Republican Jackass of the Week

Regressive Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, y'all.

Enjoy this 90 second clip of her parroting the lie that Christianity is under attack in this country -- and then admitting she can't think of a single example.



That's because one doesn't exist.

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Republican John Ellis Bush, "Jeb," the latest member of the Bush Crime Family who thinks he's going to become President.

Recently he was interviewed at the always safe home turf of Fox Noise, and Megyn Kelly tossed him a softball question, which he monumentally screwed up. You only need to watch the first 20 seconds of this one-minute clip.




He was essentially asked, if he knew then what he knows right now, would he still authorize the invasion and occupation of Iraq, creating the worst military debacle in modern history.

Knowing that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, had nothing to do with 9/11, and knowing that 4500 Americans would be killed for nothing, as well as hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and the destabilizing of the country would leave an opening which would lead to the creation of ISIS and al Qaeda strongholds, he'd still do exactly what Dubya did.

Since last Sunday, he's come up with 5 different answers to this question which should have been completely anticipated.

Sunday: "Yes I'd attack Iraq."
Monday: "I misunderstood the question."
Tuesday: "I misinterpreted the question."
Wednesday: "I don't think it would be appropriate to answer that question."
Thursday: "No, I wouldn't attack Iraq."

I'm beginning to believe Dubya actually was the smart one...

Republican Jackass(es) of the Week

Is his name really Randy Boning?

Time to catch up on a few...

Representative Randy Boehning of Fargo, North Dakota.

The headline says it all: "Anti-gay Republican lawmaker caught on gay websites looking for encounters..."

Talk about your self-hating Republicans...

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Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, senator from Kentucky and delusional candidate for president.

His quote on Baltimore protests and riots? "Violence is about lack of fathers and morals."

He should know all about lack of fathering and morals. His own son is perpetually driving drunk and getting into trouble with the law.

Oh, and he's an uncertified eye doctor. Just thought I'd throw that in.

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Oklahoma representative Kevin Calvey had a temper tantrum like a 5 year old in a grocery store this week. Seems he didn't want state Supreme Court judges and other court judges to get a 6% raise paid for by court fees, because some of those judges struck down a few unconstitutional laws restricting abortions.

So he threatened to light himself on fire. For real. Watch the 30 second clip:



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Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has cut so many millions of dollars in school funding that several districts in that state have announced they will end the school year early citing lack of funding. So Kansas doesn't have enough money to keep the schools open for the full year...

But he somehow managed to conjure up half a million dollars to defend one of his anti-abortion bills.


Just four of the overwhelming number of Republican Jackasses of the Week.

Republican Jackass of the Week

This week it's the entire Oklahoma House Education committee that voted on Monday (11-4) to ban their Advanced Placement U.S. History Class, which is an optional course that allows advanced students to obtain college credits while still in high school.

What's the reason?

They claim the course only teaches students "what is bad about America," and fails to teach "American exceptionalism."

Nonsense. No history course does such a thing. But these self-proclaimed patriots want to whitewash American history so that all of the ugly stuff they'd rather not think about would just evaporate out of textbooks. Poof!

Millions of Native Americans killed upon our ancestors' arrival? Never happened. Slavery? Lynchings? Japanese internment camps? The KKK? Segregation? Voter suppression? Nope. Never happened either.

This whole "American exceptionalism" thing is insanity. We are to teach kids that we are superior to others around the world simply by virtue of having been born here. We are the "city upon a hill" that no one else can match, they like to claim.

Baloney. But it sounds nice in political speeches.

Recent efforts by some rightwing school board members in Colorado attempted to make their history courses "more patriotic" in much the same way. Proposed changes meant "students would only be taught lessons depicting American heritage in a positive light and effectively ban any material that could lead to dissent."

Colorado students walked out en masse.  Oklahoma students and teachers need to do the same.

American history must be taught in its entirety, including the good, the bad and the ugly. And there's plenty in each of those categories.

