Hate-Mongers

The poo is being flung fast and furious by the right as the election winds down and it looks increasingly bad for them. You expect it from the usual suspects: hate radio, anonymous e-mailers, some bloggers and many blog commenters, etc. But it is disturbing to hear such reckless hate expressed by elected officials. In the news quite a bit recently is the case of Michelle Bachmann, Congresswoman from the 6th district of Minnesota. This has gotten enough bad publicity that her seat, in a previously reliable Republican district, is in danger. Good. There should be consequences for uttering this kind of vile slander.

Given this, let's look at Texas's own Ted Poe (2nd district). Poe, as you will recall, got this seat by virtue of it being gerrymandered out from under Nick Lampson. And, as reported by CQ Politics, he likes to toss out Michelle Bachmann's favorite slur, "anti-American", from the floor of Congress.

“As a former judge, it appears to me the abuse of power by this anti-American military, peacenik judge is the perfect example of her having a terminal case of black robe disease, a disease some judges get when their personal politics cloud their judgment,” Poe said on March 10, after Mackel reportedly told a 17-year-old she opposed the Iraq war while denying his request for early enlistment into the Marine Corps.

“Columbia University clearly shows a pattern of being anti-American by promoting forums to warmongers and by preventing the U.S. military ROTC program on campus. Maybe the university should just relocate to Tehran. And in the meantime, the U.S. taxpayers have no business sending American money to the University of Hate,” he said on the day in September 2007 that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have Democratic opposition in this race, as far as I can determine. (There is a Libertarian running against him, if you feel like casting a protest vote.)

Of course, the guy whose seat he took in the Delay redistricting became, through some fairly clever manoeuvering and some big mistakes by Tom Delay, Congressman in Delay's old district, the 22nd. This is Nick Lampson, and he's running a tight race against Pete Olson. If you live in district 2 and feel bad that you don't have a Democrat to support against your horrible incumbent, consider tossing a few dollars Nick Lampson's way.

And come 2010, I want to see a Democrat running against Poe. It's not too early to start organizing now to retire this hate-monger.