Jody Hice
If you thought current House Republicans were scary, brace yourself for the class of 2014. It's not just that you've got
Jody Hice and
Glenn Grothman poised to enter the House, bringing their anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-weekend positions with them. It's important to understand that these aren't isolated flashes of craziness. They're part of yet another wave pushing the already extremist House Republicans
even further to the right:
Congressional Republicans successfully ended their primary season with minimal damage, but in at least a dozen safe or largely safe Republican House districts where more mild-mannered Republicans are exiting, their likely replacements will pull the party to the right, a move likely to increase division in an already polarized Congress.
In other words, it's not just one or two flashy cases like moving from a congressman who thinks evolution and the big bang theory are "lies straight from the pit of hell" to one who one who wants to
put the Ten Commandments in public buildings, thinks the First Amendment
doesn't apply to Muslims, and says of women in politics that "If the woman’s within the authority of her husband, I don’t see a problem." (That would be Rep. Paul Broun and candidate Jody Hice.) Rather, it's potentially enough of a rightward shift among House Republicans as a whole to threaten John Boehner's tenure as speaker.
But yeah, there's also a lot of flashy, attention-getting far-right lunacy coming:
Mr. Coble, an 83-year-old known as much for his colorful sport jackets as his aw-shucks demeanor, will almost certainly be replaced by Mark Walker, a Baptist pastor who wrote on Facebook that he “had the privilege of spending an hour with an African-American male who grew up in the inner city,” but that “most of these Americans have no concept of the pride and joy when we, as parents, invest in our children.”
Ryan Zinke, a former Navy SEAL team member, is seeking the House seat being vacated in Montana by Mr. Daines, a former business executive who polls show is leading in the Senate race there. Mr. Zinke has taken on a decidedly more confrontational tone, saying the United States is losing its focus on “the real enemy,” Mrs. Clinton, whom he called the Antichrist.
We may need a new word: What says "despair for your country" and "laugh at the lunatic" at the same time? Depressertainmant?
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