The Oklahoma House Education Committee -- this week's Republican Jackass of the Week.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Meet Senator Thom Tillis, Republican (what else?) of North Carolina.

We've heard a handful of Regressive Republican rightwingers in Congress, and their teleprompter-reading puppeteers on Fox, suddenly declare this week that they're against basic childhood vaccinations. Yes, the ones that all but wiped out polio, measles, chicken pox and other horrific diseases in this country.

Now one of these science-challenged righties has stated he wants to eliminate -- maybe that's an unfortunate choice of words -- he wants to repeal health department laws mandating that restaurant workers must wash their hands after taking a dump.

Too many regulations, he says. Too restrictive.

Tillis actually states he's looking to "reduce the regulatory burdens" on businesses with this bizarre brainstorm. I'm wondering how long before he or one of these troglodytes will use the old chestnut, "How do we know there actually are germs? We can't see them."  I'm betting Sarah The Quitter will use that one.

These two examples perfectly illustrate where these Libertarians and Tea Baggers go off the tracks into Crazyland, with their irrational hatred of basic regulations.

Tillis said he doesn't care if restaurants don't mandate handwashing after using the restroom, "as long as they post a sign stating that it's not required."

So what this dumbass doesn't realize is that to eliminate the "burdensome regulation" of requiring handwashing, he'd have to create a new regulation requiring a sign stating this.

Little-known senator from North Carolina, Thom Tillis, forcing his way into the public consciousness through his own special brand of insanity, and earning the coveted title of Republican Jackass of the Week.

More here.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Darrell Issa, Republican Chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

Here's a guy who hated the current administration so much that he dedicated his political career to fishing for a whole list of scandals that never existed.

Just two weeks ago the final report from the latest Benghazi investigation revealed that absolutely no wrongdoing on the part of the Obama Administration had occurred. There was no conspiracy, no military assets were withheld, no "stand down" order was given, nothing.

And nothing came of the fake IRS scandal, the phony "fast and furious" scandal, or anything else.

With Benghazi alone, he held 20 individual hearings comprising 6 separate investigations.

The total cost to US taxpayers for all his hoaxes?

$25,678,000.

This from the party that constantly screams about the deficit and "fiscal responsibility."

The good news? Former car thief Darrell Issa has been demoted from being the powerful Chairman of the House Oversight Committee to being just another member of a much less prestigious judiciary subcommittee.

But he gets one last honor here: he's this week's Republican Jackass of the Week.

Read his complete story here.

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.

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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

Seems I can't let it go for a single week; these Jackasses start piling up.

We have 3 for you this week.

Winky blinky Johnston

First up: John Johnston, a Regressive Republican from northwest Indiana who thinks he's going to challenge Democratic State Representative Chuck Moseley.

Johnston's recent Facebook comments on poor people: "For almost three generations, people, in some cases, have been given handouts. They have been enabled so much that their paradigm in life is simply to be given the stuff of life, however meager. No one has the guts to just let them wither and die. No one who wants votes is willing to call a spade a spade."

There you have it. If the poor would just have the decency to wither and die there would be far fewer of them.

Of course, once his words hit the fan, he backtracked.

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Next up: a far rightwing racist and white supremacist who wants to be a write-in candidate for Kentucky's upcoming Senate election.

Meet Robert Ransdell, who, after this week, you'll never hear from again.

He was speaking at the University of Kentucky as one of many invited guests on Constitution Day, but his speech quickly became racist and hateful. It got so bad, he was cut off and forced to leave. And this is in Kentucky, mind you.

The U of K apologized.

Maybe if they had looked at some of his campaign signs they might have had a clue about this guy. Ya think?

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And finally, Arizona's former Regressive Republican Senator Russell Pearce, who happens to also be the Republican Party's vice chair in the state.

This one thinks that forced sterilization should be inflicted on women on welfare.

Welcome to Nazi Germany!

