TN house repub blames parents for their bullied teens committing suicide...

During today's marathon House floor session, Rep. Jeremy Faison joined in the debate over a cyberbullying bill. As seen in the video above (quickly uploaded by the Tenn Dems), he submitted to the chamber that recent teen suicides were not caused by bullying, but because the teens "were not instilled proper principles of where their self-esteem came from at home."

Observers looked at each other in amazement as if to say, "Did he just blame parents for teen suicides?"

Ironic, isn't it, that just after claiming that he's "beaten up a few bullies" in his day because "they needed it," Faison would say something so spectacularly insensitive and ugly that it drew an audible response from people in the chamber. Even more ironic, his comments came not an hour after we posted this, the latest exhibit in the case against John Harris' sanity.

We've tried to track Faison down, with one question: Really? So far, we've been unsuccessful.

UPDATE: Faison has issued a statement regarding his comments:

"After reviewing my comments on the House Floor today, I regret what was a poor choice of words. My true intent was to protect children from becoming criminals. Suicide has touched my family, and I would never want a parent or family member to feel they were responsible for such an unimaginable tragedy."

http://www.nashvillescene.com/pitw/archives/2012/04/24/faison-blames-parents-for-teen-suicides

I don't think he will ever be able to step away from that comment.