At some point we have to hold communities and voters responsible for the people they elect. Gordon Klingenschmitt got elected to Colorado’s legislature, with almost 70% of the vote, by claiming President Obama is possessed by demons. A Daily Kos writer put it this way: “[T]his Colorado Springs district is one that would vote to put the Oklahoma City bomber in office so long as he was a registered Republican.” You get the impression that voters there would take this as a compliment.
Colorado Springs, of course, is home to the U.S. Air Force Academy, which has been repeatedly investigated and criticized for force-feeding the Christian religion to cadets in blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution. It’s also a tourist destination you can choose not to visit if you don’t like the social climate there.
This social climate includes being represented by a man who implied a woman who was attacked and physically cut open by a psychopath bent on stealing her unborn baby had it coming because “God’s curse is upon America” for practicing the sin of abortion. (What the hell does that have to do with being attacked by a knife-wielding monster? Don’t ask, you don’t want to know.) He sounds like a good candidate to succeed the late pastor of the Westboro Church.
That was too much for his caucus leadership. Even Republicans have limits to how much offensive social indecency they can stomach, although they’re usually hard to discern. More likely it was practical politics — after all, next year is a presidential election year — that prompted the GOP leadership of the Colorado house to strip Klingenschmitt of one of his committee assignments. (Only one? Why only one?)
A more fitting response would be if the voters of Colorado Springs demoted Klingenschmitt back to unelected civilian. But don’t hold your breath.
(Sources: Here and here and here.)