Every time you wonder if things can't just a bit more bizarre among our ruling set out there in Harrisburg, they manage to top - or perhaps lower - themselves.
Witness what happened during a House committee hearing yesterday.
Conservative Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler County, was speaking when the chairman, Democrat Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery County, who was sitting next to him, tapped him on the arm.
This did not sit well with Metcalfe, who offered the following exchange.
"Look, I'm a heterosexual. I have a wife, I love my wife. I don't like men, as you might. But stop touching me all the time.
"It's like, keep your hands to yourself. Like, if you want to touch somebody, you have people on your side of the aisle that might like it. I don't."
Bradford is married with four children.
He tried to resist a laugh as the other legislators winced at the exchange.
"We are officially off the rails," he commented as fellow legislators guffawed and one tried to hide her face from a video camera.
In an interview later Metcalfe claimed Bradford has been touching him for months and that he had asked him to stop.
Now Pennsylvania Democrats are calling on Metcalfe's actions homophobic and are calling on him to step down.
This is hardly the first disagreement involving Metcalfe and state Democrats. He has been criticized in the past for inviting a white supremacist group to the Capitol, and for trying to silence gay lawmakers.
“Enough is enough. Daryl Metcalfe is a walking, talking embarrassment to Pennsylvanians and doesn't deserve the honor of serving in public office,” said Brandon Cwalina, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. “For years Metcalfe has taken policy positions based on bigoted misconceptions and fear of minority groups and the LGBT community, but today he has gone beyond the pale. We are again calling on Daryl Metcalfe to resign and to apologize to all Pennsylvanians for his ridiculously bigoted behavior.”
Yep, we're off the rails.
But then again, in Harrisburg, how could you tell?
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