MI-07, MI-09: If It's Not Witches, It's Asian Invaders

I swear, Republican straw-man fearmongering will never cease to amaze me.

Republican Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan's 7th District, running a tight race against Democrat Mark Schauer, was the only member of the House Education Labor and Committee to vote against reauthorizing Head Start.

Considering there are 43 members of the committee, this is rather significant. So naturally, more than a few people were peeved:

This made the Walberg campaign sad, so they responded with their best defense: "we fear the Wiccans, and their lawsuits".

In other words, say a Baptist or a Catholic church wanted to continue to offer its Head Start program and a Muslim or "a Wiccan from a coven in Ann Arbor" wanted to apply for a job to teach there, now it couldn't discriminate based on religious grounds anymore, or vice versa.

He said he offered an amendment that would have made that change, but it didn't get any traction.

He said he doesn't oppose Head Start, but by keeping that provision in the bill, he said religious organizations might decide it's better to get rid of Head Start.

Walberg said he didn't initiate the efforts, but was contacted by people in his district that were concerned about this provision.

It would also open all of them to lawsuits, because the Wiccan, or the Catholic or the Muslim who wasn't hired, could say it was because of their religious beliefs, he said.

So basically, Walberg voted against Head Start because...he is afraid of the potential complications of Wiccans teaching in Catholic churches or something. Or their mean Wiccan lawsuits, anyway.

Of course.

Nearby, Rep. Joe Knollenberg has bigger things on his mind than Walberg does, bigger even than his difficult reelection race against Democrat Gary Peters.

Knollenberg is busy protecting our families from Asian invaders. Seriously.

Witness what happens when you do a Google blog search.

Now, when you actually click on Knollenberg's blog, of course, he's wiped all mentions of "Asian invaders". The title is now "Protecting our Families from Harmful Products".

Exactly the same thing, you know.

I don't know what he's trying to pull, but it sure looks ugly. As Swing State Project's James L. writes:

This sort of thing -- especially coming from a United States congressman -- is disgusting.

Indeed.

One has to wonder what the hell is wrong with these Michigan Republicans.

On the web:

Mark Schauer for Congress
Gary Peters for Congress