Despite our disappointment that pseudo-historian David Barton decided against a run for US Senate in Texas, we are taking solace in the fact that Rep. Steve Stockman announced yesterday that he would challenge Sen. John Cornyn in the Texas GOP primary. Cornyn is hardly a moderate, but Tea Party groups have been itching to oust him.
Stockman’s entry into the race comes just weeks after the Houston Chronicle investigated his murky finances, but the far-right congressman has much more going for him than questionable financial dealings. Here are five of Stockman’s most extreme and outlandish political ploys:
1. Birther & Election Trutherism
It’s no wonder that WorldNetDaily is positively giddy about Stockman’s Senate campaign, as the congressman shares the website’s birther views and has worked with birther activists. Stockman even suggested that President Obama stole the 2012 election, calling it a “scam.”
2. Impeachment
Stockman endorsed a WorldNetDaily book, “Impeachable Offenses: The Case For Removing Barack Obama From Office,” and even sent copies to every member of Congress. He followed up with WorldNetDaily by telling the pro-impeachment “news” site that he is working with a Religious Right law firm to investigate President Obama and make the case for impeachment.
Even before Obama was sworn in for a second term, Stockman floated the idea of impeaching the president for his executive actions targeting gun violence in response to the Sandy Hook massacre, likening the president to Saddam Hussein.
3. Guns
In a letter on behalf of the radical National Association for Gun Rights, Stockman alleged — completely falsely — that President Obama is working with the United Nations to implement gun “confiscation on a global scale” and an “international gun registry.” But Stockman’s extremist views don’t end there. “If babies had guns, they wouldn’t be aborted,” he famously quipped on Twitter. He also once organized an AR-15 giveaway.
In July, Stockman teamed up with a group led by a prominent neo-Confederate activist to submit an amicus brief to the Supreme Court challenging the government’s authority to prosecute straw purchases of firearms.
4. Anti-LGBT
Stockman denounced the 2012 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, from which he wanted to exclude protections for LGBT people: “This is a truly bad bill. This is helping the liberals, this is horrible. Unbelievable. What really bothers — it’s called a women’s act, but then they have men dressed up as women, they count that. Change-gender, or whatever. How is that — how is that a woman?” In an interview with a conservative talk show host, he made fun of transgender women by speaking in a high-pitched voice.
5. Immigration
The congressman has said that immigration reform is a tool “to destroy America,” calling the Senate reform bill a “joke” that will “destroy our country” and bring down the GOP. He even claimed that the Senate bill isunconstitutional and insisted [PDF] that the House refuse to vote on any bill regarding immigration.
Bonus:
After NRA board member Ted Nugent threatened the life of President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Stockman rewarded him with a ticket to the State of the Union Address.
