Stark, raving

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Fremont) got into trouble this month when he said on the House floor that Republicans were sending troops to Iraq “to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.” He later apologized, but it wasn’t the first time that his words came back to haunt him. Here’s a sampling of his verbal fireworks.

-- Swati Pandey

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Blunder: Responding in July 2003 to then-Colorado GOP Rep. Scott McInnis’ demand that he “shut up” during a fight over a late-breaking pension bill, Stark called him a “little wimp,” then said, “Come over here and make me, I dare you. You little fruitcake.”

Apology: “I’m an elderly gentleman. I haven’t been in a fight involving bodily contact for over 60 years.”

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Blunder: Referred in May 2001 to then-Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts Jr. as the “current Republican conference chairman, whose children were all born out of wedlock.”

Apology: Watts did have a child born out of wedlock, so Stark’s office later said, “If he overstated the number of children involved, he apologizes.”

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Blunder: Said in March 1994 of then-Rep. Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.), whose husband was a doctor, that “the gentle lady got her medical degree through pillow talk.”

Apology: “I had not intended to question her expertise in any area.... I apologize, Nancy.”

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Blunder: In January 1991, criticized his “Jewish colleagues” for voting for the Persian Gulf War.

Apology: In a letter to the Anti-Defamation League: “If I have in any way offended anyone by trying to describe this ‘political science’ lesson, I apologize.”

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Blunder: Said in August 1990 that then-Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, an African American, was “as close to being a disgrace to his race as anyone I’ve ever seen.”

Apology: Before saying he was sorry, Stark said, “I should not have brought into the discussion his race, because it obscures the fact that he is carrying on a bankrupt policy for an administration who inadvertently has been impacting the poor and minorities in this country by denying them decent medical care.”