It was on this date in both 2015, 2016, and 2017, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" shared our profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Virginia’s 6th Congressional District, Bob Goodlatte, who has been allowed to run for office in a very conservative district with almost no primary challengers, at all, since 1992. Goodlatte was one of the co-sponsors of Florida Rep. Bill Posey’s “Birther Bill” in 2009, and in 2015, he accused the Department of Justice of funneling money to liberal organizations such as ACORN and LaRaza. The former would have been an amazing scandal, mostly because ACORN had long since defunded and had not existed since 2010. Goodlatte’s voting record through the years includes voting for the Defense of Marriage Act, against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, voted to allow displays of the Ten Commandments on government property and for a Constitutional Amendment to allow individual states to vote for their own state religions, voted for the impeachment of Bill Clinton,voted to try and keep Terry Schiavo alive against her wishes, and voted for the invasion of Iraq. And that’s the stuff from before the Obama administration. Since, the guy will vote against anything sensible, even disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy, or against the Zadroga Bill, to pay for the healthcare costs of 9/11 First Responders. But what Rep. Goodlatte felt was a wise use of taxpayer money was to spend years investigating Hillary Clinton for doing all the bad stuff at Benghazi, and in July of 2016, after FBI Director James Comey declared there was no wrongdoing found, Goodlatte demanded an investigation into Comey’s investigation. Which, at that point, he might as well take taxpayer dollars into a 55 gallon drum and set them on fire.
In the 2016 elections, Rep. Goodlatte got a last minute threat from Democrat Kai Degner, but still coasted to victory against the neophyte with 66% of the vote to win a thirteenth term in office. He celebrated by starting the new session attempting to orchestrate a secret vote to eliminate funding for the Office of Government Ethics. When the effort collapsed due to political outcry, he immediately changed the subject and voiced his opinion that FBI Director James Comey should investigate Hillary Clinton’s e-mails. Because of course he did. But really, can we be surprised he loathes ethics when he literally will get busted for going twice the speed limit through a school zone, then send his wife to argue on his behalf that it’s actually a faulty speedometer, so how’s he supposed to know he’s doing 70 in a 35? Same thing, right?
We’re not going to do any deep dive into Bob Goodlatte’s terrible voting record in this session of Congress, or how it is in lock step with his party… instead, we’d rather celebrate two things. First, we bid Goodlatte a hearty “good riddance” because he announced he’s retiring and not running for re-election in 2018 after 13 terms in office. Second, we would like to salute Bob Goodlatte’s son, Bobby Goodlatte, who just donated the maximum amount to Democrat Jennifer Lewis seeking to flip his father’s seat blue in November, and not the Republican, Ben Cline.
Finally, hats off to Bobby Goodlatte for announcing his donation on Twitter, and then a day later, blasting his own father for choosing party over country and using the House Judiciary Committee to attack FBI Agent Peter Strzok in hearings for his work on the Mueller investigation.
The younger Goodlatte wrote of the elder:
”I’m deeply embarrassed that Peter Strzok’s career was ruined by my father’s political grandstanding. That committee hearing was a low point for Congress. Thank you for your service sir. You are a patriot.”
And that will likely be Bob Goodlatte’s legacy. Being so insipidly partisan and craven that his own son turned his back on him. It’s… fitting.
One Year Ago, September 1st, 2017: Bob Goodlatte (VA)… 2017 Update
Two Years Ago, September 1st, 2016: Bob Goodlatte (VA)… 2016 Update
Three Years Ago, September 1st, 2015: Bob Goodlatte (VA)…Original Profile
Four Years Ago, September 1st, 2014: David Dreier (CA)