Today, Stop Hillary PAC, a leading anti-Hillary group, gained the support of its first member of Congress, Texas Congressman Steve Stockman. Stockman has a long history of embracing and promoting bizarre conspiracy theories, making offensive comments, and dabbling with the fringe.
Below you’ll find some background information on Rep. Steve Stockman, the leading anti-Hillary voice in Congress.
Stockman Accused Clinton Administration Of Staging Branch Davidian Raid In Waco In 1993 For The Sake Of Promoting An Assault Weapons Ban. According to the New York Times, “A Republican member of Congress from Texas has suggested that the Clinton Administration staged the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex., to convince Congress that it should ban assault weapons. ‘Waco was supposed to be a way for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and the Clinton Administration to prove the need for a ban on so-called ‘assault weapons,’ the Representative, Steve Stockman, who is a strong opponent of gun control, wrote in the June issue of Guns & Ammo magazine. Mr. Stockman, a freshman whose district is in the southeastern corner of Texas along the Gulf Coast, wrote that President Clinton had agreed to do the bidding of gun control advocates like Sarah Brady after his election in 1992 but that Ms. Brady’s organization, Handgun Control Inc., had been unable to persuade Congress to ban rifles, shotguns and semiautomatic weapons. ‘So an incident had to be encouraged to happen,’ Mr. Stockman wrote.” [New York Times, 5/13/95]
- Stockman’s “Suggestion Of A Government Conspiracy” Came Soon After The Oklahoma City Bombing. According to the New York Times, “The tone of Mr. Stockman’s article, with its suggestion of a Government conspiracy, is an example of the increasingly strong language used by some opponents of gun control. At the same time, criticism of such statements has risen since the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building last month.” [New York Times, 5/13/95]
- Stockman Called For President Clinton To Order Janet Reno “Indicted For Premeditated Murder” After Branch Davidian Raid. According to the New York Times, “In his article, Mr. Stockman declared that the more than 80 members of the Branch Davidians, including 25 children, who died during the raid were ‘executed in a particularly gruesome way: gassed, choked and then incinerated.’ He also said, “Had Bill Clinton really been unhappy with what Attorney General Janet Reno ordered, he would not only have fired her, he would have had Reno indicted for premeditated murder.” [New York Times, 5/13/95]
Stockman Appeared On A Radio Show Hosted By A “Pro-Militia Conspiracy Theorist Group” That Was Criticized As Anti-Semitic By The Anti-Defamation League. According to Mother Jones, “A congressman for all of five months, Stockman was now everyone’s new favorite target, and he didn’t do himself any favors. Next, he came under fire from the Anti-Defamation League after going on a radio show run by a pro-militia conspiracy theorist group called the Liberty Lobby. Stockman rejected the ADL’s assertion that the Holocaust-denying radio show was anti-Semitic. ‘They said that because they talk against ‘international bankers’ that means they’re against Jewish folks,’ he told Jewish Week. ‘I don’t agree…The largest banks today are not American. I know that most of them are Japanese now.’ Besides, he explained, he led by example. His own staff included ‘a Christian Jewish person.'” [Mother Jones, 1/23/13]
- Stockman Defended Himself From Associations With Anti-Semitic Radio Show By Claiming That His Staff Included “A Christian Jewish Person.” According to Mother Jones, “Stockman rejected the ADL’s assertion that the Holocaust-denying radio show was anti-Semitic. ‘They said that because they talk against ‘international bankers’ that means they’re against Jewish folks,’ he told Jewish Week. ‘I don’t agree…The largest banks today are not American. I know that most of them are Japanese now.’ Besides, he explained, he led by example. His own staff included ‘a Christian Jewish person.'” [Mother Jones, 1/23/13]
Stockman Called Violence Against Women Act “A Truly Bad Bill” That Would Benefit “Men Dressed Up As Women.” According to National Review, “We originally planned to have a sit-down in his office, but lawmaking precluded that, so I follow him and his communications director, Donny Ferguson, over to the Capitol, and we find a space in the speaker’s offices near the House chamber to sit down between votes on the Violence against Women Act. Stockman — and this probably won’t surprise you — is no fan of the legislation. ‘This is a truly bad bill,’ he says of the Senate version, which includes provisions regarding homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual victims of domestic violence. ‘This is helping the liberals, this is horrible. Unbelievable. What really bothers — it’s called a women’s act, but then they have men dressed up as women, they count that. Change-gender, or whatever. How is that — how is that a woman?'” [National Review, 3/14/13]
Stockman Called For A “Moratorium” On Sex Education And Compared Homosexual And Premarital Sex To Bestiality And Pedophilia. According to Mother Jones, “Publicly, Stockman lamented his misfortune. But he made no effort to change his behavior. That December, after watching a Family Research Council movie called Children of Table 34, about sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, he wrote a letter to his colleagues calling for a moratorium on sexual education: ‘Our children have been taught that…any type of sex is a valid outlet for their emotions. They are taught that the problem with sex is not that it is wrong to engage in homosexual, bestial, underage, or premarital sex, but that it is wrong to do so without protection.'” [Mother Jones, 1/23/13]
