Randy "Duke" Cunningham Anarchist of the Republican Party

Look up anarchy on the web and you’ll get a varied list from television shows, cookbooks, music, and even sunglasses. Now is that what the anarchists first envisioned? Is that what the Weather Underground envisioned? I doubt it. Anarchy these days seems to be a Republican and to state anything on the record you can possibly dream up however insane it may be. Take Randy “Duke” Cunningham for instance. This guy gives the word anarchy a shiny gleam and pushes the limits of the dictionary form. Quoting from www.dukecunningham.org, here are some quotes:

· In 1998, in the halls of Congress, the Mr. Cunningham used foul and unprintable language with the Secretary of the Army. The Secretary of the Army was trying to prevent sexual assaults on women which Mr. Cunningham wished he’d ignore or condone. Nobody loyal to our armed forces would foul-mouth the Secretary of the Army. [S.D.Union-Tribune, 3/11/1998].

Before a group of elderly cancer patients in Alvarado Hospital, Mr. Cunningham made obscene remarks and gestures. After he said the defense budget was the lowest in 25 years, a member of the audience, Charles Cotton, a WW II veteran, commented that it was “not low enough.” The embarrassed audience was shocked when Mr. Cunningham replied by giving Mr. Cotton “the bird” finger gesture and said “f--k you.”

He later expanded his foul language when questioned by a reporter. Cunningham later claimed he was heckled by Mr. Cotton, but as confirmed by a reporter and others in the audience, Mr. Cotton interrupted Mr. Cunningham but once, and didn’t bash the military or flip him “the bird.”

In an editorial, the Union-Tribune asks “what kind of example does it set . . . when their elected representative uses obscene language and gestures to express himself at a public forum?” [AP 9/8/1998; S.D.Union-Tribune, 9/9/1998 B1,B8, 9/10/1998 B10 (editorial), 9/10/1998 B10].

Mr. Cunningham neglected to mention to the cancer patients, between his swearing episodes, that he tried to reduce cancer research funding [Congressional Record, 104th Congress, 1995, pp. E1584-E1585].

Anyone questioning his getting campaign donor ADCS a Pentagon contract “can go to hell” [Union-Tribune 12/15/1997; 6/25/2005].

“Your son is dead meat.” said Duke Cunningham and other Republicans, who taunted Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) after he voted against new prescription drug benefits and refused a $100,000 bribe donation to his son Brad’s Congressional campaign (11/22/2003). His son, Brad Smith, was campaigning to replace his retiring father’s seat in Congress [AP 11/24/2003, Bob Novak Chicago Sun-Times 11/27/2003, Slate 12/1/2003, CREW 12/3/2003, commentary, 7/16/2005].


Dictionary.com gives the following definitions of anarchy.

Absence of any form of political authority.
Political disorder and confusion.
Absence of any cohesive principle, such as a common standard or purpose.


The conservative wing of the Republican Party is what it is often called to provide some of the less light bulb chewing nazi a place to run and hide when people like Randy Cunningham speak out. But what these often unremarkable people forget is that once you stand alongside someone like Randy “Duke” Cunningham the stain, the odor and the shame exists forever somewhere on camera. But the real shocker is that Americans elect people like this. These are the people we need to worry about, not the messengers but the message.

- Chris Mansel