Picking out the most spectacularly dumb comment from this week’s House debate over Iraq escalation isn’t easy. One could certainly make an argument on behalf of Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.), who summarized her policy position by saying, “In the South, we have a wonderful saying and it goes like this: Get ‘er done.” A reasonable argument could also be made that Rep. Don Young’s (R-Alaska) decision to use a made-up Lincoln quote during his speech was even worse. Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-Mo.) Davy Crockett argument was a gem, and Rep. Sue Myrick’s (R-N.C.) Hitler analogy was entirely incoherent.
But Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) has to take the cake.
“We are in the middle of a four-day marathon here. While I cannot say that I agree with all of the actions of the president in dealing with Iraq, I will not be supporting H.Con.Res. 63. The eyes of the world are upon this House and there will be commentary from the Middle East to the streets of small town America about what we do here over this four-day period even though this resolution does not carry the weight of law.
“When the commentary begins in the Middle East, in no way do I want to comfort and encourage the radical Muslims who want to destroy our country and who want to wipe the so-called infidels like myself and many of you from the face of the Earth. In no way do I want to aid and assist the Islamic jihadists who want the crescent and star to wave over the Capitol of the United States and over the White House of this country. I fear that radical Muslims who want to control the Middle East and ultimately the world would love to see ‘In God We Trust’ stricken from our money and replaced with ‘In Muhammad We Trust.'”
When I was much younger, I used to think conservative Republican lawmakers were the intellectual elite of their given ideology. I thought they were wrong on the issues, but they had to be serious people with considerable intelligence, or they wouldn’t be in Congress. I quickly came to realize, however, that lawmakers can be just as dumb as the rest of us, and in some cases, more so.
Goode is the drunk guy at the end of the bar.
Ask him a question, and he reflexively lashes out at those he hates, railing against everyone who isn’t like him.
In December, Goode wrote a blatantly bigoted letter to supporters in which he insisted Muslims represent a threat to “traditional” values, which is why, he said, we should pass massive immigration reform in order to keep more Muslims out of the country.
And now the poor schmo believes a bi-partisan, non-binding resolution on escalation in Iraq may “aid and assist Islamic jihadists,” and lead to changing the American flag and U.S. currency.
I wonder how a guy like this even manages to tie his shoes in the morning.
For what it’s worth, Goode doesn’t even understand the religious group he hates so much.
A top official at a leading Muslim group has just told us that GOP Rep. Virgil Goode’s fear that U.S. money may soon be stamped with “In Muhammad We Trust” is rather at odds with the actual history and theology of the Muslim religion. As this expert points out — and as some TPM Readers have noted, too — Muslims don’t worship Muhammad. They are monotheists worshiping a single God, called Allah in Arabic — not the individual Muhammad.
“There are many Islamic traditions that reinforce that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was a human being, and he should not be worshipped,” Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, tells us. So the notion that any Muslim would want “In Muhammad We Trust” written on U.S. money is, to put it charitably, nonsense.
Of course, for the drunk guy at the end of the bar, facts are irrelevant. Just pour him another one and wait for the fireworks.