Stockman Invited Missouri Rodeo Clown Who Wore Obama Mask To Attend Event In Texas. According to the Christian Science Monitor, “Rep. Steve Stockman (R) of Texas has invited the rodeo clown who performed wearing a mask of President Obama at the Missouri State Fair to appear at an event in the Lone Star State. The Missouri stunt lit a nationwide controversy over race and free speech that’s now entering its fourth day and continues to roil US social media. Missouri fair officials banned the clown from their bull rings for life and ordered other clowns to undergo sensitivity training. The Missouri chapter of the NAACP asked the US Justice Department to investigate the clown for inciting violence against the president by asking the crowd if it wanted to see Mr. Obama run over by a charging bull. Meanwhile, conservatives say Democrats are engaging in selective outrage, forgetting similar incidents involving representations of George W. Bush during his presidency. ‘Liberals want to bronco bust dissent. But Texas values speech, even if it’s speech they don’t agree with,’ said Representative Stockman, in a press release Wednesday.” [Christian Science Monitor,8/15/13]
Stockman Invited Ted Nugent To Attend The 2013 State Of The Union. According to National Review, “And, of course, he invited Ted Nugent, who underwent a Secret Service investigation after making veiled threats toward the president, to the State of the Union; Stockman defended the invitation in part by calling Nugent ‘very articulate.'” [National Review, 3/14/13]
- Ted Nugent Had Previously Threatened To Be “Dead Or In Jail” By April 2013 If President Obama Were Reelected. According to The Atlantic, “Ted Nugent — the proud gun-owner, poorly coiffed Michigander, and washed-up rocker — has said some silly and offensive things in the past, and not just while performing ‘Cat Scratch Fever.’ In 2007, he said the following during a concert: ‘Obama, he’s a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun. Hey Hillary [Clinton], you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch.’ So that’s his level of political discourse. Of course, he seems to be speaking figuratively if distastefully. But he made another rather appalling statement over the weekend at the NRA convention in St. Louis: ‘If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.'” [The Atlantic, 4/17/12]
- Ted Nugent Had Previously Called Hillary Clinton A “Worthless Bitch.” According to The Atlantic, “Ted Nugent — the proud gun-owner, poorly coiffed Michigander, and washed-up rocker — has said some silly and offensive things in the past, and not just while performing ‘Cat Scratch Fever.’ In 2007, he said the following during a concert: ‘Obama, he’s a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun. Hey Hillary [Clinton], you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch.’ So that’s his level of political discourse.” [The Atlantic, 4/17/12]
- Ted Nugent Criticized President Obama’s Supporters As “Pimps Whores & Welfare Brats” After Obama Won Reelection In November 2012. According to the Huffington Post, “Detroit rocker and right-winger Ted Nugent was not too happy when President Barack Obama was reelected, so he took to Twitter to denounce the ‘pimps,’ ‘whores’ and ‘welfare brats’ who voted for America’s ‘economic [and] spiritual suicide.’ Nugent tweeted some choice words on Wednesday after Obama earned four more years in the White House in an electoral college landslide victory over GOP candidate Mitt Romney. He bid America ‘Goodluk’ [sic] and good riddance. ‘Pimps whores & welfare brats & their soulless supporters hav a president to destroy America.'” [Huffington Post, 11/8/12]
Stockman Responded To Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting By Introducing Legislation To Repeal Gun Free School Zones. According to an official press release from the office of Representative Steve Stockman, “Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas) Thursday introduced ‘The Safe Schools Act,’ legislation that would repeal federal laws mandating ‘gun free zones’ around schools. According to crime statistics analyzed by GeorgiaCarry.org, mass shootings in schools increased five times after the legislation was enacted in 1990. ‘I have one concern – protecting children from dangerous predators. By disarming qualified citizens and officials in schools we have created a dangerous situation for our children. In the 22 years before enactment of ‘gun free school zones’ there were two mass school shootings. In the 22 years since enactment of ‘gun free schools’ there have been 10 mass school shootings. Not only has the bill utterly failed to protect our children it appears to have placed them in danger,’ said Stockman. ‘The data do not lie. Our schools are safer when peaceable citizens are allowed to defend themselves from the irrational and dangerous,’ said Stockman. ‘What would have been horrific massacres on school campuses in Pearl, Mississippi and Grundy, Virginia were averted by armed staff and students. Armed citizens save lives.'” [Office of Representative Steve Stockman, Official Press Release, 1/9/13]
Stockman Compared President Obama To Saddam Hussein. According to Mother Jones, “On Monday of last week, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) announced that if President Barack Obama attempted to enact new gun violence prevention measures through executive order, he would have no choice but to file articles of impeachment. By Tuesday, he was comparing Obama to Saddam Hussein for using children as props at a speech introducing a gun control package.” [Mother Jones, 1/23/13]
Stockman Called For Impeachment Against President Obama If Obama Attempted To Use Executive Orders To Tighten Gun Control Regulations. According to Mother Jones, “On Monday of last week, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) announced that if President Barack Obama attempted to enact new gun violence prevention measures through executive order, he would have no choice but to file articles of impeachment. By Tuesday, he was comparing Obama to Saddam Hussein for using children as props at a speech introducing a gun control package.” [Mother Jones,1/23/13]
Published: Aug 26, 2013