It was one year ago that we published our original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile of Bob Goodlatte, the sitting U.S. House Representative for Virginia’s 6th Congressional District, who has been allowed to run for office in a very conservative district with almost no primary challengers, at all, since 1992. Goodlatte was one of the co-sponsors of Florida Rep. Bill Posey’s “Birther Bill” in 2009, and in 2015, he accused the Department of Justice of funneling money to liberal organizations such as ACORN and LaRaza. The former would have been an amazing scandal, mostly because ACORN had long since defunded and had not existed since 2010. Goodlatte’s voting record through the years includes voting for the Defense of Marriage Act, against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, voted to allow displays of the Ten Commandments on government property and for a Constitutional Amendment to allow individual states to vote for their own state religions, voted for the impeachment of Bill Clinton,voted to try and keep Terry Schiavo alive against her wishes, and voted for the invasion of Iraq. And that’s the stuff from before the Obama administration. Since, the guy will vote against anything sensible, even disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy, or against the Zadroga Bill, to pay for the healthcare costs of 9/11 First Responders.
That long, awful voting record continues to be an extremist’s love letter to the hard right:
- September 11th, 2015: Goodlatte votes against the United States’ nuclear treaty with Iran.
- September 18th, 2015: Rep. Goodlatte co-sponsors and votes for a bill with most 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: Goodlatte 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.
- February 2nd, 2016: Bob Goodlatte 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. Goodlatte 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.
- July 6th, 2016: After an investigation by FBI Director James Comey into Hillary Clinton’s e-mails found no evidence of wrongdoing, and no indictments, Bob Goodlatte was one of several Republicans who demanded an investigation of James Comey’s investigation. Your tax dollars at work, people.
Well, it’s election season again, and Bob Goodlatte already mopped the floor with the GOP Primary foe he faced, Harry Griego with 78% of the vote, and now moves on to the general election for what will be his thirteenth term in Congress. Virginia’s 6th District still has a +12 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, and that’s a pretty tall hill to climb for Democrat Kai Degner, who nonetheless has laid out a brilliant summary of why Goodlatte is the embodiment of Republican obstructionism, and his penchant for making sure that any legislation that can do some good for everyday Americans dies a quick death. Degner was a last minute addition to the race after the original Democrat who filed to run, Tom Howarth, suddenly dropped out of the race.
It would be a huge upset for him to knock off a Congressman who’s been around for almost a quarter century, but in 2016, anything goes.
One Year Ago, September 1st, 2015: Bob Goodlatte (VA) Original Profile
Two Years Ago, September 1st, 2014: Dan Dreier (CA)