This may come as a bit of a surprise to some, but Phil Robertson—the Duck Dynasty reality television star who came under liberal scrutiny and became a conservative folk hero after being suspended for his, um, colorful views on race relations and homosexuality—said some interesting things at CPAC on Friday.
The Conservative Political Action Conference is an annual event that brings together conservatism’s most dedicated grassroots activists, influential thought leaders, and some people who do reality TV. Sometimes people give speeches that make history and launch their political careers, and other times they say things that make you scratch your head.
Here are some of the interesting things Phil Robertson said during his address:
On rock and roll music: “What do you call the hundred and ten million who have sexually transmitted illnesses? It’s the revenge of the hippies! Sex, drugs, and rock and roll have come back to haunt us, in a bad way.”
On genital herpes: “How many seconds does it take to get genital herpes? [The Centers for Disease Control] said 30 seconds. I’m like, whoa, that’s pretty quick.”
On Speaker John Boehner’s apparent enforcement of a House dress code and Robertson’s own CPAC fashion choices: “These are my church clothes. I never got around to buying a suit. … You say, ‘Phil, are you going to make it through this thing without of a suit?’ Irregardless of me not being able to go on the floor of the House of Representatives without a suit on, according to ol’ John Boehner—‘Hey John, I have my best clothes on!’
Boehner, here’s a newsflash! Just make sure you pass good bills comin’ out of that House that affects my life and don’t worry about the clothes on their backs, just pass good legislation! I’ll feel better about you!”
On non-religious people in the White House: Robertson quoted James Madison as saying, “This Constitution was written for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.” Then Robertson said that the problem with America is that there have been too many non-Christian presidents: “You know what’s happened, GOP? We got too many ‘any others’ in the White House! It wasn’t meant for them!”
On similarities between himself and George Washington: “Your founding fathers were godly. So am I. You say, ‘Phil, you’re like George Washington.’ Yeah! ‘You’re like Thomas Jefferson.’ Yeah! I’m just saying, they were godly.”
He said these interesting things in an acceptance speech for the Andrew Breitbart Defender of the First Amendment Award. If this has whetted your interest in interesting things said by Phil Robertson, Andrew Breitbart Defender of the First Amendment, Mediaite has video of the whole interesting speech here.
Jeb Bush spoke shortly after Phil Robertson. He also seems to have found the things Phil Robertson said to be interesting, as he tweeted this:
