Category Archives: GOP Cluelessness

April 25, 2013 · 6:47 PM

Mother Jones: Frank Luntz Calls Right-Wing Talk Radio ‘Problematic’ For GOP

I would agree that right-wing talk radio is an Achilles heel for the GOP but they have bigger problems than that.  

They have an immigration problem, a gun problem, a people of color problem and a “stupid party” problem.  Not to mention their anti-abortion legislation problems.  Also the fact that the Tea Party won’t allow the GOP any amount of compromise not only stifles our government, it stifles the party as well.

Yep, what the GOP has…is a bad image problem.

TPM Livewire

GOP strategist Frank Luntz went off the record before a group of college Republicans earlier this month at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss the negative impact he believes right-walk talk radio has had on the GOP, Mother Jones reported Thursday.

“And they get great ratings, and they drive the message, and it’s really problematic,” Luntz said of right-wing talk-radio programs, according to a recording of the event. Luntz added that talk radio has been especially damaging to Sen. Marco Rubio’s immigration reform efforts.

“He’s getting destroyed,” Luntz said, “by Mark Levin, by Rush Limbaugh, and a few others. He’s trying to find a legitimate, long-term effective solution to immigration that isn’t the traditional Republican approach, and talk radio is killing him. That’s what’s causing this thing underneath. And too many politicians in Washington are playing coy.”

According to Mother Jones’ piece, written by David Corn, Luntz asked the audience to allow him to speak off the record, prompting one college newspaper reporter to switch off his device. But another student, Aakash Abbi, captured the sound bite on his iPhone.

Corn has built a reputation reporting on surreptitious recordings, starting with Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” comments and continuing with a secretly recorded Mitch McConnell campaign strategy meeting.

Listen to the audio and read Corn’s full piece here.

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April 13, 2013 · 9:14 AM

GOP Congressman’s Bumper Sticker: ‘If Babies Had Guns, They Wouldn’t Be Aborted’

Disturbing tweet of the day…

Where is the logic in the above tweet. All I see is more hysterical, irrational and frankly, dumb rhetoric from an ill-informed GOP politician.

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December 11, 2012 · 1:15 AM

Poll Truthers Now In Charge Of Figuring Out What Went Wrong For Republicans

Good luck with that, GOP…

BuzzFeed Politics

According to a report in Politico the RNC has launched an official review committee to figure out what went wrong and what worked in 2012. But during the election, two of its members — former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer and Republican committeeman Henry Barbour — pushed the narrative that the polls were skewed, and Mitt Romney would ultimately prevail.

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November 13, 2012 · 1:51 PM

Jindal: End ‘dumbed-down conservatism’

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks at a Republican Party of Arkansas fund raising dinner in Hot Springs, Ark., Friday, July 27, 2012. | AP Photo

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83743.html#ixzz2C86bzb3H

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Monday called on Republicans to “stop being the stupid party” and make a concerted effort to reach a broader swath of voters with an inclusive economic message that pre-empts efforts to caricature the GOP as the party of the rich.

In his first interview since his party’s electoral thumping last week, Jindal urged Republicans to both reject anti-intellectualism and embrace a populist-tinged reform approach that he said would mitigate what exit polls show was one of President Barack Obama’s most effective lines of attack against Mitt Romney.

“We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything,” Jindal told POLITICO in a 45-minute telephone interview. “We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys.”

He was just as blunt on how the GOP should speak to voters, criticizing his party for offending and speaking down to much of the electorate.

“It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments — enough of that,” Jindal said. “It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.”

Continue reading here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83743.html#ixzz2C86bzb3H

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June 29, 2012 · 12:15 PM

Supreme Court Ruling and the Right-Wing Freak-Out Begins

John Roberts : http://mariopiperni.com/

As usual, the Mario Piperni website never fails its readers…

Mario Piperni

What happened? I leave for a couple of days and come back to find that all hell has broken loose. My favorite website, the Daily Mauler Caller had this headline to greet me:

Congratulations, Americans: The government owns your bodies

Wow. Being forced to give up ownership of one’s body to a tyrannical government is serious stuff. Hoping to find better news at my second favorite website, I moved on to World Nut Net Daily. Not good. Right below this headline,

Muslim mob stones Christians – in U.S.!

I was shocked and dismayed to find this headline:

Ruling awakens ‘revolutionary fervor’

The World Nut Net Daily is a serious source for honest and balanced news, so when they talk of “revolutionary fervor’, watch out. Any website that gives Chuck Norris and Jerome Corsi space to blog their demented trash, err, enlightened views, knows what they’re talking about. Yes, sir, a revolution is on the way.