Here's the quote from a radio show he was on: "You put me in charge of Medicaid, and the first thing I'd do is get [female recipients] Norplant, birth control implants, or tubal ligations. Then we'll test recipients for drugs and alcohol..."

Arizona's Republican leaders went into full-scale disaster recovery mode and promptly forced him to resign as their party chairman.

I think he needs to be tested for drugs and alcohol. And let's hope he hasn't reproduced.

You can surround yourself with flags, but you're still a pig. (No disrespect meant to actual pigs.)

 As you read about these Jackasses, keep in mind that, on a daily basis, Republicans insist they are not racist and that there's no War on Women. These three geniuses are from this week alone.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Jim Fouts (R), mayor of Warren, Michigan.

This entry from Think Progress says it all:

The city of Warren, Michigan, and its Republican mayor Jim Fouts are facing a federal lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups after Fouts rejected a local man’s request to set up an atheist station in the city hall atrium, and equated the atheist cause to the Nazi party and the Ku Klux Klan.

Since 2009, Fouts has permitted “prayer stations” run by a local church group that distributes religious pamphlets, discusses religious beliefs with passersby, and prays with visitors to the city hall. When Freedom From Religion member Douglas Marshall submitted an application to city officials in April to set up a similar, yet secular, station for two days each week, it took Fouts less than two weeks to reject his proposal. When interviewed by the Associated Press, Fouts defended his decision, saying:

The city has certain values that I don’t believe are in general agreement with having an atheist station, nor in general agreement with having a Nazi station or Ku Klux Klan station. I cannot accept or will not allow a group that is disparaging of another group to have a station here.

No, we can't let that happen! The First Amendment certainly doesn't apply to Atheists, right? 

Mayor Fouts: Republican Jackass of the Week.

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Bonus Republican Jackass of the Week: Former Massachusetts Governor and Failed Presidential Candidate Willard "Mitt" Romney (R).

Just this week it's been discovered that during his campaign back in 2012, before "taking all the swing states and winning in a landslide" according to Fox Noise, Willard mistook Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile for PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill.

Yes, he really did.

Oh my. Two prominent, influential black women who he's seen on the TV machine, and he can't tell them apart.

Gwen Ifill

Donna Brazile

"Hi Gwen," he reportedly said to Donna, according to a recent NY Times article.

"Poor thing; he didn't know," stated Donna.

And in case you forgot all those other famous foot-in-mouth moments courtesy of Willard Romney, let me gleefully remind you:

• "corporations are people, my friend"
• half the country ("that 47%) who are "takers" would never vote for him anyway
• finding out he had undocumented Mexicans working on his own property and then stating, "I'm running for office for Pete's sake! I can't have illegals!"
• he has "binders full of women"
•  his five sons working on his presidential campaign were "equal to those serving in the US military"
• refusing to release his tax returns
• stashing millions in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying taxes
• he wanted Mexicans to "self deport" even though his own grandfather came from Mexico and was welcomed here

I could go on and on...

Republican Jackass of the Week

Once again, Michele Bachmann of Minnesota (R).

So after 55 attempts at repealing the President's Affordable Care Act, and his party's constant, baseless cries of "impeach him!", orange Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) is threatening to sue -- yes sue -- the President of the United States for the vague charge of "lawlessness," because he has signed executive orders when Boehner's own congress has refused to act.

First, it's a laughable stunt designed to appease the far rightwing Obama-haters. The House has no ability to sue the President over his signing of executive orders.

Second, President Obama has signed fewer executive orders than almost any other US president in 50 years!

His predecessor Dubya signed 291, and the hero of the righties, Saint Ronald Reagan, signed a whopping 381! And neither had to deal with the least productive, most obstructionist congress of all time.

Third, even a Fox Noise host can't seem to take it any more. He points out how hypocritical and futile the cry of "let's sue him" is. You've got to see him take down Crazy Eyes Bachmann.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Former Vice President and current War Criminal Dick Cheney.

