This edition of “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” is our 504th original profile, and it focuses on Rick Allen, the sitting U.S. House Representative for Georgia’s 12th Congressional District, who is currently serving in his freshman term in Washington, D.C. In the 2014 election, he defeated incumbent Democrat John Barrow with 54% of the vote. Now, Rep. Allen has quickly made himself infamous in Washington for an outburst he made that pissed off even his fellow Republicans back in May of this year, when a week after Democrats cried foul after Republicans flipped their votes in support of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have prevented government contractors from discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, a second version passed with 43 Republicans actually supporting the idea. In the wake of that vote, Speaker Paul Ryan tried to gather many members of the GOP House, where Rick Allen pulled out his Bible, and read Scripture to those present, specifically passages from Romans 1:18-32, and Revelations 22:18-19, that in effect read that gays are sinners “worthy of death”. At that point, several of his colleagues stormed out, disgusted (and they should be).
This is a new low for the GOP, somehow, this year. It was one thing for Ted Cruz to be campaigning for president and appear at a conference where Pastor Kevin Swanson called for the death of gays shortly before announcing him to come out and speak, but now they had arrived at the point where they literally had a sitting member of Congress echoing that sentiment, in a legislative body with openly LGBT members serving in it on the other side of the aisle.
Well, Rick Allen went viral because after the tragic shooting in Orlando just days later, as some were calling for some action, ANY action on gun control, the GOP offered their usual support to victims… their thoughts and prayers. In this instance, that came off as a lot of hollow bulls*** in particular because Rick Allen was one such person who got on social media to let those mourning know he was thinking and praying about it. To which, some of the victims had to wonder, “So what, are you praying that more of us die, then?”
Allen was asked if he regretted or wanted to apologize for his remarks about the gays being “worthy of death”, and surprise… he didn’t regret them at all and stood by his decision to read them at that meeting.
Honestly, prior to this, the worst thing we knew about Rick Allen was that he claimed that the Chamber of Commerce was a “pro-amnesty group”. Which is inaccurate and misleading, at best. Still, when we look at what he’s done in his first term, his comments about the LGBT community aren’t his only problem:
- January 22nd, 2015: An anti-abortion bill, HR 7, was moving through the House, and was halted because even some members of the GOP were put off by the language in the bill regarding its definition of rape. Rick Allen, however, had no problem with that, and voted for it anyway.
- February 3rd, 2015: Rep. Allen co-sponsors and votes for the 60th Republican attempt at repealing the Affordable Care Act. This in spite of the fact that the law is not just working, but better than experts predicted.
- March 3rd, 2015: Allen votes against funding the Department of Homeland Security as part of a Republican protest of President Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
- May 13th, 2015: Rick Allen co-sponsors and votes for HR 36, a 20 week abortion ban.
- July 21st, 2015: Rep. Allen takes to the floor of the House to accuse Planned Parenthood of selling the body parts of unborn children (which they weren’t doing) and demand further investigation.
- September 11th, 2015: Allen votes against the United States’ nuclear treaty with Iran.
- September 18th, 2015: Rep. Allen co-sponsors and votes for the bill created by House Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood, based on highly edited “sting” videos submitted by a Pro-Life advocacy group that have been repeatedly debunked by investigators.
- November 19th, 2015: Allen co-sponsors and votes for the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, reacting to the terror attacks in Paris by jihadists from France and Belgium by trying to create greater restrictions to keep out Syrian refugees, of whom exactly zero were involved in those attacks. One terrorist had a fake passport of a member of Assad’s army, apparently to create a false trail to help in their escape, or hoping that the attacks would be blamed on Syrian refugees, and the governments of nations like France and the United States would fall for it and not allow refugees to escape ISIS abroad. And… the Congressman fell for it.
- February 2nd, 2016: Rick Allen votes for HR 3762, the 61st attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (which is still working better than was predicted).
- May 19th, 2016: Rep. Allen votes against House Amendment 1079, which would have prohibited the use of federal funds for discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. So if you were wondering, yes, he’s pro-discrimination, apparently.
Georgia’s 12th Congressional District has a +9 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, but considering Allen only won with 54% of the vote in a mid-term election two years ago, in this presidential election season, with the controversy surrounding his comments about the LGBT community… he might not garner that advantage, and could, in theory, be a potential upset for a seat getting flipped blue. The Democrat looking to do that color-swap would be Tricia Carpenter McCracken, a freelance journalist who ran for office as a complete outsider in the 2010 elections, and did shockingly well in a lieutenant governor’s race. Here’s hoping she hits Rick Allen hard regarding his ignorant, bigoted, and fanatical ideals, and gets to Washington, D.C.
One Year Ago, June 29th, 2015: Charlotte O’Hara (KS)