Twitter didn’t make me feel any better.

The end of America. Scary. And to let you know how serious he is, Shapiro states that he’s not exaggerating. Very cool of him.

Sigh. Checked in with my favorite right-wing talk radio guy, Limbaugh. I was hoping he could put a positive spin on it all. Nope.

Obamacare is nothing more than the largest tax increase in the history of the world…as of today, the American government can and will seize your private property if you don’t purchase and/or sell what’s been ordered. It’s really breathtaking, what happened today. And it is breathtaking to watch ignoramuses who don’t really understand what happened celebrate it. We have been betrayed and deceived by Congress. We have been betrayed and deceived by the Supreme Court.

There you go. Right-wing response to the Supreme Court ruling in a nutshell: betrayal, revolution and the end of America.

Poor babies. Well at least some of the brighter wingnuts now know what they’re going to do.

And they call them idiots. I wonder why that would be?

UPDATE:

My, my, they’ve really gone off the deep end. Here’s a comment from a Washington Times piece about Republican governors planning on ignoring the Supreme Court ruling on the ACA. The comment is typical of the madness that has overtaken the right beyond what we’ve witnessed over the last 4 years.

All three Branches of the Federal government are now operating outside their Constitutionally enumerated powers.  Therefor, by the Founding Fathers own concerns, the Federal government is null-and-void.  The individual States are now in charge of our government.

Each State should enact Marshal law, withholding all Federal withholding taxes from transfer to Washington!

Marshall law…now there’s a wonderful ideal. These sad fools really don’t know any better. They’re spouting the same crap they hear on Fox and other conservative media. In my more compassionate moments, I almost feel sorry for them.

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March 15, 2012 · 12:50 PM

PA GOP Governor Defends Ultrasounds Bill: Tells Concerned Women ‘You Just Have To Close Your Eyes’

 

I’m speechless…

Think Progress

More than 10 state legislatures are considering or have passed bills forcing women to receive an ultrasound before having an abortion. And Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering one of the most far-reaching ultrasound bills in the nation.

Gov. Tom Corbett (R) reaffirmed this week that he supports the anti-abortion measure so long as it’s not obtrusive because women could simply close their eyes during the procedure:

QUESTION: Making them watch…does that go too far in your mind?

CORBETT: I’m not making anybody watch, OK. Because you just have to close your eyes. As long as it’s on the exterior and not the interior.

Watch his answer:

Critics say Corbett’s comments show he doesn’t understand how the bill would even work. While the Pennsylvania legislation has been amended to remove references to invasive transvaginal ultrasounds, the language suggests a transvaginal ultrasound could still be required if the embryo is too small. Patrick Murphy, a Democrat running for attorney general, called for Corbett to apologize for his statement. “It’s unthinkable that he would so casually dismiss this by advising women to just close their eyes,” Murphy said.

The state House canceled a vote on the bill this week because medical associations have voiced concerns about the measure. And 48 percent of Pennsylvania voters oppose the ultrasound bill, with 42 percent supporting the measure, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. And 64 percent of voters oppose requiring transvaginal ultrasounds.

Meanwhile, Corbett’s approval rating among Pennsylvanians is dropping.

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February 20, 2012 · 10:39 AM

Republicans: “Dumb But Not Stupid”

I beg to differ Senator McCain, Republicans are dumb and stupid!

Mario Piperni

In the face of Republicans reluctantly ending their opposition and allowing the payroll tax cuts measure to pass through Congress, Senator John McCain described his political party in this way:

“We’re dumb, but we’re not stupid. We did not want to repeat the debacle of last December. It’s not that complicated.”

While there’s not much difference in parsing dumb and stupid (they pretty much have the same meaning), I think most of us can agree on what it is McCain was admitting. Basically, he’s saying that Republicans never do anything because it’s the right thing to do. Never. It’s always about politics for them.

Did anyone believe for a second that Republicans backed down from their obstructionist ways this one time because they honestly cared about the tens of millions of middle class workers who would benefit from a two percentage point increase in their paychecks? Or because they care a damn about the millions of jobless who will see their benefits extended in a time of economic crisis? I hope not for you would have to either be a complete moron or a blind partisan fool to believe that Republicans are anything other than self-serving, heartless bastards who finally understood that opposing a tax cut at this time was detrimental to their chances of winning in November.

