Republican Jackass of the Week

Fox Noise's main teleprompter reader and Rupert Murdock's obedient soldier, Bill O'Reilly.

He whined this week about why Republicans weren't invited to the 50th Anniversary celebration of the March for Jobs and Equality on Washington, which originally culminated with Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

"All the speakers were Democrats," he proclaimed. "That was a glaring error and does not indicate a desire for inclusion."

Why weren't they invited?

Turns out they were. And every single one of them said no.

Speaker of the House Orange John Boehner said no.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said no.

Pappy Bush and the Lesser Bush both declined for "health reasons."

Former governor Jeb Bush was invited to represent the family and said no.

Of course, the facts wouldn't fit the Fox agenda. And that's not what Fox's aging, angry, racist audience wants to hear anyway.

Billo, this week's Regressive Republican Jackass of the Week.

UPDATE: Bill has allegedly apologized for his incorrect assumption since this posted.

Crazy Old Pat Robertson Strikes Again

In case you haven't heard the latest in the frighteningly weird world of Old Pat, this week he made the claim that gay HIV-positive people in San Francisco have special rings that, if you shake hands with them, will cut your hand and give you AIDS.

You don't know whether to laugh or laugh at this doddering old man with the sinister, wild imagination. But the people who work with him at his "700 Club" don't find his fleeting sanity amusing.

Their archived video posted on the Christian Broadcasting Network's website was scrubbed of this comment just hours after he made it. Cut. Slashed. Removed. Poof! All gone -- like it never existed.

Other gems from the mouth of Pat include:

• Telling a caller that if your husband's cheating on you, it's probably your fault. "Make yourself as attractive as possible and don't hassle him about it."
• He told another female caller, "Stop talking about the cheating. He cheated on you. Well? He's a man, okay?"
• He claimed that the "feminist agenda" is not about equal rights for women. "It's about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft and become lesbians."
• Last month he stated that, besides a "like" button, Facebook should have a "vomit button" for pictures of gays and lesbians kissing.
• He told a man that to get his wife to respect him "as head of the household," that "you could become a Muslim and you could beat her."

Where's that nice man with the butterfly net when you need him?

Why It's Important to Vote in Midterm Elections

Voting for president is important, fun, makes you feel good, etc.

But skipping the midterm elections can have disastrous consequences. After a record-breaking turnout in 2008 resulting in the overwhelming election of Barack Obama, millions of Progressives skipped the midterm elections of 2010. The result? A Regressive republican takeover of the US House and a loss of Progressive seats previously held by Democrats in the US Senate.

In addition, sitting back and allowing Regressives to load your state House and Senate with Republicans will result in horrendous laws and redistricting -- gerrymandering of voting districts that can make it almost impossible for the opposing political party to win for decades.

Just look at what happened in North Carolina. It now has a Regressive republican House, Senate and governor -- which means they can and will do anything they want, unopposed.

A quick look at some of the regressive, repressive bills that have sprung up since their takeover in North Carolina:

• Regressive republicans have introduced a bill to establish an official state religion. That one alone should have you terrified.
• Stooping slightly so as to allow the irony to fly right over their heads, they then introduced a bill to ban Sharia Law
• They've passed the country's most extreme abortion restriction bill
• They've cut funds for public education
• They've eliminated the estate tax, cut taxes for the rich, and shifted the tax burden onto the middle class and the poor in the state
• They've enacted the most restrictive voter suppression laws in the state, severely limiting registration drives, cutting voting hours, cutting early voting days, and allowing any "vigilante poll observers" from any district to challenge, on the spot on Election Day, any other North Carolina voter in any other district. This means any Klan member or Fox watcher can hang around any polling place to challenge -- create problems for -- any minority voter in any district.

Midterm elections are coming up in just over a year, in November of 2014. That's sooner than you think. These Regressives have all got to go, in every state.

The NRA is the Organization They've Been Warning You About

The NRA, which has screamed bloody murder that the government wants to "compile a huge database of gun owners which can be hacked," and is against any kind of background checks or registration, turns out to actually be the organization that compiles a huge database of gun owners which can be hacked!

