Friday Reads
Posted: August 12, 2011 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, morning reads | Tags: batshit crazy Republicans, Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum 18 Comments
Good Morning!
Well, in honor of the debauchery at Ames last night, I thought we could cover some more interesting Republican political assertions. Here’s a few odious metaphors. This first one comes from the ever insane Rick Santorum who says marriage is like water, not beer. Remember, this is the same guy that tried to explain the difference between paper towels and napkins just a few days ago.
Rick Santorum turned more than a few eye brows on Monday when he explained his opposition to same-sex marriage by holding up a napkin and observing that it was not a paper towel. On Friday, during a meeting with the Des Moines Register, Santorum relied on a similar metaphor to prove why society can’t “redefine” marriage: water is not beer. “It’s like saying this glass of water is a glass of beer. Well, you can call it a glass of beer, but it’s not a glass of beer. It’s a glass of water. And water is what water is. Marriage is what marriage is,” he said.
Frankly, I agree with Woody Allen who said that marriage is the death of hope. Just so you don’t think Santorum is the only Republican with incredibly bad metaphors try this one by Allen West on for size.
Comparing homosexuality to a preference in ice cream flavors, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) defended his previous assertion that sexuality is a behavior in an interview with Florida’s Sun-Sentinel yesterday. Watch it here.
WEST: You cannot compare me and my race to a behaviour. Sexuality is a behaviour. And so yeah, I said, I cannot change my color. People can change their sexual behavior. And I’ve seen people do that. You know, I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, so I’ve seen a very different perspective on human behaviours. So that’s where I’m coming from with that…
Q: Do you think gay people should change their behavior?
WEST: I like chocolate chip ice cream, and I will continue to like chocolate chip ice cream. So there’s no worry about me changing to vanilla. I like to, you know, ride my motorcycle. What do you want me to do? You want me to change my behavior and ride a scooter? I’
Oy. Santorum repeated more lies and insane metaphors during the Ames debate.
He continued to press anti-gay views, saying that calling same-sex marriage a marriage would be like calling a cup of tea a basketball.
He repeatedly quoted a study that families do better in heterosexual marriages. Though that study actually uses the phrase “nuclear” family, which can include same-sex couples.
Okay, so let’s continue with more batshit crazy and Michelle Bachmann who made a 2002 video warning Minnesotans that Minnesota’s educational standards would lead to a holocaust literally.
Before Bachmann served in the Minnesota state Senate, led the tea party caucus in the House of Representatives, or ran for president, she worked as an education activist with a conservative group called the Maple River Education Coalition (MREC). Together with Chapman, Bachmann criss-crossed Minnesota, speaking to church groups and warning them about the dire consequences of state and federal education reform.
In the middle of all of this, Bachmann and Chapman made a movie.
Guinea Pig Kids II is not, as its name might suggest, a B-list horror film. The impetus for the film was the Profile of Learning, a set of state curriculum standards adopted by Republican Gov. Arne Carlson’s administration in 1998. To Bachmann and Chapman, the standards were nefarious and part of a a far-reaching globalist plot.
As Bachmann and Chapman explained, a little-known federal program called Goals 2000, initiated under the Clinton administration but consistent with a similar plan supported by President George H.W. Bush, was paving the way for a national curriculum. The new curriculum, the two speakers maintained, moved the state away from established truths like the supposedly Christian founding documents, and replaced them with secular documents, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that allowed the state to craft its own set of values. Guinea Pig Kids was designed to explain “Minnesota’s new centrally-planned education, workforce & economic system and how citizens are trying to reverse it.” Over the course of the film’s two hours, Bachmann and Chapman did just that.
You can watch the insanity at the MoJo link.
So, you know the Tea Party types are all about ‘personal responsibility’ right? Check this out : “Tea Party Rep: Bank Should Have Known I Wouldn’t Be Able To Repay $2.2 Million Loan”. Yeah, it’s the poor people that are sucking the system dry, right?
Tea Party aligned Georgia Rep. Tom Graves (R), who castigates Washington for fiscal irresponsibility, reached an out of court settlement Wednesday after he was sued for defaulting on a $2.2 million loan — which his attorney argued is the bank’s fault for lending him the money in the first place.