Essentially, if an individual is not part of the one percent of society who fill their election coffers, Republicans don’t care much for them or about them. While trying to steal their vote in any way they can, the vast majority of Americans are little more than political pawns in the eyes of the modern GOP. Pawns who for whatever reason cannot see the manner in which they are being manipulated in the worst of ways. Republican policy which favors health insurers’ profits over the millions who cannot afford any health insurance. Policy which favors big oil’s record profits over the safeguarding of the environment and a fragile warming planet. And policy which favors the taking down of a president over the basic needs and welfare of Americans.

The Republican party is dumb but not stupid? Yeah, most rational thinking people get it.

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February 7, 2012 · 4:53 AM

Pete Hoekstra Ad Draws More Criticism, Called ‘Really, Really Dumb’

Most of the cable news channels have been talking about this video today.

At “best” it’s xenophobic and at worst it’s a racist piece of trash and I wonder why the actress decided to do the ad since Asians are the brunt of the cruel joke here…

The Huffington Post

Criticism of a Senate campaign ad featuring a young Asian woman talking in broken English about China taking away American jobs grew Monday as some warned it could revive discrimination against Asian-Americans.

Michigan has seen its share of Asia bashing, especially in the 1980s, when images of sledgehammers smashing imported cars were common. Chinese-American Vincent Chin died after being beaten to death in 1982 by two unemployed autoworkers angry about competition from Japan.

Republican Senate hopeful Pete Hoekstra began taking heat after his ad targeting Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow ran statewide Sunday before the Super Bowl.

“Mr. Hoekstra may believe that his ad is just a way to express his political goals. But it does so in a manner that points the finger at Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders for our nation’s problems,” said Thomas Costello, president and CEO of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, a 70-year-old civil rights organization in Detroit. “All of us need to be vigilant in the words we use and images we portray to avoid giving tacit permission for racist behavior.”

The ad was created by media strategist Fred Davis of California-based Strategic Perception Inc., known for both Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s successful “one tough nerd” ads and for the 2010 “demon sheep” web ad attacking Tom Campbell in California’s Republican Senate primary.

Hoekstra told reporters Monday that his ad’s “insensitive” only to the spending philosophy of Stabenow and Democratic President Barack Obama.

Continue reading here…

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January 28, 2012 · 4:28 PM

Indiana Welfare Drug Testing Bill Withdrawn After Amended To Include Testing Lawmakers

Rep. Jud McMillin, R-Brookville, speaks on a motion to fine absent Democrats at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012.

I couldn’t agree more that lawmakers across the country who want to issue drug testing on welfare recipients should be tested as well.  Having said that, I find it hilarious how quickly the Republican member of the Indiana General Assembly withdrew his bill when a Democrat amended the bill so that the legislators would be included in the testing…

The Huffington Post

A Republican member of the Indiana General Assembly withdrew his bill to create a pilot program for drug testing welfare applicants Friday after one of his Democratic colleagues amended the measure to require drug testing for lawmakers.

“There was an amendment offered today that required drug testing for legislators as well and it passed, which led me to have to then withdraw the bill,” said Rep. Jud McMillin (R-Brookville), sponsor of the original welfare drug testing bill .

The Supreme Court ruled drug testing for political candidates unconstitutional in 1997, striking down a Georgia law . McMillin said he withdrew his bill so he could reintroduce it on Monday with a lawmaker drug testing provision that would pass constitutional muster.

“I’ve only withdrawn it temporarily,” he told HuffPost, stressing he carefully crafted his original bill so that it could survive a legal challenge. Last year a federal judge, citing the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable search and seizure, struck down a Florida law that required blanket drug testing of everyone who applied for welfare.

McMillin’s bill would overcome constitutional problems, he said, by setting up a tiered screening scheme in which people can opt-out of random testing. Those who decline random tests would only be screened if they arouse “reasonable suspicion,” either by their demeanor, by being convicted of a crime, or by missing appointments required by the welfare office.

In the past year Republican lawmakers have pursued welfare drug testing in more than 30 states and in Congress, and some bills have even targeted people who claim unemployment insurance and food stamps, despite scanty evidence the poor and jobless are disproportionately on drugs. Democrats in several states have countered with bills to require drug testing elected officials . Indiana state Rep. Ryan Dvorak (D-South Bend) introduced just such an amendment on Friday.

“After it passed, Rep. McMillin got pretty upset and pulled his bill,” Dvorak said. “If anything, I think it points out some of the hypocrisy. … If we’re going to impose standards on drug testing, then it should apply to everybody who receives government money.”

Continued here…

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January 4, 2012 · 5:31 PM

GOP Leader Cantor Refuses To Admit Reagan Raised Taxes

This is typical of right wingers…facts get in the way of their agenda…

See the full clip and the full interview here:
http://ywtv.tv/2012/01/03/eric-cantors-slimy-60-minutes-interview/

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