The man who cannot visit a whole list of countries because he will be arrested on sight wrote an op-ed piece for the Rupert Murdock-owned Wall Street Journal, and appeared -- not on network TV but in a cheaply-made YouTube video -- wearing a cowboy costume and standing next to his daughter (not the gay one, but the one who was soundly beaten by her own party in a recent primary election in Wyoming).

He spoke in attempt to belittle President Obama and rewrite his own embarrassing legacy as the man who failed to protect the country from the worst terrorist attacks in history, and then promptly lied America into attacking and occupying a country that had nothing to do with those attacks.

He looked like a frail, angry, bitter old man, waving his fists at the clouds.

He has no power, no influence, no credibility. He apparently still has no shame, having lied us into an unnecessary, deadly, expensive war. Everything he said from the pre-war days forward, has been a purposeful lie or just plain wrong.

"They'll view us as liberators... the oil will pay for the war... it'll take weeks rather than months... Saddam no doubt has weapons of mass destruction... uranium tubes... yellowcake uranium... Saddam was behind 9/11... the insurgency is in its last throes (in 2005)... "

At this point you can't even be angry with him. You see him as a pathetic, empty shell, like a burned out building. Politicians, the American public, even far rightwingers couldn't care less about what he has to say these days. He's angry, seething, and still trying to rewrite his sad legacy.

He doesn't even scare Fox Noise into kissing his ass anymore. Can it get any worse than that?

During a live interview this week, rising Fox star Megyn Kelly did something no one had ever dared to do to Dick: make him face the facts that he was wrong about everything connected to the war. (Of course, she then let him ramble on and on, skirting the issue, and never held his feet to the fire. Remember this is Fox, after all.)

But it was a rare 30 seconds of reality on Fox:



He's become such a pathetic, irrelevant, preposterous figure, that it's almost too easy to make him the Republican Jackass of the Week.

I did say "almost."

Republican Jackass of the Week

The Brat from Virginia.

His name is David Brat, and he's the far, far, far righwing Teabagger who just stunned the political world by beating Eric Cantor in the Republican primary in that state.

This was big news, nationally, because it's extremely rare when such a powerful member of Congress gets voted out, not in the general election, but in his own party's primary election, and by such a big margin -- over 11%.

Eric Cantor, the Majority Leader, was the second most powerful Republican member of the House, right behind Speaker of the House John Boehner. In fact, he was expected to become the next Speaker, sooner or later, assuming the Republicans continue to hold the majority in the House.

But back to Mr. Brat. After his unexpected victory, he appeared on The Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd on msnbc, where he was not able to answer the most basic of questions relative to his alleged political views.

"I don't have a well-crafted response on that one," and "I didn't get enough sleep last night," and "I thought we were just going to celebrate my win today" were my favorite non-answers.

Some of my favorite comments from the Think Progress page:

"He hasn't had time to talk to the consultants so he's not sure what he believes yet."

"Wait -- he's an economics professor and he can't form a response about the minimum wage?"

"I'm totally unprepared for class today, Mr. Todd."

David Brat, who's apparently as surprised as anyone that he won the Virginia Republican Primary: our Republican Jackass of the Week.

Republican Jackass of the Week

We have several for your enjoyment today.

First up: Wolfeboro, New Hampshire police commissioner Robert Copeland.

Petulant, belligerent old brat.

You may have heard that last week this angry old racist was overheard referring to President Obama as the N-word.

His response: "I believe I did use the N-word in reference to the current occupant of the White House. For this I do not apologize. He meets and exceeds my criteria for such."

Very nice. Nothing like being caught saying one of the most vile things possible, and then digging yourself just a little bit deeper.

Copeland's boss, the police commission chairman, claimed his statement is being "blown out of proportion." And he doesn't have the power to fire Copeland.

Well, after several days, and a small handful of Regressive Republicans condemning Copeland's remarks -- including to his credit, former presidential candidate Willard "Mitt" Romney -- Copeland did resign reluctantly.

