As his Twitter bio tells us, Steven Kush (@snkush) is “Executive Director Republican Party of Bernalillo County, Albuquerque, NM.” He has 53 followers. To put that into perspective, I have about 28,000 and I’m not executive director of anything.
Per HuffPo, he posted the above tweet Tuesday night after that 19-year-old “Working America chick” testified in favor of raising the minimum wage before the county commission. Working America is a labor movement advocacy group.
Kush thought that line was so clever, he made sure to post it on Facebook and Twitter! He also referred to Democrats as “the gestapo” in another tweet.
Pat Davis, executive director of ProgressNow New Mexico, a progressive advocacy organization, picks right up on that Republican makeover thing:
“If the Republican Party wants to know why they have such a hard time connecting with young women, they should start by examining the very public way their leaders feel about young working women.”
See the comment by Bob Cornelius in the Facebook screen grab? He was apologizing for this:
Bob Cornelius, the county Republican party’s former executive director, replied to Kush’s “nice boots” remark Tuesday by insinuating that Evans is a prostitute. “Maybe she uses those shoes to walk Central,” he wrote under Kush’s post, referring to a street that is notorious for prostitution. “Even in this economy she can exchange bumper cables for boots.”
Republican War on Women? Nahhh.
They might want to take an anti-bullying course, while they’re at it.
You know how Republicans love to tout the U.S. Constitution? Oh, I’m sorry, I meant to write, you know how Republicans love to tout certain parts of the U.S. Constitution when it suits them. My bad.
One of those parts that they wave around a lot is the First Amendment (and of course, the Second Amendment, but right now, let’s concentrate on the First). “Freedom of speech!” they tweet me if I dare to use the Twitter “block” option, not realizing that the Constitution refers to government infringement, not my personal blocking rights. Same goes for Comments here at TPC. But I digress…
Many in the GOP seem to ignore basic concepts like, oh I dunno, separation of church and state. Wiki reminds us:
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”, thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.[15]
Kansas governor Sam Brownback must have let that slip his mind. Or didn’t care. Or something. Think Progress is reporting on how he signed one of the most restrictive anti-abortion, pro-personhood, pro-forced birth laws ever, even requiring doctors to lie to their patients about the disputed theory that abortions lead to cancer.
And then he added his own special LookaMeI’mAChristian touch:
Before Brownback signed HB 2253 into law at a ceremony at the statehouse on Friday, an AP photo reveals that he made a few additions of his own in his notes on the bill. He typed out some phrases — “building a culture of life,” and “all human life is sacred” — that he ended up using in his speech to abortion opponents before approving the legislation, and he also scribbled “JESUS + Mary” at the top of the paper.
Guess what, Governor Sam? Your religion is not necessarily anyone else’s religion. Your Jesus/Mary embellishment is completely inappropriate and should never have been scrawled on a government document. And Jesus and Mary have nothing to do with legislating, let alone a law that eliminates legal reproductive rights of women.
Religious beliefs should not be a foundation for U.S. law. Feel free to practice any faith you choose, but don’t force it unto others. To quote Barry Lynn, ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, a lawyer, and Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State:
This struggle is really nothing more than an attempt by somereligious groups to use the power of the government to impose their dogma about reproduction, sexuality and the beginnings of life.
Invoking those names, or any religious references, are irrelevant and, hey guess what, there are actual living, breathing Christians who are pro-choice:
People of faith support women’s access to contraception, and most religious groups don’t want to overturnRoe v. Wade. In fact, over 75 percent of white Protestants — along with 65 percent of black Protestants and 63 percent of white Catholics — support women’s constitutional right to legal abortion services.
Don’t read this right before bedtime, you might get nightmares. It’s densely printed conservative flatulence, a putrid stream of unhinged rambling lunacy in an April newsletter message from the Benton County (a very, very red county in northwest Arkansas) Republican Party, complete with misspellings.
It blasts Republican legislators who voted for a “private option” health care plan. I broke the tiny-typefaced paragraph up, because it was so packed with words that it was difficult to read:
Part of me feels that this betrayal deserves a quick implementation of my 2nd amendment rights to remove a threat domestic. [...]
I don’t feel the same way about the Democrats as bullet backstops as I do about the Republicans who joined them. [...]
