Republican Jackass of the Week

Got two for you this week.

Look at those shifty eyes...

Speaker of the House in South Carolina, Robert Harrell (R).

This guy is one of South Carolina's most powerful and most corrupt politicians. This Jackass was originally faced with 9 counts of corruption, including using campaign donations for his private jet and fancy stuff for his home. He was originally sentenced to 6 years in the big house, but as part of his plea deal, that was chopped down to 3 years of probation, a fine of $30,000, and he must pay back $94,000 he stole from the campaign.

Robert Harrell, Republican Jackass of the Week Number One.

_____________________________________________________

Republican Jackass of the Week, Number Two: Every rightwinger in congress and every rightwing governor who wants to -- or has already -- inflicted Voter Suppression Laws on the people of their state.

A report from the Washington Post states that from 2000-2014, there were only 31 incidents of "voter fraud" (someone pretending to be someone else) out of one billion votes cast. That includes general, municipal, special elections and primaries all over the country.  And not all 31 have been proven. Some of those may include clerical errors, two people with the same name or someone signing the wrong line in the book.

31 out of 1,000,000,000 votes cast.

So when Regressive Republicans claim these voter ID laws are designed to stop "voter fraud," you know they're lying. These are laws in search of a non-existent problem.

Voter suppression laws are specifically designed to make it extraordinarily difficult for elderly voters, students and minorities to vote -- all of whom traditionally vote Democratic.

You'll notice that every  voter suppression law is pushed by Republican governors and legislators. No exception.

A few stats:

North Carolina: 0.0017% of the votes in 2012 were allegedly cast fraudulently. Not all have been proven.

Wisconsin: 0.0002% of the votes proved to be fraudulent in 2012.

Texas: 0.000005% voter fraud between 2001 and 2013. There were exactly 2 cases of voter fraud in that state in a 10 year period -- and for this Texas officials want to kick 400,000 people off the voter rolls.

Righties always scream, "what's wrong with showing proof of who you are?"

You already had to prove who you are when you get your voter ID card. And requiring further photo IDs from the poor or the elderly who no longer drive or can't get to the Dept of Motor Vehicles puts undue burden on them.

Again, this is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

Remember that voting is a right, not something for which you should have to jump through hoops. The same righties that insist on voter suppression laws would scream bloody murder if we required the same proof before buying a gun.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Felon, Medicare fraudster and Florida governor Rick Scott  (R).

No doubt by now you've heard all about his hissy fit and refusal to walk onstage for the first five minutes of a gubernatorial debate with Charlie Crist in South Florida Wednesday night. If not, you won't believe the reason for Scott's temper tantrum.

A small electric fan.

Yeah, Crist had a small fan at his feet behind the podium despite the "nothing electronic" rule at the debate. For the record, a fan is electric, not electronic. Clearly, the intent of the rule is to ban electronic earpieces, iPads, cell phones, and things of that nature.

How petty and small a person must be to become so enraged that for the first five minutes of a widely televised debate he refused to walk out!

Here's what that video clip looked like:


Can anyone seriously support a guy who throws a fit and refuses to discuss issues important to Florida voters -- because of a perceived violation of the debate rules regarding a fan?!

But really, was it a violation? After the debate, Crist's campaign posted a copy of the rules that includes a note saying, "the debate hosts will address any temperature issues with a fan if necessary."

But even if it was a real violation, and let's say Rick Scott had the fan, can you imagine Charlie Crist sulking and refusing to participate?

The next morning a reporter asked Scott, "What happened last night? Why did you take the stage so late?" To which Scott replied, "Well Charlie was throwing a fit. He was sayin' he wasn't going to show up so we waited to see if he was gonna show up."

Here's that 10-second clip:



Hmm. He had to wait to see if Crist would show up? I seem to remember seeing Crist onstage for 5 minutes before Scott calmed down, got himself under control and was able to appear.

Rick Scott, putting the "goober" in gubernatorial. And earning the honor of being our Republican Jackass of the Week.