Robert Copeland: a racist old pig* and one of our Republican Jackasses of the Week.

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*No disrespect to actual pigs.

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 This one's just too easy. And she could have this honor bestowed upon her just about every week. But I couldn't resist.

You betcha!

Jackass #2: Half-term quitter Sarah Palin.

A few days ago, Simple Sarah decided to criticize the White House's, and First Lady Michelle Obama's, Twitter messages denouncing the kidnapping of several Nigerian schoolgirls. And she pretended the Twitter message was the only thing being done on the world stage to deal with this issue.

So she pounded out a message stating, "Diplomacy via Twitter is the lazy, ineffectual, naive, insulting way for America's leaders to deal with national and international issues."

So using The Twitters is the wrong way to get a message out, right?

The problem is that Simple Sarah blasted the use of social media -- wait for it -- by using her Twitter account.

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Jackass #3: Former Vice President and current War Criminal, Dick Cheney.

Here's a guy who lied us into the War in Iraq, lied about weapons of mass destruction, lied about how long the war would take, lied about how it would be paid for, instituted illegal waterboarding torture programs which broke American and international laws, and outed an undercover CIA officer during wartime -- all impeachable, criminal, treasony offenses -- yet he is still walking around on the loose. (Of course, there are many countries he cannot visit because he'll be arrested upon arrival.)

A few days ago he stated that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should be "held responsible" for the terrorist attack in Benghazi.

Just shut that creepy mouth already.

Perhaps he hasn't yet heard that after the last set of fishing expeditions looking for ways to blame the Obama Administration investigations, Mike Mullen (former Joint Chiefs Chairman), Leon Panetta (former Defense Secretary), Robert Gates (former Defense Secretary) and General Martin Dempsey (Joint Chiefs Chairman) collectively said our military was appropriately responsive and did everything possible that night.

Perhaps he forgot that it was congressional Republicans who had cut half a billion dollars in security funding to our embassies overseas.

Perhaps he forgot that Ambassador Stevens himself chose to stay at the embassy despite warnings of attacks.

And most of all, perhaps he forgot that over 50 people were killed during the 11 "Benghazis" that occurred during his own 8 years in office.

So Hillary "clearly bears the responsibility for Benghazi." Don't blame the terrorists, right Dick? Yet he and Bush were not responsible for 9/11. That, you see, must be the fault of the terrorists.

Nice going, Dick.

Can't some computer geek somewhere hack into that electronic heart of his and shut it off already? (Too harsh?)

Republican Jackass of the Week

Mary Fallin (R), Governor of Oklahoma.

Who knew this little-known far rightwinger would be so over-qualified for this honor?

This is the woman who pushed for the use of an unknown cocktail of drugs used in the horrifically botched execution in her state earlier this week.

She signed a bill banning Oklahoma cities from raising the minimum wage.

She refused to accept the federal money already on the table for Medicaid Expansion in her state.

She slashed education funding.

She ordered the withholding of same sex benefits to those serving in the Oklahoma National Guard.  Then she dropped benefits for all National Guard members' spouses to avoid serving same sex couples.

And she signed into law an extra tax for those who use solar power.

Mary Fallin, a real Republican Jackass of the Week.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Doesn't recognize the US government. Then whose flag are you hiding behind, Clem?

Yes, by now we've all heard about the crazy old coot from Nevada who is a lawbreaker (pronounced "criminal") and welfare queen who had his cows graze on publicly-owned taxpayer land for 20 years and who still refuses to pay us all for the use of our land. Not only is he a deadbeat "taker" as the righties like to call people, but he and his little posse of wingnuts in cowboy costumes actually pointed loaded weapons at US marshalls and Land Management officials.

For that he's dubbed a hero and true American according to the far right.

