Image Credit: Associated Press

This week, nine Republican congressmen voted against naming a North Carolina post office after the poet and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou. One of them, in explaining why he thought her name inappropriate for a federal building, suggested her supporters might need to “investigate” her a little further.

“I think people should investigate Maya Angelou a little bit, and I’ll suggest perhaps if you want to investigate a little bit further that perhaps you Google ‘Maya Angelou’ and look at other articles in places like the American Thinker or the American Spectator,” Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) said Tuesday.

Instead, we googled them.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.)

  • Promised to do “anything short of shooting [illegal immigrants]. Anything that is lawful.”
  • Believes there is a “war on whites.”
  • Accused Syrian refugees of coming to the U.S. for a “paid vacation.”
  • Says the only thing stopping the U.S. from stopping immigration is Obama, “a president of the United States who wants to change the way America looks.” Specifically, “A lot of it has to do with skin pigmentation. A lot of it has to do with religious values.”
  • Endorsed Ted Cruz

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.)

  • As an assistant U.S. Attorney, he was given a letter of reprimand and forced to take ethics classes after compromising a felony gun case. Not long after, he left his once-“promising career” “under a cloud.”
  • As District Attorney of Weld, Colo. he was successfully sued by the ACLU for launching an unconstitutional raid on a business called Amalia’s Translation and Tax Service because he thought illegal immigrants were stealing social security numbers there.
  • He also once declined to prosecute a rape case, telling the victim he didn’t think he could win because it appeared she had invited her rapist to have sex with her and, “A jury could very well conclude that this is a case of buyer’s remorse.” The woman said she said no several times and was passed out drunk.
  • He opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, saying, “I think it is a policy that makes a lot of sense.”
  • He tweeted a picture of himself holding an AR-15 inside a federal building.
  • He believes homosexuality is a choice.

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas)

  • He is an obstetrician who once suggested fetuses can masturbate.
  • Got in a fight with a Florida congressman over whose state is crazier.

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.)

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.)

  • Helped repeal an equal pay rights bill by arguing wage gaps exist because women want to raise families and have lesser goals in life: “In the long run, a lot of women like to stay at home and have their husbands be the primary breadwinner.”
  • Is adamantly against recognizing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
  • Wrote a bill that would treat single parenting as a factor in determining whether a child is being abused or neglected.
  • Doesn’t believe homosexuality should be taught in sex ed.
  • Accused Planned Parenthood of being racist.
  • “As a guy,” he says, he never needed Planned Parenthood, so there’s really no need for it.
  • Thought life was better when gay people were still in the closet: “Did people even know what homosexuality was in high school in 1975? I don’t remember any discussion about that at the time. There were a few guys who would make fun of a few effeminate boys, but that’s a different thing than homosexuality. Homosexuality was not on anybody’s radar. And that’s a good thing.”
  • He believes there is a “war on men.”
  • Says Kwanzaa needs to be “slapped down once and for all,” because the holiday’s founder “was a racist and didn’t like the idea that Christ died for all of our sins, so he felt blacks should have their own holiday.”

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.)

  • This guy:

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)

  • Doesn’t believe humans have contributed to climate change.
  • Has “earned a name for ‘No.’”

Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.V.)

  • Lost elections in two other states before moving to West Virginia, where Rep. Shelley Moore Capito was vacating her seat.
  • Believes climate change is “not a settled issue.”

Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Ala.).

  • Voted against a Hurricane Sandy relief bill.

Who among us with google results truly deserves a post office? Something to think about.


H/T The Washington Post. Contact the author at gabrielle@gawker.com.