What Made Oklahoma Wingnut John Sullivan Check Himself Into Betty Ford Last Night?

John Sullivan, on the right, as usual, takes a leave of absence from Congress

Earlier today, Ken signified that the battle for the Republican Party's soul might be termed one that pits the crazies against the stoopids. He looked at the state's two senators, Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn and only one thing is certain-- you can't always be clear where the ignorance stops and the insanity begins, not in Oklahoma. And when you look at the state's incredibly reactionary House delegation-- way at the bottom of the national barrel-- you see a similar pattern. Mary Fallin, who represents the bluest part of the state, Oklahoma City, can lay claim to being the most radical hard right kook in the entire House of Representatives-- the only member to have not ever voted once in her entire career for anything significant that would in any way be of benefit to a working family. She scores a zero. Not even lunatic fringe maniacs like Michele Bachmann (MN-O.41), Devin Nunes (CA-0.71), Paul Broun (GA-0.71), Adam "Howdy Doody" Putnam (FL-0.77), Eric Canter (VA-0.88), Roy Blunt (MO-0.96), Virginia Foxx (NC-0.97) or John Culberson (TX-0.99) score zeros. And well-established national sociopaths like Mean Jean Schmidt (OH-1.18), Marsha Blackburn (TN-1.13), Darrell Issa (CA-1.21) and Steve King (IA-1.34) are almost socialists in comparison.

Fallin is running for governor and her "no, never, nothing, not ever" stand on everything can be attributed to her focus on a lust for higher office. The holder of the second worst voting record in Oklahoma, Tulsa miscreant John Sullivan (0.87) has an entirely different excuse: he's usually drunk or hung-over when casting his votes on the House floor.

A former failed real estate agent with a long police record for drunk driving, disorderly conduct, and assaulting police officers, he was judged by Oklahoma voters to be a perfect representative for them and entered Congress in 2002. You can call him crazy or stupid-- both work fine-- but his mind-boggling anti-working family voting record-- and his complete embrace of the Politics of Hate-- also points up a long history of substance abuse. He checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic in California Thursday. It isn't clear yet what precipitated the move. Usually Republican congressmen check into drug and alcohol rehab clinics when they get caught doing something unspeakable-- like soliciting a police officer in a public toilet or raping a young child. We expect to hear what impelled Sullivan to hop on a plane, take a leave of absence from Congress-- he opposes Alan Grayson's bill calling for a one week paid vacation for all Americans-- and check himself into the clinic. And we'll let you know.

One other thing. It's entirely possible that the pressures of being a hypocritical right-wing congressman are what drove Sullivan over the brink and that he didn't rape anyone or kill anyone or get caught stealing anything-- maybe not likely, but possible. And maybe it was just the tension of having been one of only two of Oklahoma's uber-reactionary members of Congress to vote for Bush's TARP legislation and then declare himself, incongruously, a teabagger, even speaking at a teabag party in Tulsa, hoping no one would notice that he and his record were what they were actually protesting.

As for the likelihood of Sullivan being exposed as a crooked pol... well, hints began early in his career that, aside from being an uncontrollable lush, he is also a criminal. From his Wikipedia entry:

In July 2004, Dave Pearson, a former GOP communications consultant, claimed he was owed $20,000 for work he did on Sullivan's 2002 special election. Pearson put out a press release attacking his former candidate, and sent a letter to all of Sullivan's campaign contributors: "Sullivan is the most dishonest, disingenuous and crooked politician I have ever known. He is a liar because he repeatedly lied to me and others about his business background, his arrest records and many other things." Sullivan responded by saying that Pearson was fired for "not doing his job" and "owes me money probably."

At least his temporary departure from Congress means one less obstructionist fighting to prevent health care reform-- the kind that would make it possible for the rest of us to get the kind of treatment he's getting, at our expense, at Betty Ford.