Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings, who called Texas 'a crazy state,' isn't wild about Florida, either

(Image credit: CNN/YouTube)

last updated 6 February 2015

The verbal smackdown Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) gave the State of Texas, via Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), was so unusual for Congress that The Daily Show's Jon Stewart used it as the pretext to game out a war between Florida and the Lone Star State. Burgess and 24 of his Texas Republican colleagues demanded that Hastings apologize, and Rep. Pete Session (R-Texas) even gave a House floor speech defending his state's "honor."

On Thursday, Hastings largely stood by his assertion that Texas is a "crazy state," citing among other things a law that limits the amount of dildos a woman can own (a federal court struck down the law in 2008, over the objections of the new Texas governor, Greg Abbott, then attorney general). But it's not personal, Hastings told CNN's Dana Bash. "I love Texans, but I do not like their policymakers who are in the majority," he said. "The simple fact of the matter is, evidently, I touched a nerve deep in the heart of Texas. And I would ask them to tie a yellow rose around it and do like Frozen and 'Let it go.'"

And Hastings knows that his home state isn't the sanest in the union either. "Consider the fact I'm a native Floridan and dislike it," he told Bash. "I have cautioned about living in Florida, and when I retire I'm not sure I'm going to stay there, largely because of the policymakers." He added, "I have a lot of other places that I can live." He may have to if his Fort Lauderdale constituents react poorly to his dissing the state he represents. Watch Bash's report below. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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