On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”posted profiles of the current U.S. House Representative for West Virginia’s’ 2nd District, Alex Mooney, who we noted had carpetbagged his way across the Maryland border after serving for years as a state legislator, and waiting in vain for former U.S. House Rep. Roscoe Bartlett to retire, eventually just getting annoyed enough to move to West Virginia and try to run for office there. During his time as a Maryland state legislator, though, Mooney became synonymous with the issue of LGBTQ rights, and his extreme opposition to them. At one point during a 1999 debate on hate crime legislation, Mooney sarcastically asked if people who commit beastiality should also be protected under the law, and in 2008, during a debate on same sex marriage, went as far as to claim its legalization would lead to the gay community “oppressing” religious figures and they would be “coming for the children”.
Mooney also has pushed for legislation to allow the display of religious monuments in public buildings (which is a violation of the Establishment clause of the First Amendment that guarantees a separation of church and state), considers any compromise on immigration to be amnesty, and speaks publicly about “gun-grabbers and pro-abortion zealots” (because that’s totally the direction things have trended the past six years or so in our country). In September of 2015, Mooney also took to the floor of the House to give a speech where he accused Planned Parenthood of harvesting “baby parts” based on lies from the Center for Medical Progress, so there’s that, as well.
Now, we’re going to go ahead and lead our further discussion of Alex Mooney by pointing out that on March 28th, 2018, Alex Mooney recycled an idea from the Ron Paul school of thought regarding the American economy… he wanted to go back to the gold standard, and actually introduced legislation to try to make it a reality.
Now, if that doesn’t mean anything to you, it’s because the United States hasn’t used the gold standard since 1971. That’s right, we’re fifty years past we were on the gold standard. And guess what? Some folks in the 1980s were whispering in Ronald Reagan’s ear about doing this, and guess what they determined? Doing that would cripple not just the American economy, but the global economy. Yet every now and then, some hard right goofball from the Libertarian wing of the GOP starts flogging that dead horse to see if it will come back to life, even though almost 100% of economists oppose doing it, and it’s thought of as part of the reason it was so hard for the United States to recover from the Great Depression..
And, after he won re-election in 2020 with 63% of the vote, let’s just say Mooney has yet to dial back his extremism:
- January 27th, 2019: Alex Mooney voted against HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attacking our democracy. You see, he’s fine with our nation being sublet to Vladimir Putin.
- January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Mooney voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
- February 28th, 2019: Alex Mooney votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
- March 14th, 2019: Rep. Mooney votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
- April 4th, 2019: Alex Mooney is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- May 17th, 2019: Mooney votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
- June 4th, 2019: Rep. Mooney votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
- July 16th, 2019: Alex Mooney votes against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.
- October 17th, 2019: Rep. Mooney is one of 60 Republicans who vote against HJ Res 77, which opposed Donald Trump’s disastrous decision to abandon Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria to the mercies of a Turkish invasion.
- October 23rd, 2019: Mooney is one of 41 Republicans who, while staring down the possibility of Donald Trump being impeached, stage a ridiculous publicity stunt in response by crashing a classified impeachment inquiry hearing for a “protest”.
- December 18th, 2019: Rep. Mooney ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
- May 15th, 2020: Mooney votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- December 10th, 2020: Mooney signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that she won re-election in.
- January 6th, 2021: Alex Mooney votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
- January 13th, 2021: Rep. Mooney votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
- February 4th, 2021: Alex Mooney votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
- February 25th, 2021: Mooney votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Mooney votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: Alex Mooney votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Mooney votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Mooney votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- May 19th, 2021: Alex Mooney votes against HR 3233 the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
- May 20th, 2021: Mooney is one of 63 Republicans who vote against the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act.
- November 5th, 2021: Alex Mooney votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
- March 31st, 2022: Mooney votes against HR 6833, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would limit the cost that drug companies could list insulin at to $35 and make sure no diabetic was priced out of surviving their condition. Bill Johnson would rather they be gouged by pharmaceutical giants and/or die.
- May 18th, 2022: Alex Mooney is one of 192 Republicans who vote against HR 7790, to create supplemental funding for infant formula (while claiming to be pro- life).
- May 18th, 2022: Rep. Mooney votes against HR 350, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, because these days, a plank of the Republican Party is ostensibly domestic terror.
- May 19th, 2022: Mooney votes against HR 7688, a bill which would help prevent gas companies from gouging customers on prices.
We thought Alex Mooney might be in a bit of trouble headed into the 2022 elections, even though his district is one of the reddest in the country… and that’s because the three West Virginia Republicans holding House seats had to play musical chairs, what with the state’s population radically dropping enough that it lost a Congressional seat. Alas, Mooney defeated U.S. House Rep. David McKinley in the primary for the new WV-2, accusing McKinley of being a RINO because he… voted for the Infrastructure Bill.
We need to go get a stiff drink.
