Saturday, January 17, 2015

Conservative Discourse Absurdities This Week

A group of 20 could spend 24-7 reporting on the idiotic and absurd things Republican representative and media personality says on any given day. But Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) takes inanity to new levels on a pretty consistent basis, this week calling on American leaders to take inspiration from Egyptian military dictator el-Sisi. You heard that right, Gohmert argued, “I hope one day that our top leaders in this country will have the courage of president el-Sisi in Egypt and they will reflect, as general el-Sisi has, the will of the people of their country.”

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is a military dictator that has undermined Egyptian’s burgeoning democracy, while killing as many as 1,000 dissidents already. So why would Gohmert praise him? Because he is taking on the Muslim Brotherhood. And while many would argue this is a good thing, doing it by reinstalling a dictatorship and killing those who disagree with him doesn’t really seem like a great example for American democracy or for “reflecting the will of the people.”

But maybe we shouldn’t take anything the Texas Republican has to say seriously as he later repeated his contention that President Obama is secretly a Muslim, citing an incident in the 2008 primary season when then-candidate Obama mistakenly said he had visited 57 states, which Gohmert contends was an accidental reference to the 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. But Gohmert wanted to assure supporters, and the sane amongst us, that he is not a raving lunatic. His explanation: “I fear God, I don’t fear any man. I’m not a ‘phobe’ of anything, but it’s time to recognize truth and that is that radical Islamic terrorists want to destroy our way of life and kill us. It’s very simple.” Well I’m convinced.

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