Pete Stark the Latest Example of House Democrats Out of Control

What is it with the new majority in the House of Representatives and their failure to grasp the importance of diplomacy and national security issues? First we have Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) cozying up with leaders in Syria after being asked not to travel to the country. Then we had the latest embarrassment earlier in the week in which the Speaker sought to bring a measure to the floor to discuss genocide in a country that no longer exists (the Ottoman Empire) 90 years ago.

Now we offer up Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and his comments regarding the president and the war in Iraq. In an example of political hyperbole — if not utter stupidity — here is what Mr. Stark had to say in regards to the inability to fund the State Children’s Health Insurance program due to the ongoing efforts in Iraq:

“You don’t have money to fund the war or children,” Stark declared. “But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”

What is stunning to me is the manner in which the outrage regarding Stark’s comment was so quiet on the Hill yesterday that you could hear a pin drop. Nearly dead silence. That a member of the House of Representatives would state sending young Americans to Iraq to get their heads blown off to amuse the president is just plain sickening. This comment denigrates the desire of young men and women who choose to volunteer and join the armed forces so that they can defend this country and engage enemies abroad who seek to hurt us. Does Mr. Stark not realize that the draft ended with the Vietnam War and that these soldiers enlist of their own free will and of their own free choice?

Yes, these brave men and women choose to serve so that blowhards such as Mr. Stark can insult the commander in chief as well as the sailors, soldiers, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen under his command from the safety of the House of Representatives while they put their lives on the line for us every day.

Stark doesn’t get it and apparently neither do the senior leaders in the Democratic leadership. Instead of issuing an apology for his remarks, Stark issued a statement in which he continued on the offensive against Republicans. That Speaker Pelosi or Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) chose not to force Stark to apologize is the embodiment that actions speak louder than words: Insulting the president while insulting the troops is fine with us. They are out of control and don’t even know it.