Lawrence O'Donnell extends ban on deadbeat dad Joe Walsh

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell has doubled down on his ban of tea party Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), who allegedly owes over $100,000 in child support.

O'Donnell, who had first banned Walsh from his show in July, noted Thursday that a Cook County judge had ruled against the congressman after he didn't even bother to show up for his child support hearing this week.

"Congressman Walsh's spokesman tried to pretend to us that the Congressman just had to be in Washington yesterday, for all the important work of a freshman congressman who is not taken seriously by anyone on Capitol Hill," O'Donnell explained. "The Congressman’s only official act yesterday to vote. And he was called upon to do that only once. The Republican bill passed the house 232 to 186. Everyone knew ahead of time that Congressman Walsh’s vote wasn’t going to matter."

"That’s exactly the kind of vote a member of Congress can and does miss if he or she has something more important to do, like, you know, maybe pay child support, which every member of Congress should agree is more important that voting on a bill and, in fact, is more important than being a congressman."

He added: "The deadbeat dad congressman continues to get invited on other shows where he freely discusses anything but child support. No show on any network, including this network, should ever allow Congressman Walsh to do any more of his phony posing, no more of his lying about his concern for the financial burdens his kids face."

"Joe Walsh is a disgrace to the United States House of Representatives, he is a disgrace to the Republican Party that claims pride in its shared family values. No news network, no television network should enable his lie that his fulminating in Congress or on TV is more important than paying his child support. Oh, and you know that vote that he cast yesterday? The one where his vote didn't matter because the winning margin was so big, the vote that he pretended was so important that he couldn't be at his child support hearing? Joe Walsh made sure his vote didn't matter because he didn't even vote yes or no. Joe Walsh voted present."

Watch this video from MSNBC's The Last Word, broadcast Sept. 15, 2011.

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