Rep. Adam Kitzinger (R-IL) on Sunday declared that Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL sniper who set a record for killing the most people, should be a role model for children in the United States.
During a panel discussion on CNN, Kitzinger said that he saw Clint Eastwood's movie, "American Sniper," and it showed that killing over a hundred Iraqis "obviously bothers" Kyle.
The U.S. congressman went on to blast filmmaker Michael Moore for contrasting his anti-war documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" with "American Sniper."
"I would never see Michael Moore's movie, and 'American Sniper' talks American heroism and heroes," Kitzinger opined.
CNN host Michael Smerconish agreed that Kyle was a "hero," but he said that he was troubled that the story had been "blown out of proportion."
"Like in this guy's case, was he on the roof of the Superdome picking off looters [in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina]? Apparently not," Smerconish explained. "Did he kill two people who tried to steal his pickup truck? Apparently not. Then the Jesse Ventura aspect. I mean, say what you will about Ventura, Ventura served his country. Why do we feel the need to make the story bigger?"
"Those details, I don't know," Kitzinger said, dismissing the controversy. "I know that this [movie] seems to be a very accurate depiction of it. And this is great because America has been -- you know, sports figures are our heroes now or singers or whatever. We need true Americans."
"It's not even the fact of war," he continued. "It's somebody who is willing to fight for and live for something beyond their own personal life. I'm going to tell you, the youth of America need examples like this. Even if you don't go to the military, it's the idea that life is about something bigger than you."
"All I know is [Kyle] is an amazing hero, somebody we ought to really look up to," the Illinois Republican concluded.
