Tea Party hero Steve Stockman: GOPers call Lois Lerner "word that rhymes with witch"

The far-right provocateur says his colleagues in the House refer to the former IRS official using a misogynist slur

Published July 30, 2014 6:36PM (EDT)

 Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas                (Facebook/congressmanstockman)
Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas (Facebook/congressmanstockman)

Notorious troll and candidate for the worst-run primary campaign in American history Steve Stockman joined far-right Newsmax anchor Steve Malzberg on Tuesday to discuss why he's going to stop pushing for Congress to impeach President Obama, as well as the misogynistic slur his fellow Republicans like to use when referring to former IRS official Lois Lerner.

After asserting that he still believes the president has committed "impeachable offenses," Stockman explained to Malzberg that he was nevertheless going to stop advocating so strenuously for impeachment. "Obama's begging to be impeached," Stockman said, so he can use the proceedings to criticize Republicans and fundraise for the coming midterm election. Stockman vowed he would not fall prey to Obama's trap.

Moving on from Obama's magical powers to plant the idea of impeachment in Republican lawmakers' heads, Stockman then discussed another one of his quixotic campaigns: To have former IRS official (a supposedly pivotal figure in the supposed IRS scandal) Lois Lerner arrested for contempt of Congress.

Stockman acknowledged that he did not know where Lerner would be held, if she were to actually be arrested, but didn't seem too worried about the specifics of his plan. "Everybody jokes about having [her] serve here in the House — someone told me there's still a prison here; I don't know, it's probably full of books and other things," Stockman said.

Asked by Malzberg whether his fellow Republicans are on board with the plan, Stockman responded that "several times" House GOPers had "said some things about jail [and] a word that rhymes with witch." Whether that kind of casual misogyny would translate into legislative action, though, Stockman didn't say.

You can see Stockman's appearance on Newsmax below, via Right Wing Watch:


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

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