So what do we do? While I believe that we as a party are done in Arkansas after this, if there is ANY hope of our survival, it is going to take not being forgiving. Not only for past actions, but to show those who will come in the future that the cost of failure to do the thing they were elected to do will be significant.
We need to be making a point of this failure from this moment on. We need to make a public statement from our groups that we no longer support those who turned on us, that we will NOT be working to their re-election, that we will be actively seeking replacements, and perhaps even working towards recall.
We as the Party have to stand up and say ‘no more – you were given a job, you campaigned on the promise to do this job, you had the ability to do this job, you had the votes each time to do this job, and yet for no legitimate reason you betrayed the trust put in you by the electorate and you are now completely and permanently politically finished.’
We need to let those who will come in the future to represent us that we are serious. The 2nd amendment means nothing unless those in power believe you would have no problem simply walking up and shooting them if they got too far out of line and stopped responding as representatives. It seems that we are unable to muster that belief in any of our representatives on a state or federal level, but we have to have something, something costly, something that they will fear that we will use if they step out of line. If we can’t shoot them, we have to at least be firm in our threat to take immediate action against them politically, socially, and civically [sic] if they screw up on something this big. Personally, I think a gun is quicker and more merciful, but hey, we can’t.
But we have to do something, we have to gain control of our representatives, if we don’t then what the hell are we doing as a party except having fundraiser dinners and meetings just to raise more money for future meetings and fundraisers, and giving money to empower and elect those who would betray us without having the control to keep them in line once we do?
There is more endless, teensy wordiness at the link.
Per TalkBusiness, several Republican lawmakers who voted for the private option called the remarks “shocking” and “scary.” They have a real flair for stating the obvious. The TB site also posted this update:
The Benton County Republican Committee issued a statement through their chairman Tim Summers.
“The letter was not approved and Mr. Nogy had no authority to submit it through the newsletter. As a committee, we respect the right of our legislators to vote based on their knowledge and feedback from the voters they represent. We will discuss this issue further with our executive committee.”
So the letter was submitted wrongly, but the violent message was not an issue? Given the recent Newtown slaughter and so many other massacres, you’d think that there might be a little self-censorship, a modicum of sensitivity and thoughtfulness before inciting, or even suggesting, more violence, but no.
Fantasizing about shooting lawmakers as a solution if things don’t go their way, how patriotic and rational of them.
Second Amendment remedies come first, respect for life comes second. Nothing hypocritical about that.
Today’s guest post by the one, the only, Will Durst:
YELLOW BELLIED COWARDS
And now for a few choice words about the recent Senate vote which scuttled universal background checks on gun purchases. And the first three of those words are… Yellow- Bellied Cowards. Here’s a couple more. Gutless Craven Chicken- Hearted Invertebrates. Dastardly Lily- Livered Spineless Jellyfish with the moral compunction of inbred Piranhas crowded into a too- small tank filled with liquid meth.
That giant arrogant pimp known as the NRA should be laughing hysterically after its lackeys trashed the ephemeral spirit of compromise that had settled over Washington like a soft dawn mist. 90% of Republicans voted against an issue 90% of the American people support. A bipartisan bill that was so watered down, it was translucent. Leaked moisture all through the Senate chamber to a depth of a half- inch. Would have easily supported 2 schools of guppies.
The Senators that deigned to speak before scurrying down their greasy little wormholes to bunk in the nether regions of hell, whined that pro-gun forces punish politicians for votes, while pro gun-control forces don’t. Nobody mentioned the right thing to do or keeping automatic weapons out of the hands of felons or making the country or our schools safer. You know, their job.
The NRA, itself worried about being primaried from the right by other gun associations, encouraged its well-compensated hookers to compete among themselves to see who could lie most outrageously. Numerous Senators claimed the bill would lead to a national gun registry even though the very bill they spoke of included provisions to specifically prohibit such a thing. Perhaps it needs to be spelled out in simpler language like: “Gun Registry- Bad. Not Good. No-Go. Not Going to Happen.”
Besides, exactly what is wrong with a national gun registry? You have to register a car. Most cities mandate bicycles be licensed. You need a card to take a book out of a library for crum’s sakes. Proving that some people are much more comfortable with guns than they are books. Which is part of the problem.
In what was surely meant as an inside joke, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn complained the bill would raise taxes. Why stop there? And child pornographers will camp in your back yard practicing Shariah law with uncircumcised goats riddled with Chinese bird flu.
This time the NRA may have overreached. Perpetrated an outrage too far. A revulsion too great. Could very well have created its own Frankenstein monster. 90% is a big figure. You’d think even the most casual of voters might tend to remember when someone turns their back on the country, jumps up and down on a litter of new born puppies then parties. And it would only take a committed few to throw their allegiance to candidates who pledge loyalty to the nation rather than a lobby that focuses on weapons of mass destruction.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal wasn’t kidding. The GOP’s path is clear. It is doomed to be the rich, white guy, anti-science, pro-gun, stupid Party. Destined to slowly strangle on its own gurgling incoherencies until it is no longer comprehensible or relevant. Couldn’t happen soon enough to a nicer bunch of rich white guys. And their grinning gun-toting treacherous minions.
5 time Emmy- nominee Will Durst performs his new one- man show “BoomerAging: From LSD to OMG” every Tuesday at the Marsh, San Francisco. Go to themarsh.org or willdurst.com for more info.
She’s not the only one. You will be, too, once you read this, via Media Matters:
In an NRO post, Kevin D. Williamson attacked Giffords [...]
“While Ms. Giffords certainly has my sympathy for the violence she suffered, it should be noted that being shot in the head by a lunatic does not give one any special grace to pronounce upon public-policy questions, nor does it give one moral license to call people “cowards” for holding public-policy views at variance with one’s own. Her childish display in the New York Times is an embarrassment.”
These senators made their decision based on political fear and on cold calculations about the money of special interests like the National Rifle Association…
Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious…
[T]hey looked over their shoulder at the powerful, shadowy gun lobby — and brought shame on themselves and our government itself by choosing to do nothing… [T]rust me, I know how politicians talk when they want to distract you — but their decision was based on a misplaced sense of self-interest.
Performance artist Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) doesn’t think we need gun safety legislation because we should all be as armed and dangerous as terrorists while “sitting in our homes” as law enforcement professionals do their job… professionally. And lawfully.
Hey Louie, what if someone with an assault weapon, who is not trained the way the pros are, who is on edge and filled with fear, sprays someone with bullets who is not a terrorist? What if a terrorist shoots the person sitting in their chair first and then takes (and uses) their weapon? What if police officers and government agencies instruct civilians (as they did in this case) to “not act on their own“?
What hit me this morning when I heard the residents there around Boston and in the area where they thought someone might be were ordered to stay in their homes, businesses were ordered closed, public transportation was ordered closed. Let me ask you, if you’re sitting in your home and you know there are only two possibilities for people coming to your door, one is law enforcement and the other is somebody who has already killed Americans and continues to do so, how many rounds do you want to be limited to in your magazine as you sit in your chair and wait?
The Blaze:
That’s a brilliant question.
What a brilliant comeback from The Blaze to such brilliance coming from brilliant Gomer Gohmert, demonstrating how two brilliant analysts engaging in brilliant conversation can come to such brilliant conclusions.
…Gohmert claimed that the Boston tragedy should give pause to immigration reform advocates who seek to reform the system, an argument that several Republican leaders are now advancing.
There’s that Republican rebranding effort again, striving for outreach, remaking their small-minded image, and falling flat on their hypocritical faces in the process.
The Boston police department is an outstanding police department, the FBI, homeland security, ATF, they're all working on this, the president is leading it, No, this is not a time for Democrat or Republican politics. I think the president is putting in place, putting in motion the counter-terrorism and anti-terrorism units we have in our country that have been developed over the last 11 1/2 years and they're going to do an outstanding job. I have no doubt of that whatsoever.
1. "Democrat" is not an adjective. "Democratic" is.
2. If the Boston Police Department did such a great job, then why does the GOP want to keep cutting budgets that would provide for more "outstanding police departments"?Oh, that's right. They're "union thugs." And King is a hypocrite.
3. ATF? ATF? They're "working on this"? Anyone seen the director?
4. Wait. Did he actually admit that President Obama *gasp!* leads?
Lt. Col Barry Wingard is the lawyer for Gitmo detainee Fayiz Al-Kandari. For their ongoing story + related topics, please click on the link below: Kuwaiti Citizen Detained at Guantanamo since 2002
You can read the complete story here or on Wikipedia.
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See the comment by Bob Cornelius in the Facebook screen grab? He was apologizing for this:
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