Rep. Walter B. Jones of North Carolina occupies a strange place on the spectrum of American politics. An 18-year House veteran from the conservative coast, Jones is a pro-life former Democrat, raised Baptist but a Catholic convert. The 70-year-old Republican’s biggest claim to fame may have come in 2003 when France decided not to participate in the American-led coalition invading Iraq. In a moment of patriotic pique, Jones, following the lead of a diner in his district, directed the House cafeterias to rename French fries as “freedom fries.”

As the appetite for freedom fries waned, so did Jones’s support for the Iraq war. By 2007, he was voicing his opposition to Iraq in a TV interview with George Stephanopoulos. The Nation, the magazine for the true believers of the left, hailed Jones as a hero. He started appearing publicly with Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist. He’s said repeatedly that George W. Bush should have been impeached. Most recently, Jones told a local group of libertarians that Lyndon Johnson is likely rotting in hell for his escalation of the Vietnam War.