Graves and his business partner Chip Rogers — who is the state Senate’s Republican majority leader — took out a $2.2 million loan from the Bartow County Bank in 2007 to buy and renovate a local motel. The project soon went belly-up.
The bank, which has since failed and had its assets taken over, sued Graves and Rogers for defaulting. The two Republicans then countersued, “accusing [the bank] of improperly declaring the loan in default after reneging on a promise to refinance it at more favorable terms,” according to Jeremy Redmon and Aaron Gould Sheinin of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution .
In June, Simon Bloom, the attorney for Graves and Rogers, argued in a court filing that the default was the bank’s fault because it lent the pair the money knowing full well they couldn’t pay. Bloom cited a deposition in which bank officials saw Graves and Rogers’ financial records, and then had them sign personal guarantees so they’d “‘have some skin in the game’ presumably meaning a sense of personal obligation for the debts … even though they clearly could not fulfill the obligation.” Graves and Rogers said they were unaware of that particular filing.
Robert Riech explains “Why the President Doesn’t present a bold plan to Create Jobs and Jumpstart the Economy”.
Which gets me to the President. Even though the President’s two former top economic advisors (Larry Summers and Christy Roemer) have called for a major fiscal boost to the economy, the President has remained mum. Why?
I’m told White House political operatives are against a bold jobs plan. They believe the only jobs plan that could get through Congress would be so watered down as to have almost no impact by Election Day. They also worry the public wouldn’t understand how more government spending in the near term can be consistent with long-term deficit reduction. And they fear Republicans would use any such initiative to further bash Obama as a big spender.
So rather than fight for a bold jobs plan, the White House has apparently decided it’s politically wiser to continue fighting about the deficit. The idea is to keep the public focused on the deficit drama – to convince them their current economic woes have something to do with it, decry Washington’s paralysis over fixing it, and then claim victory over whatever outcome emerges from the process recently negotiated to fix it. They hope all this will distract the public’s attention from the President’s failure to do anything about continuing high unemployment and economic anemia.
I’m not distracted yet, are you?
So, what’s on you reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
NW Luna
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Dak, thanks for highlighting one of Georgia’s elected Tea Party hypocrite. Seems to me that all Georgia citizens who defaulted on “stated income” loans because they could not afford them should get some sort of break from the banks. I mean if your elected official gets a pass, the people should too? I am so sick of these double standards, and if I wasn’t so tired this morning, I am sure I could go on a huge rant about these hypocritical basturds.
Some people just want to hate others — and if it were left up to them — well we’d have a repeat of witch trials. Crazy religiosity is a mental illness — and the quotes you’ve posted are from people who are flat out crazy.
That West guy is a maroon fer shure – chocolate chip ice cream??? So he can’t change what he likes, but gays can?
It’s so counterintuitive to think other people can easily change their sexuality – there is no way I could change mine. So how could they?
His point seems to be that he can change having black skin, so it’s reasonable to argue that people shouldn’t discriminate against black people. But he claim that being gay is like a choice of ice cream flavors. In fact, both characteristics are most likely genetic. A person can change his or her sexual idenity as easily having curly hair or being tall or short.
Honestly, it doesn’t even matter whether homosexuality is set at birth by genetics OR whether it is actually a lifestyle choice. It is perfectly fine and natural. It is just people being who they are. Which scenario would actually be worse? What would people like Santorum and Bachmann and West do if it turned out that homosexuality was indeed genetic? I don’t think it would be very good for homosexual people. They’d probably test for in in utero and abort whenever possible. Can you think of the horrible treatments kids would have to endure at the hands of these types? Nothing but hatred from this crowd and nothing would change no matter how someone becomes gay.
Of course. These people are insane.
Nice post! Thanks!
