Sam Stein in the Huffington Post reports today that the Republican Study Committtee is "strongly" encouraging applicants for jobs in GOP offices to first pass a litmus test devised by the Heritage Foundation.
In an email passed to the Huffington Post by a congressional Democratic aide, Jonathan Day, a senior adviser to Congressman Tom Price (R-Ga.) and the RSC, asks recipients interested in a host of jobs to send their resumes through the RSC website. At the bottom of the email, however, Day writes that the office "also strongly encourage[s]" applicants "to submit your résumé and complete the ideological questionnaires at the following two websites."
The questionnaires ask applicants their views on a host of issues like labor unions, national health care, the United Nations and privatizing social security (the "correct" answers are obvious.
It also asks applicants to indicate whether they agree or disagree with George W. Bush, Al Gore, Clarence Thomas, Bill Bennett, James Dobson, and Dianne Feinstein. (Again, the "correct" answers are obvious).
Similarly, the questionnaire offers a list of organizations about which the applicant is to indicate either approval or disapproval. The "approved" organizations for aspiring rightwingers are the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), CATO, and the National Rifle Association. The "disapproved" organizations are Planned Parenthood, the National Educational Organization, the Sierra Club, and the National Organization of Women.
And we thought the GOP opposed the use of litmus tests! That must have been before they started prematurely staffing up for the new (GOP?) House.
