Is Rep. Hank Johnson the Dumbest Man in Congress?

Can an island in the middle of the ocean - or anywhere - tip over? Congressman Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) apparently thought so when he was discussing relocation of more military personnel to Guam.

After droning on and on about the physical dimensions of the small Pacific island, Johnson said he was worried that the island might capsize like Barney Frank in a hot tub.

"My fear is that, ah, the whole island will, ah, become so overly populated that it would tip over and ah, and capsize," he said to a top military commander. You can watch him say it at 1:15 in the video here.

Stupid: Hank Johnson

It couldn't have been easy for Admiral Robert Willard, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, to maintain a straight face during his completely bizarre grilling by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) last week. Willard was testifying before the House Armed Services Committee at a hearing concerning his command's FY 2011 budget. Full post at Mother Jones...

Admiral Willard somehow managed to keep a straight face. He responded, "Ah, we don't anticipate that. The Guam population is currently about 175,000."

Manhattan is about the same size as Guam and has about 100 times the population and much more construction. There is no indication that Manhattan is in danger of capsizing. Later, Johnson defended his idiotic remarks by saying that he was just kidding. "Johnson tells 11 Alive News that he used what he thought was a humorous metaphor," reported NBC 11 Atlanta, "'Often, I've been known to use humor as I deliver a message. That's just one of the gifts that I think that I have,' Johnson deadpanned."

If Johnson really was kidding, then his sense of humor is very strange. There he is, in a very serious moment, discussing very serious matters, with the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command -- and he's making jokes? No, no, no.

A normal person would not have done that in the first place, but if they did, they would have quickly chuckled and said something like, "I'm just kidding, I know that Guam couldn't possibly tip over because it's attached to the bottom of the ocean."

Johnson did nothing like that. He gave no indication that he was intentionally saying something that he thought was funny.  To Johnson's credit, though, it was a damned funny performance.

RELATED:
Good News! Guam Will No Longer Tip Over! Fellowship of the Minds (Dec. 2011)
Rep. Hank Johnson Thinks Guam Could Capsize Mother Jones
Rep. Hank Johnson: Guam could 'tip over and capsize' The Hill
Dumb Dems to be Drummed Out American Thinker
What is he doing in Congress? The Augusta Chronicle