John Boehner has been re-elected speaker of the House of Representatives, but only over the objections of a few arch-conservatives within the Republican House caucus.
I must admit that the most ludicrous objection of all came from right here in Texas, from Rep. Louie Gohmert, who voted for someone who’s no longer even serving in the House.
Gohmert, an admitted conspiracist from East Texas who continues to doubt President Obama’s constitutional qualifications to serve in the office to which he’s been re-elected – he wonders if the president was born in Kenya and not Hawaii, as POTUS has declared – voted for former Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, who lost his own re-election bid in November.
Seems that Gohmert likes West’s brand of nutcase conservatism. West, who served a single term in the House, once accused dozens of House Democrats of being closet communists; he labeled Florida congressional colleague Debbie Wasserman-Schulz, a Democrat of course, a “despicable human being”; and most recently joined the right-wing chorus accusing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of faking her concussion to get out of testifying on the Sept. 11 Benghazi, Libya attack that killed four Americans, including the U.S.ambassador to Libya.
West, thankfully, is gone. Gohmert, though, remains and no doubt will continue to embarrass many of the rest of his fellow Texans with his loony rants.
Sigh …