Now, let's imagine if a bunch of Muslims wearing turbans had crouched down and aimed rifles at officials of the government. Why, of course they'd be labeled America-hating terrorists by the Foxholes on Rupert Murdoch's channel.

And if they were young African-American men wearing do-rags who were crouched down and aiming rifles at these same government officials? What do you suppose they  would be called? Dangerous, angry black thugs, of course.

But because they're crotchety old white guys wearing cowboy hats aiming rifles at US marshalls, of course they're labeled patriots by Rupert's Foxholes.

Sean "I'm-losing-my-ass-in-the-ratings" Hannity has been this guy's biggest apologist, actually inciting  these domestic terrorists into continuing their standoff.

But now we get this tape. Watch it for 90 seconds and learn that "the Negro was better off as a slave."



Here's the deliciously ignorant quote. (And no, this is not a quote from The Onion or any news parody site. It's real.)

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

Yup. All them Negroes is abortin' their kidfolk and puttin' them young bucks in jail because they ain't never learned how to pick cotton.

I love the complaining about government subsidies from a guy whose cows have been subsidized by the government for 20 years.

But he's not racist. Here's his Facebook post:

 

How dare they take his comments "out of context" by quoting him verbatim and posting the actual uncut video?

2 Bonus Republican Jackasses of the Week

So in redder-than-red Oklahoma these days, they are so PO'ed about same sex marriage, and not being able to legally ban it, that they're considering banning all marriages in the state just so "them thar perverts" can't get married.

But that's a different story for another day.

This is about Oklahoma's State House, Senate and Governor establishing a law that now punishes residents for saving energy by using solar panels on their homes.

Yes, in Oklahoma you'd better write a nice big fat check if you're not supporting oil-powered or coal-fired electricity.

In most states, if your home actually produces more energy than you consume, you can put it back to the grid and make a few bucks. But not in Oklahoma.

Read more here.

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Hey, what's new in Georgia these days? Well, thanks to their Republican legislature and Republican governor there's a new gun law on the books.

And it's got one of those wonderfully misleading names Republicans love so much. Like the "Healthy Forest Initiative" which allowed for clearcutting.

This one's called the Safe Carry Protection Act, better known as the Guns Everywhere Law.

It allows licensed gun owners to take their loaded weapons into schools, school zones, churches, bars, nightclubs, some parts of airports and some government buildings.

Guns in schools. I can't imagine a problem. Can you?

Guns and drunks in bars. What could possibly go wrong?

Interesting that these legislators seem to think it's fine and dandy to pack heat everywhere, except you still can't bring your gun to the State Capital where they  work. No, that would be dangerous.

I guess it's the same hypocritical reason that the NRA and gun nuts want loaded guns everywhere except at gun shows.

You'd better unload that thing before walking into a gun show. Somebody could get hurt after all.

The legislatures and governors of Georgia and Oklahoma. This week's bonus Republican Jackasses of the Week.

Republican Jackass of the Week

US House member from Wisconsin, House Budget Committee Chairman, and failed vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R).

Recently, while pandering to his rightwing base, and thinking he was cleverly avoiding referring directly to African-Americans, he said this: 

"We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work."

Hmm. Exactly what "culture" of people do we find in the inner cities? And what does "not even thinking about working" mean?

His oh-so-clever statement translates to "lazy black people." He's using old racist fears and stereotypes to gather support and rile up his far rightwing base.

Hey Paul, did you think we couldn't clearly understand exactly what you were saying? If your low-information, Fox-watching, racist, Teabagger fans were able to figure it out, everybody was.

Apparently people who live in the inner cities, with substandard schools, substandard housing, a lack of jobs, lots of crime, and increased targeting by police, actually enjoy living below the poverty line. Who knew.

This often-repeated red meat, thrown to his far rightwing supporters further propagates the factually incorrect assumption that more blacks than whites are on welfare. Fact is the vast majority of welfare recipients always has been white.

But why let facts get in the way when you can push lies and racist stereotypes, rile up your base, increase fundraising, and have Fox Noise back up your bizarre position?

