If you haven’t seen Sen. [tag]James Inhofe[/tag]’s (R-Okla.) remarks yesterday on the Senate floor about the [tag]Federal Marriage Amendment[/tag], it was quite a performance. Yes, the amendment is dead, and yes, the floor debate was largely sad political theater, but Inhofe’s tirade is worth considering anyway. Think Progress has a short video clip of one of the more remarkable parts of [tag]Inhofe[/tag]’s speech, which was delivered in front of a large picture of the senator and his family.
“As you see here, and I think this is maybe the most important prop we’ll have during the entire debate, my wife and I have been married 47 years. We have 20 kids and grandkids. I’m really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we’ve never had a divorce or any kind of homosexual relationship.”
But wait; there’s more. According to an unofficial transcript from the congressional record, sent to me from a reader who works on the Hill, this was hardly the only bizarre thing Inhofe had to say. For example, Inhofe sees the debate sliding quickly down a radical slippery slope.
“The homosexual marriage lobby, as well as the polygamist lobby, they share the same goal of essentially breaking down all state-regulated marriage requirements to just one, and that one is consent. In doing so, they’re paving the way for illegal protection of such practices as homosexual marriage, unrestricted sexual conduct between adults and children, group marriage, incest, and, you know, if it feels good, do it.”
My personal favorite came when Inhofe explained his belief that gay marriage will, for reasons he never quite explained, lead to more children being born out of wedlock. With this in mind, Inhofe believes the whole gay-marriage effort may be some kind of big-government conspiracy.
“Now, stop and think. What’s going to be the results of this? The results are going to be that it’s going to be a very expensive thing, all these kids, many of them are going to be ending up on welfare. So it goes far beyond just the current emotionals [sic]. I think that my colleague, Senator Sessions, said I believe yesterday, ‘If there are not families to raise children, who will raise them? Who will do the responsibility? It will fall on the state.’ Clearly it will be a [tag]state[/tag].”
Then, just for good measure, Inhofe concluded with some scriptural interpretations for his colleagues.
“In Genesis 2:24, they said, ‘Therefore man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become flesh.’ Then Matthew 19 says, ‘Have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female and for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and join his wife and the two shall become one flesh so they no longer will be two but one flesh.’ I can assure you that these 20 kids and grandkids are very proud and very thankful that today, 47 years later, my wife and I believed in Matthew 9:14, that marriage should be between a man and a woman.”
Keep in mind, of course, that these aren’t the remarks of some TV preacher; Inhofe, alas, is a two-term member of the U.S. Senate.