QUOTE OF THE DAY…. Apparently, organizers of the Miss USA pageant published promotional photos recently of contestants wearing lingerie. This, ordinarily, wouldn’t be an especially interesting political topic, except to question the value of these pageants in the first place.

But the lingerie photos were apparently a subject of interest to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who asked a panel of guests this week, “What does this tell us about society?

[Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)] was first to respond: “An absolute breakdown in morality,” he said. “And when you lose morality, you get economic chaos. And when you have economic chaos, historically, people have always been willing to give up liberty. And that’s what we’re seeing.”

Gohmert has long been one of Congress’ most embarrassing buffoons, but even for him, this is bizarre.

I can only assume Louie Gohmert will nevertheless be in line for key and influential posts if Republicans retake the House majority next year. The lingerie-related hearings will no doubt be riveting.

Update: MM has the video of Gohmert’s comments. Seeing/hearing the response doesn’t help his case.

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Follow Steve on Twitter @stevebenen. Steve Benen is a producer at MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show. He was the principal contributor to the Washington Monthly's Political Animal blog from August 2008 until January 2012.