Profile of Robert Dornan on Famous Like Me

Robert Kenneth "Bob" Dornan (born April 3, 1933) is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California. He is a nephew of Jack Haley, who played the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz.

Dornan is well known for his colorful, untempered remarks, such as

• "Every lesbian spearchucker is hoping I get defeated",
• "People elected a governor and I have a screaming transvestite in my ear.",
• "Don't use the word 'gay' unless it's an acronym for 'Got AIDS Yet'"
• in referring to a Soviet spokesman as a "disloyal, betraying little Jew."
• He has shouted down his critics in public with obscenities such as "Shut up, fag!"
• he has denounced his opponents as "un-American."

Dornan once punched Democratic Congressman Tom Downey, a Democrat from Long Island, on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Though Dornan is a typical conservative, he does hold some liberal views, He is well known as being a major sponsor of animal protection acts and for his efforts he has been recognized by PETA.

After attending Loyola Marymount University until 1953, Dornan volunteered to join the United States Air Force. His service in the Air Force was the inspiration for his nickname 'B-1 Bob'. During his time in the air force, he survived two emergency parachute ejections and two "dead stick" forced landings (including one of an F-100). Dornan also served as a photographer during the Vietnam War and he flew relief flights into Biafra.

Around the same time, Dornan participated in the civil rights movement, attending the March on Washington and assisting in voter registration efforts in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Another field that Dornan was involved in was entertainment. Dornan starred in the movie Starfighters, which was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Dornan also hosted his own radio talk show in Los Angeles in the late 1960s.

In 1976, Dornan was elected to the House of Representatives, representing western Los Angeles County. He was re-elected twice, then ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 1982, finishing fourth in the Republican primary.

In the 1984 election, Dornan was returned to the House, representing Orange County, California, and was re-elected five times. During this time, he served on the Intelligence Committee. In 1995 he received a minor reprimand from the House for stating in a floor speech that President Bill Clinton had "given aid and comfort to the enemy" during the Vietnam War. In 1996, Dornan ran for president, using his campaign primarily as a vehicle to continue to attack Clinton; in a GOP debate in Iowa on January 13, Dornan called Clinton a "criminal" and a "pathological liar," and, when asked why voters should choose Dornan over his Republican rivals to challenge Clinton in the general election, argued that he had more children and grandchildren than the others, with only Richard Lugar coming anywhere near him on that score. He finished with less than one percent of the vote in almost every primary.

Fall From Power

After failing to win the GOP presidential nomination in 1996, Dornan squared off against Democrat Loretta Sanchez in his bid for re-election to his House seat. Though confident he would win, owing to his personal fecundity — "She can't beat me," he told the OC Weekly, because "Bob Dornan is a father of five, grandfather of 10, military man, been married 41 years. She has no kids, no military, no track record. I win." — Dornan lost by 984 votes. Alleging that illegal immigrants had voted for Sanchez, Dornan was banned from the House floor in 1997 during the investigation into the election.

Attempt to Revive Political Career

After losing his bid to have the 1996 results overturned, Dornan was defeated by Sanchez in 1998 by a wider margin. In 2004, Dornan failed to unseat Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in the Republican primary, losing to Rohrabacher by an 84% to 16% margin.

Just when many Orange County residents thought they had seen the last of Bob Dornan in the political arena, during the summer of 2005 he expressed interest in the 48th Congressional District seat which became vacant when Chris Cox resigned to become Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Dornan eventually declined to run.

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