Hostettler: ""Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians."
The South Bend Tribune has an AP story wherein John Hostettler whines about how persecuted his preferred brand of proselytizing Christianity is by the mean old Democrats. You may recall an previous incident earlier this week wherein Rep. Hostettler was whining about a mean old federal court judge who feels bound by the First Amendment and 7th Circuit case law and, consequently, told Gibson County to take the Ten Commandments display down from their court house.
At issue this time "is how Congress should respond to allegations of proselytizing and favoritism for Christians at the Air Force Academy."
[Rep.] Obey had succeeded during committee debate in attaching a provision condemning Air Force Academy officers for creating a climate where non-Christians were discriminated against.
The Air Force is investigating numerous allegations of inappropriate actions by academy officials, including a professor who required cadets to pray before taking his test and a Protestant chaplain who warned anyone not proselytizing would "burn in the fires of hell."
Obey said a senior chaplain at the academy was transferred to Japan after criticizing what she saw as proselytizing.
In response, Hostettler, on the floor of Congress said "Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians." Democrats immediately objected and demanded that he be censured. Hostettler backed down and retracted his remarks.
The Evansville Courier Press (free subscription) has more.
Hostettler began his remarks opposing Obey's amendment by saying, "the long war on Christianity continues today on the floor of the House of Representatives. It continues unabated with aid and comfort to those who would eradicate any vestige of our Christian heritage being supplied by the usual suspects, the Democrats."
He later said, "Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians."
. . .
Obey said Hostettler's "outburst . . . is perhaps the perfect example of why we need to pass the language in my amendment."
Obey's proposed amendment to a defense appropriations bill would have put Congress on record as being against "coercive and abusive religious proselytizing" at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Incidentally, according to the Washington Post coverage of the issue Rep. Obey's motion in response to Hostettler's outburst was that Hostettler's "words be taken down" which brings to mind the blog title of Indiana's very own Taking Down Words.
Hostettler had a choice: to agree to withdraw his words, or to stick by them and face a ruling from the chair that he had violated rules against disparaging another member on the floor. If the member's words are taken down, it is considered a serious offense and the lawmaker would not be able to speak for the rest of the day.
Eventually, Hostettler rose and read a sentence that had been written out for him in large block letters by a young Republican floor aide: "Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the last sentence I spoke."
(emphasis mine)
Update: A tidbit I hadn't seen from Scripps Howard news service.
At one point, Rep. John "Jack" Murtha, D-Pa., wandered across the aisle, put his imposing, former Marine's frame just behind the seated Hostettler and said that he goes to church as often as Hostettler does.
Pointing into Hostettler's face, Murtha, a Vietnam veteran, kept repeating: "Ever been to combat? Ever been to combat?" Hostettler stayed seated and Murtha walked away scowling.