate, Nolan sees “a big change in national sentiment” in favor of sensible gun safety reforms. “Not only are people in urban areas concerned but people in rural areas are, too,” he said. “They understand that you don’t need an assault rifle to shoot a duck or to protect your home.”

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Ex-GOP Congressman Calls Out Gun Lobby: ‘This Is Not About Protecting The 2nd Amendment,’ ‘The NRA’s About Money’

Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe,’ had a very public awakening to gun violence in the aftermath of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary that left 20 children and seven adults dead. In recent weeks, the former six-term Republican congressman went from longtime supporter of the National Rifle Association to an advocate for more gun safety measures. But it appears Scarborough is not just waking up to the danger of guns — he’s also becoming aware of the dangerous gun lobby.

This morning, Scarborough took aim at the NRA, calling out the organization’s resistance to any gun safety by saying “this is not about protecting the second amendment,” “the NRA’s about money.” He also called out the Republican party for going along with the delusional policies of the NRA, which have nothing to do with safety, but rather with sales:

SCARBOROUGH: This is about gun manufacturers making millions and millions and millions of dollars. This is about retailers making millions and millions and millions of dollars. Do you know how much money these people have made over the slaughter of 20 innocents in Newtown? Do you know how much richer these rich gun manufacturers have gotten over the past month, and how the NRA uses that tragedy to gin up fears, and websites use that tragedy to gin up fears that they’re coming to take your guns away? Hey got news for you: They can’t take your guns away. We’ve got something called the Second Amendment to the constitution[...]

SCARBOROUGH: The NRA’s about money… This isn’t gun control. The big lie that the NRA is pushing on gun owners to try to whip stupid people into a frenzy is they’re coming to take your guns away. And I say stupid people because you have to be stupid in 2013 to believe that the federal government can come and take your hand guns, or come and take your shotguns.

Watch it:

(HT: Mediaite)

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Republican Congressman Claims Hammers Could Be Outlawed Under Assault Weapons Ban

Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX)

A Republican congressman lambasted the push for gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, stating on Friday that if lawmakers wanted to ban assault weapons, they would have to outlaw “hammers” and “machetes” as well.

Appearing on the Dennis Miller Show, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) told guest host Larry O’Connor that he “refuse[s] to play the game of ‘assault weapon.’ That’s any weapon,” said the Texas congressman. “It’s a hammer. It’s the machetes.”

O’CONNOR: I want to ask you a question about one of your colleagues, Rep. Peter King in New York. He’s a very passionate guy, a great defender, he’s a great patriot. But he’s on board with this assault weapons ban. He was actually on MSNBC yesterday, openly saying, “I don’t understand why anybody would need an assault weapon.” I personally get nervous whenever a politician is asking me as a citizen why I need my right, but can you answer that question for your colleague? He might need some help here. Why would anyone need an assault weapon as they’re defining it?

GOHMERT: I refuse to play the game of “assault weapon.” That’s any weapon. It’s a hammer. It’s the machetes. In Rwanda that killed 800,000 people, an article that came out this week, the massive number that are killed with hammers.

Listen to it:

According to the FBI, in 2010, there were 8,775 people who were murdered with guns, compared to 540 people who were killed with blunt objects, a small minority of which were people armed with hammers. The exponentially-higher number of people killed by guns also includes many innocent people killed by indiscriminate gunfire, such as drive-by shootings. After all, there are no “drive-by hammerings.”

Still, hammers are not the only “weapon” that conservatives are equating with firearms in an attempt to undermine any gun control legislation. A state representative in New Hampshire, warned of another deadly weapon: credit cards. “Anything can be used as a deadly weapon, said Rep. Dan Dumaine (R). “A credit card can be used to cut somebody’s throat.”

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Democratic Congressman Laughs At Fox News’ Fiscal Cliff Misinformation

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) schooled the hosts of Fox & Friends on the details of the deal to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” during an appearance to explain his opposition to the Senate-passed compromise on Wednesday morning. Smith also laughed off the network’s suggestion that President Obama has not offered specific spending cuts.

Smith said he voted against the “American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012” because the measure locked in low revenue levels that could necessitate dramatic spending cuts in the future. The Fox News hosts appeared incredulous, however, arguing that Obama failed to put any spending cuts on the table or show leadership on entitlement reform. Once Smith pointed to Obama’s proposal to change the growth of Social Security benefits, co-host Steve Doocy quickly dismissed the plan as a “nonstarter.” The Congressman laughed at the network’s attempt to criticize Obama and then debunked its claim that the GOP offered more specific spending reductions than the president:

DOOCY: Congressman, it’s great that you’re worried about spending and taxes, but you know, there are a lot of people who are watching this and they see the president and he really took no leadership when it comes to cutting spending with the budget and with this latest crisis, so it seems like….

SMITH: I don’t actually agree with that. The president put on the table cuts to entitlements. He put on the table the chained CPI issue, among other issues.

DOOCY: Wait, but that was a nonstarter for a lot of people in your party.

SMITH: [Laughs] Here is the thing, I mean you can say, ‘well, he’s not showing leadership.’ But now what you’re saying is he showed leadership, but nobody else was willing to. So it’s really hard to blame the president … As long as we’re talking about the president, let me also make the point, Speaker Boehner, the Republicans, what have they put on the table in terms of specific spending?

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Look at the Ryan plan. Look at the budget they passed.

SMITH: No. A budget is not an appropriations bill, Brian. The budget said across the board, we will cut 10%. We’re not going to tell you what, we’re not going to tell you where. We’re just going to imagine that it’s going to happen. In terms of specific spending cuts, the president had actually put more on the table during this last negotiation than the so-called fiscal conservatives leading the House.

KILMEADE: Really? Because I don’t know anything that he wanted to cut besides defense.

SMITH: I just told you! I just told you!

Watch it:

“I’m concerned that revenue has been sort of taken off the table at this point,” Smith said. Ninety-percent “of the Bush tax cuts are now locked in permanently, so any effort to deal with the very large debt and deficit that we have going down the road here revenue is pretty much off the table and we didn’t get much. Those are my concerns and that’s why I voted no.”

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