NRA apologists now know the NRA has millions of names -- from NRA members as well as gun owners who never gave them permission to collect their data -- including lists they bought of people who bought guns in stores, online, "prospective gun owners," own a hunting license, taken a gun safety class, and those who simply subscribe to gun magazines.

How ironic that the organization that takes your money and tries to scare you about a big boogeyman collecting data on you, actually is the big boogeyman collecting data on you without your permission.  Asked by a reporter why they "need" all this info gathered without your permission, a spokesman replied, "that's none of your business."

Got that, NRA supporters? The NRA has a huge database with your name on it that can be hacked or sold and it's none of your business how they got your name or why they want it.

Suckers.

More from Buzzfeed, which broke the story.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Former South Carolina Senator and current president of the far rightwing Heritage Foundation, Jim DeMint.

In Tampa yesterday, he continued his crusade to convince other Regressive republicans to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, claiming "the law is not about getting better health care. You can get better health care just by going to the emergency room."

Pure genius. See? That's going to be the official healthcare program of the USA if Regressives have their way: just run to the emergency room and let somebody else pay for your treatment if you can't afford it. And who might that be? Taxpayers? The hospital? Everyone who pays insurance premiums?

All of the above.

Funny that the current president of the Heritage Foundation would be so against Obamacare, since Obamacare was almost entirely written by... wait for it... the Heritage Foundation back in 1989!

Yes, the Heritage Foundation was lobbying heavily to mandate coverage through regulated healthcare marketplaces, which is the essence of Obamacare. It was what Romneycare in Massachusetts was based on. Back then rightwingers claimed the individual mandate would "force people to take personal responsibility" for their healthcare and prevent people from just showing up at emergency rooms for all their medical needs.

But now, since President Obama is for it, their own plan is suddenly "socialized medicine," "government controlled health care," and whatever else they claim. Hey, just go to the emergency room!

Luckily, the Regressives are not going to have their way. Obamacare isn't going anywhere. It was legally passed in the House and Senate, it was signed by the President, it was endorsed by the current rightwing Supreme Court, and even Orange John, the Speaker of the House, put down the bourbon long enough to proclaim, "it's the law of the land."

Jim DeMint, our Republican Jackass of the Week.

Republican Jackass(es) of the Week

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R-what else?) decided to go ahead and sign a voter suppression bill that's designed to stop the rampant voter fraud going on in that state (which has hovered around 0.001% over the last 3 decades).

Yes, another attempt to fix a problem that doesn't exist.

It's Pat.

And yes, another attempt to disenfranchise minorities, the young and the elderly -- all those who traditionally vote for Democrats.

It imposes strict voter picture ID requirements, drastically cuts early voting by about a week, kills state-sponsored voter registration drives, and repeals same day registration.

I've yet to hear how cutting a week of early voting also cuts voter fraud. Do those one or two voters each year who are convicted of voter fraud always vote early? Do they spring for plastic surgery so they can match someone else's picture? Of course this is nonsense. But not to North Carolina's Regressive governor and legislature.

The state is offering "free IDs" at DMV locations -- free in this case meaning it will cost taxpayers an estimated $800,000 to furnish these IDs to the approximately 300,000 people without acceptable picture IDs. Of course, the people this bill targets -- the poor, the elderly, minorities and students -- will have to spend money and a whole day shlepping around town to obtain birth certificate copies and wait in line at the DMV for these "free" treats.

But there is some good news. Just hours after the governor signed this voter suppression bill, lawsuits were filed. The ACLU of North Carolina and the NAACP of North Carolina filed suit claiming the bill violates the Constitution's equal protection clause and what's left of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

This same governor recently signed bills that would reduce jobless benefits, reject the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, cut school funding, tighten restrictions for abortion clinics in the state, and loosen restrictions on concealed-carry permits in bars and restaurants. Excellent choice there, mixing guns and alcohol. What could possibly go wrong?

How do the residents of North Carolina feel about this guy? Not so good.

A recent PPP poll shows his approval rating badly underwater: 39% approve, 51% disapprove.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, our Republican Jackass of the Week.

And Dishonorable Mention goes to Representative Paul Stam (R of course) also, coincidentally, from North Carolina.

This genius doesn't like new school testing requirements for children that June Atkinson, the superintendent of schools, has devised, so he stated she should "stick to her own knitting."