Paul Ryan, our Republican Jackass of the Week. Again.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Rep Darrell Issa (R) of California, also Chairman of the Oversight Committee.

This is the committee that, under his rule, does nothing but go fishing for non-existent "scandals," like the "IRS scandal," the "Fast and Furious scandal," and of course, everybody's favorite, "Benghazeeeeeeeeeee!"

Of course, not one shred of evidence of wrongdoing, coverup, or illegal activity of any kind has ever been discovered. Yet arsonist/car thief/oversight chairman Issa keeps blindly plugging away, determined to find something--anything--worthy of impeaching President Obama.

In case you don't remember, this fake IRS scandal consisted of an IRS office in Cincinnati searching the applications of rightwing Teabagger organizations, as well as Liberal organizations, that requested 501(c)4 status. What Darrell and all the Teabaggers don't understand is that the IRS had every duty to check out those groups, since getting 501(c)4 status requires an organization "to operate exclusively for the promotion of social welfare," not primarily to promote social welfare. This means they cannot be political even 1% of the time.

And, in case you don't remember, not a single rightwing organization was denied 501(c)4 status, although legally they all should have.

Wednesday, during his umpteenth hearing into the non-existent IRS scandal, he called a former IRS official before the committee once again, only to have her take the Fifth once again. So what did Issa do? Immediately he adjourned the meeting, despite the fact that Oversight Committee Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings had every right to speak for a few minutes. Cummings was attempting to speak--when Issa ordered his mic to be turned off.

This act of rudeness and inappropriate conduct is unparalleled in recent history. No pundit could remember the last time an opposing member of Congress, who had a right to speak according to House rules, was not only refused response time, but actually had his mic disconnected while speaking.

Darrell Issa is an angry, frustrated little man, who promised his rightwing backers he'd find something with which to take down the president, but who has been a miserable failure for the last four years.

And he's also the Republican Jackass of the Week.

Republican Jackass of the Week

A Wall Street Journal columnist named James Taranto.

In a recent article, this latest honoree made the jaw-dropping statement that when college sexual assaults occur, equal blame should be placed on both the perpetrator and the victim. See? The victim's just as much to blame for being raped, according to James, especially if they've both been drinking.

This feeds into the age-old mentality of claiming "she had it coming to her" based on what she wore.

So thanks to this highly enlightened genius, if you're raped, it's your fault. I guess it follows that if you're robbed it's your fault, too.

Sounds like this guy is being groomed to host a show on Fox. He already works for the Wall Street Journal, which is owned by Rupert Murdock...

Republican Jackass of the Week

"Obey!"

Time to catch up on several exceptional Republicans who have been begging for the honor.


Representative Steve Pearce (R) of New Mexico:

Little Stevie Wonderful is one of those typical Republican men who just can't stop offending women. He recently stated that "the wife's role is to voluntarily submit, just as the husband is to lovingly lead and sacrifice." Yep. In his recent book, he claims the wife's role is obedience.

Hear that, women? Submit! Shut up and do as you're told.

These old rightwing men just can't control themselves. Last year, as you recall, we learned that women can't get pregnant from "legitimate rape" because "the female body can shut the whole thing down." And we learned that when the allegedly impossible impregnation actually does occur, it's a "gift from god."


State Senator Dick Black (R) of Virginia:

YOU try searching for a picture of "Dick Black"...

Did you know that if you're married, there is no such thing as spousal rape? That's right! Just ask Dick. Husbands should be allowed to rape their wives at will, according to this typical old white Republican.

He actually argued against criminalizing spousal rape back in 2002, saying, "How on earth could you validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape when they're living together, sleeping in the same bed, she's in a nightie, and so forth...?"


Mike Huckabee (R) Former Governor of Arkansas, Failed Presidential Candidate, Teabagger Favorite, and current Fox Noise Teleprompter Reader:

Before it before he was against it.

