In both 2016, as well as 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented its original profile of the current U.S. House Representative from North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District, David Rouzer, whose resemblance to Saturday Night Live cast member Jon Lovitz still haunts us to this day. Rouzer had already established himself as a staunch conservative while he served in the North Carolina State Senate, aligning himself as a climate change denier who tried blocking studies of sea level change, showing he was downright archaic when it came to education, what with his support of corporal punishment without parental exemption in schools, and his homophobic streak was proven by both his opposition to anti-bullying measures that would protect LGBT students and his support for a state constitutional ban on same sex marriage. He hasn’t mellowed out much since heading to Washington, D.C., like how he was willing to state his desire to have another government shutdown over the fact that the GOP was unable to defund Planned Parenthood, due to his viewing of the fraudulent video produced by the Center for Medical Progress (whose leaders were since been indicted for their deception). This was only two years after the last time Republicans shut the government down, and got nothing but costing millions upon million dollars for our country, and threatening government workers with being furloughed, Rouzer was ready to repeat that over a shoddy hoax.
Rouzer also get major points as a freshman lawmaker for introducing his own written legislation, but then again, when you consider his sponsorship of a bill was to drug test welfare recipients nationally, it becomes a lot less impressive. After all, when states have passed such laws and adopted them, they have lost a fortune on the cost of drug testing, and found statistically less drug use by those on government assistance, without any “savings” of throwing people off welfare. Even worse, the states have lost money on court cases when the same Republicans supporting these bills see their legislation challenged by ACLU lawsuits, and they get overturned as being violations of the 4th Amendment. But that’s David Rouzer for you… take a failed, s*** idea at the state level and try to do it across the country.
In June of 2015, Rep. Rouzer released a statement after the Supreme Court rules in the Obergefell v. Hodges case in favor of marriage equality, saying it would be against the will of our Founding Fathers, and that it created a “slippery slope of shifting sand”. Perhaps this would be a good time to point out to Rouzer that George Washington was cool with awarding a house to Continental Army General Baron von Steuben after the war, mmhm? When a guy with wooden teeth is more tolerant of gays than you are… you have problems.
His voting record through the past term has shown him consistently support the most sadistic policies the GOP are pushing forward:
- February 16th, 2017: Rouzer votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping. Because… well, the logic really isn’t there as to why, it’s just awful.
- March 16th, 2017: David Rouzer votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge’s written order. We feel safer already.
- May 4th, 2017: Rouzer votes for the House GOP’s healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), postpartum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Rouzer would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
- June 8th, 2017: David Rouzer votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
- September 8th, 2017: Rep. Rouzer chooses to be one of 90 Republicans in Congress who votes against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey.
- October 3rd, 2017: Rouzer votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
- December 19th, 2017: David Rouzer votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
- February 18th, 2018: Rouzer and his fellow Republicans decide that poor big businesses are suffering too much at the hands of the Americans with Disabilities Act too much, and vote for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.
Now, while most of the House GOP are currently running and hiding from their constituents rather than host a town hall, David Rouzer did have one in his district back in March. Mind you, he mostly gave answers to questions that weren’t asked, as opposed to the ones that were. After he voted for Trumpcare, he managed to piss off a local physician after she planned a town hall for him that Rouzer bailed on. As such, Dr. Kyle Horton filed to run to challenge Rep. Rouzer as a Democrat for his seat. And, as an added bonus to her character, she worked for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, serving hour veterans honorably with their healthcare. She’s about the easiest person to root for in November to begin with, but the fact that she’s running against David Rouzer makes it one of the main upsets we’re hoping for. North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District has a +9 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, but that’s right about where the generic Democratic advantage sits for 2018. This one could be really, really interesting.
One Year Ago, June 19th, 2017: David Rouzer (NC)… 2017 Update
Two Year Ago, June 19th, 2016: David Rouzer (NC)… Original Profile
Three Years Ago, June 19th, 2015: Linda McMahon (CT)