Capitol Hill’s Most Unhinged Republicans

Fools on the Hill: A scorecard.

Wikimedia Commons

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


Read the quotes behind the chart here. See a list of the 111th Congress’ dumbest bills here.

MEMBERS OF
CONGRESS

Health Care Obama Hysteria Flirting with Birthers Red Baiting Nazi Baiting Climate Cluelessness Writing Dumb Bills

IN HIS/HER OWN WORDS

Rep. John Shimkus
(Illinois)

X         X  

“If we decrease the use of carbon dioxide, are we not taking away plant food from the atmosphere?…All our good intentions could be for vain.”

Rep. Joe Barton
(Texas)

X         X X

“Wouldn’t it be ironic if in the interest of global warming we mandated massive switches to [wind] energy, which is a finite resource, which slows the winds down, which causes the temperature to go up?…It’s just something to think about.”

Rep. Bill Posey
(Florida)

    X     X X

“I could easily fill up a page listing all the activities an American needs to show their ID for…everything from playing youth soccer to getting a driver’s license, buying cigarettes and alcohol, to opening bank accounts and even playing Little League.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley
(Iowa)

X     X      

“You have every right to fear…We should not have a government program that determines if you’re going to pull the plug on Grandma.”

Rep. Trent Franks
(Arizona)

X X X X  
 

“Barack Obama could solve this problem and make the birthers, you know, back off by simply showing us his long-form birth certificate…There’s some other issue, I don’t know what it is, that he doesn’t want people to see the birth certificate on.”

Sen. James Inhofe
(Oklahoma)

X X X     X  

“President Obama is obsessed with turning terrorists loose in America…Those of you who think like I do hope this country can hang on another 16 months.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert
(Texas)

X X X X X X X

“I would hate to think that among five women, one of ’em is gonna die because we go to socialized care.”

Rep. Paul Broun
(Georgia)

X X   X X X X

“You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I’m not comparing [Obama] to Adolf Hitler. What I’m saying is there is the potential of going down that road.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann
(Minnesota)

X X X X
X X

“What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing [health care]…We are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom. And we may never be able to restore it if we don’t man up.”

Rep. Steve King
(Iowa)

X X X X X X X

“American patriotism is not imprinted on [Obama’s] mind or in his heart, because he wasn’t raised as an American.”

 

 

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate