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

By now we've all heard the horrific remarks from one of the cast members of a show I've never seen and never will, Duck Dynasty. But he's not the Jackass of the Week.

Yes, in an interview with GQ Magazine, he made some ridiculously racist and homophobic comments. Something about comparing homosexuality to bestiality, and claiming that black people "were pretty happy" and had it pretty good in this country before Civil Rights legislation.

I guess he hadn't heard about segregation, laws prohibiting interracial marriage, separate water fountains, bathrooms, etc; not being allowed to vote, not being served in restaurants, the four schoolgirls who were killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama; the "Little Rock Nine" who were blocked from entering an Arkansas high school; the "Bloody Sunday March" in Selma, Alabama; Emmett Till, the kid who was lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman, the shooting death of Medgar Evers (the American WWII veteran turned civil rights activist) killed on his own front porch, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat, the civil rights demonstrations and race riots where countless people were killed or arrested, etc.

But it was all good in the Duck Dynasty Guy's cloistered little world.

No, he's not the Jackass of the Week. What would you expect from him? He's an old, grizzled, uneducated, ignorant, bigoted swamp rat. Not that I'm defending him; I'm just saying you wouldn't expect any kind enlightened thought to come spewing from this racist yokel.

The Jackasses of the Week are the blustery rightwing defenders of this sad little person. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and even Alaska's half-term quitter crawled out to defend him, claiming his First Amendment rights were infringed.

Nonsense.

If you work for A&E or any company, and you say such embarrassingly bigoted things as this guy did, the company has every right to fire or suspend you. A&E is a business and doesn't want its image damaged. (Really? Can you damage their brand any worse than putting Duck Dynasty on the air in the first place? Remember when A&E stood for "Arts and Entertainment"? Wow! Things have changed over there! But I digress...)

What Rush, Sean and The Quitter don't understand is that the First Amendment only applies to the government infringing on your speech. And since no government entity has done that, there's no First Amendment violation. It's as simple as that.

Teabaggers Exploit Veterans

This week, the Million Vet March at the WWII Memorial in Washington DC was crashed and hijacked by racist Teabaggers. Original organizers simply wanted to make the point that war memorials and parks should be allowed to stay open during the shutdown.

As you know, the fringe Teabagger Republicans in the House have been planning on shutting down the US government for months; they have stated so and have been admittedly giddy since it began two weeks ago.

The government shutdown stops vital services for veterans, the elderly, and America's poor, but also furloughs workers who keep tourist attractions and parks open. This makes for a perfect, if not ironic, backdrop for Teabaggers to make a scene.

So the very people responsible for shutting down the government, including the war memorials, were the ones stomping around screaming about them being closed. And then they complained about using vets as pawns, while using them as pawns.

And the usual racist, Obama-hating rhetoric was spewed. We heard about "being Kenyan," "bowing down to Allah," and demands that the President "come out with his hands up." In addition, several Teabaggers/racists waved confederate flags outside the White House. This, you may recall, was the banner under which the slave-owning White Supremacists fought for the right to keep slaves. This is what was waved outside the home of America's first black president.

But they insist they're not racist. See?

Remind your Fox-watching, Teabagging relatives of this little incident the next time they pretend the Teabaggers are not, in reality, 21st Century Klansmen.

And of course, you can't have a racist, blame-Obama-for-the-problem-we-ourselves-created photo op without Canada's Ted Cruz, and America's Favorite Quitter -- the Half-Term Governor of Alaska, Failed Vice Presidential Candidate and Failed Reality Show Host -- running in front of cameras, now can you? That's right: The lovely Sarah Palin flew in from wherever Fox has been hiding her for the last six months to bash Obama.

You betcha.

From Addicting Info and Think Progress:

The trite hypocrisy and shear evil of the actions of the GOP’s Tea Party faction is more dangerous than many believe. It will incite violence. This weekend it wrapped itself in the military veil. The world saw Sarah Palin and the GOP exploiting military veterans. They did so as they attempted to project blame for the shutdown on President Obama.

Suffice it to say Americans are not buying it. Americans love their veterans and understand that a shutdown hurts them both economically and emotionally. Exploiting military veterans will backfire as others take notice and it brings more scrutiny. 

Apparently, the original organizers of the veterans’ march are displeased with the Tea Party’s co-opting of their protest. On the Million Vet March homepage, the organizers suggest a local organizer invited Tea Party and birther groups against the wishes of the veterans:

The political agenda put forth by a local organizer in Washington DC was not in alignment with our message. We feel disheartened that some would seek to hijack the narrative for political gain. The core principle is about all Americans honoring Veterans in a peaceful and apolitical manner.

MSNBC's Martin Bashir saw right through the charade.

Martin Bashir: We bring you an act of such brazen dishonesty and speciousness that it's hard to know where to begin.

Sarah Palin at Rally: Our vets have proven that they have not been timid. So we will not be timid in calling out any who world use our military, our vets as pawns in a political game.

Martin Bashir: Now, for most people, travelling three thousand five hundred miles from Alaska to the nation’s capital in order to grandstand at the Second World War Memorial, that your own political party has caused to close, would seem like a political game. … Keep in mind that it is the Republican Party that continues to shutdown the government, thereby curtailing veterans’ benefits. And it is the Republican Party whose sequester cuts have hammered the military. … The singular proof, that Sunday’s rally was solely about using the military as pawns in a political game.

Larry Klayman at Rally: We are now ruled quote unquote by a president who bows down to Allah. … and to demand that this president leave town, to get out, to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come out with his hands up.

Martin Bashir: This is the political game Mrs. Palin and her allies have been playing even before this president was inaugurated. For them this is what the shutdown is really about.

 A closed park is inconvenient. It however is not the most severe pain being felt by veterans at this time. If Palin and the GOP were not simply exploiting military veterans, they would know that.

This government shutdown is affecting the well-being of veteran families and ordinary families. This shutdown has affected the payments of death benefits to the families of veterans. This shutdown is affecting the backlog of veterans’ disability claims. In effect, Tea Party Right Wing Republicans applied a significant amount of pain to veterans and their families in order to satisfy an irrational hate of President Obama. That is the height of exploiting military veterans.

"Why Can't He Hold His Own Umbrella?"

You have to hand it to Sarah Palin.

Now one of the most irrelevant people in the world -- but she still knows how to grab a little attention now and then.

And this was so funny and ridiculous, I couldn't pass it up.

This failed mayor, failed half-term governor of one of the smallest states, failed vice presidential candidate, failed reality TV show host, and failed political pundit who was fired from Fox of all places, recently whined, in the form of a Tweet (since that's her only platform these days), "Most Americans hold their own umbrellas."

This relates to the following picture, where the President was recently speaking in the rain.

Why, this is an outrage, right Sarah? Who does this Kenyan, Socialist, Marxist, Muslim-without-a-birth-certificate think he is, right?


Of course, no Republican president would ever allow a member of the military to hold an umbrella.

Well, at least Sarah would never do that, right?
















Actually, many Democratic leaders have indeed held their own umbrellas.

But this is what happened when Dubya tried it...