The idea is to keep the public focused on the deficit drama – to convince them their current economic woes have something to do with it,…
We see this across the board in the media , retail just about everywherein the corporate world…instead of giving us what we have clearly stated we want, they spend all their time and energy telling us what they want to give us…and then they are shocked when their efforts have no effect whatsoever on what we want….we don’t even hear thier punky message…beyond realizing they are NOT listening to us either. Our wants are based on realities and thier message is merely spin….I’m betting on reality to out last the spin
That level of callousness – making jobs all about his campaign strategy – is just staggering. Nevermind people are actually suffering
Obama and everyone associated with him and his horrible policies must be banned from participating in government or public discourse forever.
Well, I guess I can’t blame them. Either do the right thing by the people of our country and work to fix the economy or just do nothing and let the people of this country flounder and let our social problems continue to compound. Really, it is a no-brainer since there is nothing to be gained from it politically speaking. Goodness gracious, where the heck do these immoral asshats come from?
Create jobs, create jobs, create jobs and then go out and tell the people HOW you are creating jobs. I guess they don’t understand that the vast majority of American’s don’t give a crap about the deficit. They care about jobs. And the people who do “care” about the deficit and the debt don’t seem to give a rats behind when a Republican is in office. Obama, these folks are NEVER going to vote for you. You just might be the most politically inept man ever to be in office. In any case, right up there with Carter.
Believe it or not, many pundits are pointing to how well Michele Bachmann did last night!
Unbelievable. What does “doing well” actually translate to in their world? That not once during her appearance did she stop the show and ask to speak to god for assurance?
This woman stands firmly with having resisted raising the debt ceiling which would have been a sheer disaster yet they congratulate her for staying on message.
Again, judging from the mental midgets that populated that stage I ask is this the best we can do as a nation? Mitt Romney as front runner? Really?
All pledging to never raise taxes just to appease Grover Norquist has got to stand as an all time low. Bowing to the likes of that a’hole shows just how idiotic this bunch is.
I really think Bachmann is going to get the nomination. Either that or it will be Perry/Bachmann. Romney will never get it.
Perhaps they had such low expectations for her that by comparison she did well –
One question that needed to be posed to this group was this:
Your congressional leadership has made it their chief call to action to act as one voice in opposing any legislation proposed by this administration by being the “Party of No” since 2009. Much of the gridlock coming out of DC can be chiefly placed at the feed of those members who agreed to go along with this concept regardless of the effect it has had on the American people.
As contenders for this office, are you still convinced that what has happened as a result of that intransient position can all be blamed on Barack Obama?
Yet no one asked that question. The GOP is as much at fault as the current administration by way of vote blocking, filibustering, and just plain obstinancy in the face of the problems set before them.
Both sides are as guiilty of the current atmosphere that infects us as a nation yet to hear these idiots express themselves one would think that they were blameless.
I think you’re absolutely right, Pat. I’ve heard this obstructionism referred to as: the quiet filibuster. The end result is that the minority can effectively shut down any and all legislation moving through Congress. And that’s exactly what the Republicans have done. Because their major goal is to have Obama fail.
On the other hand, Obama is too concerned about himself, his reelection and his image to take to the bully pulpit, speak directly to the American public or even lend his shoulder to legislation. He’d have to own a position then and care actually about the country’s welfare over his own. For their part, the Republicans seem perfectly willing to let the American worker and unemployed swing in the wind, have homes foreclosed on, while propping up their money men–oh, excuse me, the ‘job creators.’ Inside the DC bubble, these people feel no pain or anguish.
You cannot make this crap up. Rome burns and they all fiddle.
Ah, another hypocrite politician gets caught for something.
Anti-Gay Marriage State Rep. Accused Of Offering Young Male Money ‘For A Really Good Time’ | TPMMuckraker
I am tired of reading about these kinds of escapades. I think the biggest obstacle for gay people gaining full equality are self hating gay people out there promoting hatred towards their own kind. It is completely insane.
This issue is about the only one that separates the GOP from the Left: you never hear a Dem make homosexuality a part of their platform while wrapping themselves in the “Jesus flag”.
Dems have their own image problems but you seldom if ever hear a Dem running around trying to compare his/her religious bona fides as a badge of honor. And seldom still do you see or hear a female Dem involved in this hypocrisy.
These people are genuine hypocrites when it comes to sexual orientation. It’s a “don’t do as I do, do as I say” lament that gets them every time.