My homestate of Oklahoma easily has the worst pair of Senators in this country. Usually I just laugh off Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn and try my best to amuse myself with their stupidity but an article in the Tulsa World (our local paper) today brought my outrage to a record high.
During his half hour speech before the Tulsa Metro Chamber at the Warren Place Double Tree Hotel, Inhofe called the United Nations an "absolute disaster" whose peacekeepers in Africa have been "going around teaching girls to be prostitutes"
More below...
Tom Coburn is more notorious than Inhofe for crazed, non-sensical soundbites. My personal favorite from Tom goes back to his 04 Senate campaign when he warned a crowd of supporters that "Lesbianism is running rampant all over our 'government schools' in southeastern Oklahoma." "Government schools"? "Lesbianism"? He's definitely speaking a foerign language that only Republican theocrats like him can speak...
Inhofe today, however, proved to his colleague in the Senate that he's just as capable of publicly making a fool out of himself.
"Teaching girls to be prostitutes?" Perhaps Mr. Inhofe would like to eliminate peacekeeping missions in Africa. Perhaps he would enjoy seeing those inferrior Africans fending for themselves amidst a genocide or a civil war.
I have concerns with United Nations policy on Africa. For one, I think they should be playing a mcu more active role in trying to stop the genocide in Darfur.
Yet my qualms with the United Nations are completely opposite from Senator Inhofe's. I want more peacekeeping. Even if some of the peacekeeping missions in the past have failed, like the one in Rwanda, even the slightest peacekeeping presence is better than nothing.
If you're passionate about global warming, you're probably familiar with Mr Inhofe. He is probably the most prominent Senator in the "global warming is just a myth" crowd. According to the article, Inhofe continued to peddle this bullshit last night:
Inhofe again took on manmade global warming
Un fucking believable.
The good news is, Okies are getting of this embaressment. In the latest SUSA poll, Inhofe only maintains a net approval of 8% (48-40). Contrast that with our Democratic governor, Brad Henry, who has a net approval of 45%. Furthermore, Inhofe was polling even worse a few months ago. So yes, there is hope.
We must wait till 2008, however. Brad Carson, who was interviewed many times in Crashing the Gate and our 04 nominee against Coburn, is a good Democrat and might be a good choice. Dan Boren, who I am not a fan of, could be a strong candidate if he improves his public speaking ability.
06 is where we need to funnel everything right now. But 08 is also ripe with potential pickups. Even in some of the country's reddest states like Oklahoma.