#2403: Lynn Westmoreland

Leon Acton “Lynn” Westmoreland was the U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 3rd congressional district from 2007 to 2017 and the 8th district from 2005 to 2007. As congressman, Westmoreland may be best remembered for cosponsoring a bill to place the Ten Commandments in the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as a bill asserting that the Ten Commandments could be displayed in courthouses “in a historical setting”. On a request to actually name the Commandments, Westmoreland was able to name three.

 A firm global warming denialist – like so many in Congress – Westmoreland was also a signatory to a 2010 pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any global warming legislation that would raise taxes, and critized the Obama administration’s labeling climate change a national security threat. In 2019 he was named chairman of an advisory board for Conservatives for Clean Energy Georgia, an organization that seems hell-bent on not mentioning “climate change”. “I still believe just like I did – that the climate has been changing ever since Noah’s ark,” said Westmoreland. As Westmoreland sees it, his organization’s goal is to “try to put some common sense into clean energy”, stress being on “common”, not “sense”. He is also (probably) a young-earth creationist.

 

At least his view on how you confirm your hypotheses with evidence is illuminating (he also seems to accuse the facts about the 2012 Benghazi attack of being in some sort of conspiracy to help Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign).

 

Diagnosis: Crazy conspiracy theorist and staunch science denialist, precisely the kind of gohmert that some Southern mouthbreathers like to elect to Congress.