Now we know where Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) thinks the weapons of mass destruction are buried: in Syria, which he said he’d like to nuke to smithereens.
Speaking at a veterans’ celebration at Suncreek United Methodist Church in Allen, Texas, on Feb. 19, Johnson told the crowd that he explained his theory to President Bush and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) on the porch of the White House one night.
Johnson said he told the president that night, “Syria is the problem. Syria is where those weapons of mass destruction are, in my view. You know, I can fly an F-15, put two nukes on ’em and I’ll make one pass. We won’t have to worry about Syria anymore.”
The crowd roared with applause.
Johnson’s remarks were captured on tape, which was played over the phone for HOH. While the audience audibly applauded Johnson’s remarks, a few members of the crowd did not. One person who lives in the district and who attended the service said he was “shocked and offended” by the Congressman’s remarks.
Johnson’s chief of staff, Cody Lusk, told HOH to keep in mind that the Congressman was a fighter pilot in Korea and Vietnam. And he was a POW for seven-and-a-half years. “Once a fighter pilot, always a fighter pilot,” Lusk said.
He added that, the Congressman’s comments aside, Johnson “obviously does not believe” that nuking Syria is the answer to eliminating weapons of mass destruction. “He was just speaking to a crowd of veterans,” Lusk said.
More Gannongate. What does Jeff Gannon have to say to his Congressional Democratic detractors who are calling for an investigation of his access to the White House? “It’s certainly within their purview to do that,” he told HOH.
Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert, says his lawyers — whom he declined to name — have asked him not to talk about any of the “scandal stuff,” including allegations that he was a male prostitute. “I couldn’t comment on that,” he said, adding, “Are there things about my past I regret? Absolutely.”
The G Man announced his return with a vengeance last week, declaring on his Web site: “I’m baaaaaaack!” On his site, he says he believes in “a forgiving God who changed my life.”
But Democrats in Congress have no mercy for Gannon.
Led by Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), a group of Senate Democrats sent a letter to President Bush on Friday asking him to order an “immediate and thorough investigation into the Gannon/Guckert matter.”
“How is it possible that a man using a fake name, with dubious journalism credentials, was able to clear the White House’s extensive security screening process and gain such close access to you and your staff for such an extended period of time?” their letter asked.
The letter, which was also signed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and Sens. John Kerry (Mass.) and Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), noted that the administration has paid news personalities Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher to promote its policies, and that the Government Accountability Office recently found the administration’s packaged video news releases to be “illegal uses of public funds.”
Rep. Bill Cassidy has his blood drawn by Alesha Barbour during a free hepatitis screening in the Rayburn House Office Building hosted by the Congressional Viral Hepatitis Caucus to recognize "National Viral Hepatitis Testing Day."
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