By now you've heard his comments that amount to claiming Democrats want to provide birth control for America's women because "they cannot control their own libido or their reproductive system without the help of government," which he referred to as "Uncle Sugar."

Interesting that back in 2005, when The Huckster was governor of Arkansas, he signed a law mandating that insurance plans provide contraception coverage, including church organizations and church hospitals.

Guess what, Huckster? Women's health services are covered by insurance whether you like it or not, and that includes a wide range of services and preventive care, well beyond pregnancy control. Funny how the right wing doesn't go all apoplectic about insurance covering Viagra, though.


Representative Michael Grimm (R) of New York:

What else is there to say about a politician who threatens to kill a reporter by throwing him off a balcony -- in front of cameras?

Republican Jackass of the Week

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Did you catch his two-hour press conference yesterday? Gone was the pompous, snotty attitude and the sarcasm ("Yeah, I was in charge of the cones. I was the guy who set out the traffic cones to snarl traffic at the George Washington bridge").

This was the fourth month he had to deal with the controversy surrounding the unnecessary closure of most of the lanes of the bridge that connects New York City with Fort Lee, New Jersey, leading to gridlock in Fort Lee for four days -- inconveniencing hundreds of thousands of motorists, keeping thousands of kids from getting to school on time, and impeding life-saving emergency vehicles from reaching their destinations, with at least one death the result.

This happens to be the world's busiest bridge.

It also happens to directly affect the city of Fort Lee, in which the mayor refused to endorse Christie in his re-election bid.

Coincidence? Not after a flurry of emails were released on Wednesday.

 "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," wrote Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff to David Wildstein, Chrisie's appointee at the Port Authority.

"Got it." was the response.

Responding to the mess, Fort Lee's Mayor Sokolich sent emails to the Port Authority saying, "Help please; it's maddening."

Christie's closest aides wrote to each other: "Is it wrong that I am smiling?" followed by "I feel bad about the kids." Another aide wrote, "They are the children of the Buono voters [who couldn't get to school]." Barbara Buono was the state senator who ran against Christie in the last election.

And Wildstein, Christie's appointee at the Port Authority wrote, "It will be a tough November for that little Serbian," referring to Fort Lee Mayor Sokolich, who is actually Croatian.

Clearly, the lane closures were done on purpose. Christie originally claimed the four lanes that were merging into one toll booth were the result of a "traffic study." But the Port Authority testified there was no traffic study.

So yesterday, when New Jersey's governor walked out for his press conference, the attitude was gone and he knew he had to at least appear to be apologetic.

Now, he could have said one of two things:

(1) "I purposely demanded the closing of three lanes to retaliate against the Mayor of Fort Lee who refused to endorse my re-election, because I am a petty, spiteful, vindictive little man."

or

(2) "I didn't hear about those emails until yesterday and I had no idea whatsoever what was going on in my inner circle, with my top aides who I deal with in my office every single day."

Of course, he went with the second option, essentially admitting he is oblivious and ignorant of what decisions are made on his behalf, in his own office, with his closest staff.

Those who know Christie say he runs his office like a military camp, where practically no one even goes to the bathroom without permission. So how it could be remotely possible that he was oblivious to what his top staffers did for four days is a mystery.

This is criminal abuse of power that came right from the top. Yet Christie portrayed himself as the victim.

"I'm hurt and saddened," he said. "I have 65,000 people working for me every day. And I cannot know what each one of them is doing at every minute."

No, governor, we're not talking about just any of these 65,000 people. We're not talking about some snowplow operator in Hackensack. We're talking about 3 or 4 of your closest aides that you see every day in your office.

The bottom line is this: whether New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spitefully closed most lanes of the George Washington bridge for retribution, or whether he is so oblivious he has no idea what his top aides are doing right under his nose, he is not fit for the job.

And this guy thinks he's presidential material.  Give me a break.

Chris Christie, our Republican Jackass of the Week.