A tad misogynistic there, Paul?

Republican Jackass of the Week

Representative Steve King (R) of Iowa.

What? Again? He was our RJOTW just two weeks ago!

Well he's back again, shooting off his big stupid mouth with uncontrollable glee.

Last time he referred to immigrants as dogs and mules.  Now he's claiming climate change is not science, but "a religion."

On Wednesday he spoke at an event sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a group with a purposely deceiving name, funded by the billionaire Koch brothers.  And despite the fact that 97% of scientists around the world agree on the science of human-caused climate change, King claimed that it's "more of a religion than science."

See? Being a Teabagger and Regressive republican representative in the land of corn somehow makes you inherently smarter than the vast majority of scientists and climatologists around the globe who have spent their lives studying the subject.

Right after denying climate change is real, he claimed that climate change is actually a good thing. The logic? Tons of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere is actually good for plants! It means more photosynthesis for plants.

See how that works? Say something scientifically unsound, contradict yourself two seconds later and you've got your bases covered.

"Climate change doesn't exist, but since it really does exist it's a good thing."

Perfect!

Perfectly appropriate to be our Republican Jackass of the Week.

Even Mitch McConnell's Campaign Manager Can't Stand Him

Hilarious!

Caught on tape in a recent phone call, the senior campaign manager for Senator Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky, admitted he's not much of a fan of old Mitch.

Senator McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, famous for stating in 2009 that his number one goal was to make President Obama a one-term president, and for being the chief obstructionist in the Senate, is the lowest-rated senator in the country. That's right -- number 50 out of 50. His approval rating is only 36%, while his disapproval rating is at 54%. That's called being "underwater" in political circles -- the same term used when you owe more on your house than it's worth.

In the phone call to someone at the Reformed Theological Seminary, McConnell's campaign manager Jesse Benton said he's basically just killing time waiting to work on Rand Paul's presidential campaign in 2016.

"Between you and me, I'm sorta holdin' my nose for two years, 'cause what we're doin' here is gonna be a big benefit to Rand in 2016."

Once this embarrassing quote went public, he backtracked big time:

"It is truly sick that someone would record a private phone conversation I had out of kindness and use it to try to hurt me. I believe in Senator McConnell and am 100% committed to his re-election. Being selected to lead his campaign is one of the great honors of my life."

Wow. I think I just got whiplash from that gear change.

Republican Jackass of the Week

This time it's the entire Republican-controlled House of Representatives, allegedly run by Speaker John Boehner.

Today's their last workday, if you can call it that, before their 5-week summer vacation. Usually at this time of year, they tend to scramble to get things done before running out the door.

But not Bourbon Boehner's Bunch.

Today, they'll waste more time and taxpayer money voting, for the FORTIETH TIME, to defund the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, despite the fact that even the rightwing Supreme Court admitted it was Constitutional, and Boehner himself referred to it as "the law of the land."

Since the Democratically-controlled Senate is not in a million years going to agree to kill off Obamacare, and the President is certainly not apt to sign a bill destroying his own signature health care plan, this is just another circus act to placate the far rightwing radicals in the Regressive republican party. Now they'll be able to go home to their gerrymandered districts and beam with delight in bragging about their vote that accomplished, yet again, absolutely nothing.

They're calling this 40th attempt to defund Obamacare the "Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act." Cute.

Another waste of time bill passed this week is called the "Stop the IRS Act," which would mandate the firing of any IRS agent who "takes official action for political purposes." Of course, not a single IRS agent has been found guilty of such a thing, despite months of interrogations from car-thief and insurance-fraudster Darrell Issa. Even the Bush-appointee who was in charge of the IRS during this fake scandal said there was no political motivation and the Obama White House had nothing to do with scrutiny of some rightwing groups.

Were any jobs bills passed? Any infrastructure bills passed? Budget plans? A way out of the sequester? Transportation bill? Housing bill? Immigration reform? Efforts to reduce gun violence? Background checks?

No.

They haven't accomplished a single priority demanded by Americans according to most polls.

John Boehner remains the weakest, least-accomplished Speaker of the House we've seen in decades, a so-called leader who can't control the fringe element of his own party. And his Congress remains the least productive in American history.

But hey, enough about that.
It's vacation time, right John?