Which state legislature has a member who supports terrorist attacks on the United States? Texas! At least, that’s what the legislator’s political rival wants voters to believe.
State Rep. David Simpson, R-Texas, sponsored anti-groping legislation to prevent the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) from patting down groins and breasts without good reason, and so Tommy Merritt — the long time state representative defeated by Simpson in the last election and challenging him this year — practically accused Simpson of backing terrorism.
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It’s one of the most hyperbolic attacks of the cycle, to say the least. “Do you want more men like these to be able to avoid airport security inspections?” Merritt asks voters in a campaign mail piece that features photographs of 9/11 hijackers. “David Simpson apparently does.”
The mail piece emphasized that, “with David Simpson, terrorists would be able to avoid airport screenings.”
Matt Dowling, who writes a Texas political blog, notes that the legislation Merritt describes as “insanity” blocks “federally sponsored groping of someone’s private areas unless there was reasonable suspicion to search there.”
Win or lose, the unintentional comedy of watching Merritt and Simpson unite after the primary to defeat a Democrat should be pretty great.
