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Meet Jody Hice
Paul Broun's successor in Georgia may turn out to be even more extreme than Broun is.
By Steve Benen, Steve Benen
It'd take a small book to document the congressman's extremism in any detail -- Right Wing Watch's collection of Broun stories is several pages long -- though it's hard to forget the time the House Science Committee member said cosmology, biology, and geology are quite literally "lies straight from the pit of Hell."
But early next year, we'll have a new label for Broun: former congressman. The right-wing Georgian gave up his House seat to pursue a U.S. Senate bid, but he fared poorly in yesterday's primary and in January, he'll no longer hold elected office.
Who'll fill Broun's big shoes? Two Republicans advanced in yesterday's primary -- trucking company owner Mike Collins and Baptist Pastor Jody Hice -- and will compete in a run-off election, though it's the latter who appears to have the slight edge.
And so now is probably a good time to get to know Hice, the candidate Tim Murphy says "could outdo" Paul Broun.
In a 2012 book, that candidate -- pastor and talk radio host Jody Hice -- alleges the gay community has a secret plot to recruit and sodomize children, In It's Now or Never: A Call to Reclaim America, Hice also asserts that supporters of abortion rights are worse than Hitler and compares gay relationships to bestiality and incest. He proposes that Muslims be stripped of their First Amendment rights. [...] Hice claims homosexuality causes shorter life spans and depression, and he insists same-sex couples cannot raise healthy children.... Hice also offers an extreme interpretation of the Constitution, claiming states can nullify federal laws and take up arms against the federal government if they consider a federal law unjust.... In Hice's view, the United States took a turn for the worse after the Civil War.... Hice argues that Muslim immigrants constitute an existential challenge to the United States.... Hice also compares reproductive rights advocates to Nazis.
He sounds like quite a charmer, doesn't he?
It's tempting to think someone this far gone, with fringe views this far from the American mainstream couldn't possibly get elected to serve as a federal lawmaker.
But let's not forget that this is the same district that elected Paul Broun.
