When we last heard from Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-N.C.), he was admitting to having “segregationist feelings” against African Americans after working alongside an African-American congresswoman whom he disliked.
Less than a year later, Ballenger is making headlines again. This time he’s blaming his home’s proximity to a Muslim non-profit organization for the breakup of his marriage.
I wish I were clever enough to make some of this stuff up.
Ballenger and his wife have been living across the street from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which promotes Muslim civil rights in America. The Republican lawmaker is now asserting that his family’s proximity to the group caused the Ballengers so much stress that it is responsible, in part, for his pending divorce.
Ballenger said that he and his wife would look out the window at CAIR’s offices and become anxious about what he described as women “wearing hoods” while entering and exiting the building. (Ballenger, apparently, is ignorant about Islamic headscarves.)
Ballenger noted that his home is less than three blocks from the Capitol and he was concerned that the Muslims at CAIR “could blow the place up.”
While insisting that he did not hate Muslims (what could possibly give us that idea), Ballenger said he didn’t want to live across the street from CAIR because he believed — without any proof — that the group may have terrorist ties.
“The only difference I have is that building across the street,” Ballenger said. He added, “In my opinion, it should never have been leased” to the non-profit organization.
I’ll admit I’m not familiar with the legal grounds for divorce in North Carolina, but I had no idea being a moron was one of the options.