Akin and Others: One Flew Over the GOP House


Todd Akin is not the only sound bite machine in the GOP House.  Here are few other classics.  Worth noting are the quotes from Intelligence and Science committee members.  Scary scary stuff when you realize Akin is the rule, not the exception.

·         Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the Higher Education & Workforce Training…she attended college in 1968.  Needless to say that college education costs have far outpaced inflation since 1968.

“I went through school. I worked my way through. It took me seven years; I never borrowed a dime of money. ... I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt.”

·         Joe Barton, energy and commerce committee apologizing to BP executives for being criticized by the White House.  Joe Barton represents Texas City, where in March 23, 2005 a blast at the BP refinery near Galveston killed 15 people and injured 180 others resulting in a $50Million fine.

"I apologize," Barton told Hayward (BP CEO Tony Hayward). "I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it's a tragedy."

·         Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in 2009 defending the Energy Efficiency Standards. In 2010 Upton caved to conservative pressure and sought to repeal the very law he sponsored.

“Our work on light bulbs wasn’t an arbitrary mandate. We didn’t just pick a standard out of the air, or look for a catchy sounding standard like 25 by 2025 not based in science or feasibility. Instead, we worked with both industry and environmental groups to come up with a standard that made sense and was doable.”

·         Jean Schmidt, member of the House Agriculture Committee, decided to explain abortion to a class of six year olds.  The principal Dan Teller had to send a letter to the parents

She defined abortion as the taking of a child's life in the mother's womb,” Teller wrote in the letter. "She indicated that abortion involves the killing of a child before it is born."

·         Jack Kingston, member of the House Appropriations Committee cosponsored a bill granting 14th Amendment rights to the pre-born.  The Right to Life Act declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being, and defines "human being" to encompass all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization or cloning.

·         Todd Akin, member of the House Science, Space and  Technology Committee:

“From what I understand from doctors, that's really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

·         Dana Rohrabacher member of the House Science, Space and  Technology Committee, and one who denies CO2 emissions lead to global warming questioning a witness on greenhouse gases:

“Is there some thought being given to subsidizing the clearing of rainforests in order for some countries to eliminate that production of greenhouse gases? … Or would people be supportive of cutting down older trees in order to plant younger trees as a means to prevent this disaster from happening?"

·         James Sensenbrenner, member of the House Science, Space and  Technology Committee, criticizing the .S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.

“At worst, it’s junk science and it’s part of a massive international scientific fraud. And not just fraud: There’s increasing evidence of scientific fascism that’s going on.”

·         Michele Bachmann, member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence:

"I will tell you that I had a mother last night come up to me here in Tampa, Florida, after the debate. She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter."

“The intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials."

·         Sue Myrick, member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence:

“There is a lot of radicalization on the Internet today; there is radicalization in the mosques; there are people who have been indoctrinated into the same line of thinking that are now in positions in our government,”

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