Tales from the States as they try to outdo one another toward retrogression.
The hell they’re not racist. Also: Not homophobic, not ethnophobic, and not patriarchal. Or something. Because wow, those assertions that they aren’t racist, bigoted, and xenophobic don’t really ring true with the rest of the stuff they blabber about.
Nullification fever strikes South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A politician told a crowd of several hundred people at South Carolina’s Statehouse that they didn’t have to accept overreaching laws from an out-of-control federal government — arguing the Constitution says so.
“My objective over the next four years, every day I walk into that Senate chamber, is to find another way I can thwart federal encroachment,” the politician thundered to the cheers of the crowd.
It wasn’t John C. Calhoun calling for South Carolina to stop collecting federal tariffs in the 1830s. It was state Sen. Tom Davis earlier this month, supporting a bill that would declare the new health care law supported by President Barack Obama illegal in the state. The bill, the subject of a “Nullify Obamacare” rally on the opening day for the Legislature, said anyone trying to enforce it would be guilty of a felony.
As an aside, some people there are obviously nullifying the English language.
In an exit befitting his outspoken, controversial two years in Congress, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) said that he only lost his re-election because his opponent cheated.
West lost narrowly to Democratic up-and-comer Patrick Murphy last month, but refused to concede for weeks, demanding a recount of ballots in St. Lucie County. Only after a re-tabulation slightly increased Murphy’s lead did West finally accept defeat just before Thanksgiving.
Appearing on Mark Levin’s radio show last Thursday, West accused Murphy of only winning by breaking the rules. “I’m not going away just because of a congressional race where he seems to have to cheat to beat me,” said West. He did not specify precisely how Murphy supposedly cheated.
LEVIN: You are a national treasure. You are way too important to have something like this to happen and off you go. That can’t happen. So I’m really curious to know. Do you have further public service in mind, potentially?
WEST: The most important thing everyone has to understand is my voice is not going to be lost. We’ve gotten a lot of opportunities, a lot of offers, and we’re going to make sure we continue to have that platform. […] I’m a warrior and I’m a statesman and I’m a servant of this republic.I’m not going away just because of a congressional race where he seems to have to cheat to beat me.
LEVIN: He sure as hell did. It’s disgusting.
WAAAAAAAAAAAH! WAH WAH WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
This is a PSA.
Joe Walsh Lagging Behind Tammy Duckworth: Poll
Freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) is nine points behind Democratic opponent Tammy Duckworth, according to a poll released Thursday by the anti-Tea Party super PAC CREDO.
The poll of 500 voters in Illinois’ 8th District found that 50 percent…
I hope this lasts until November. Joe Walsh is easily one of the worst people in Congress.
Not much of a comparison to me.
A leading veterans group has denounced Rep. Joe Walsh’s (R-IL) attack on his opponent’s military service, firsthighlighted by ThinkProgress this morning, and called on the Illinois Republican to resign.
At a town hall on Sunday, Walsh blasted his Democratic opponent, Tammy Duckworth, for having the temerity to note that she’s spent two decades serving in the military. Walsh dismissed Duckworth, an Iraq War vet who lost both her legs in an RPG attack, as not a “true hero.”
Vote Vets, a non-partisan PAC that supports veterans issues, condemned Walsh’s comments in an exclusive statement to ThinkProgress. The veterans group wrote that “Telling a veteran to shut up on the 4th of July is beyond the pale.” They called on Walsh to “step aside and and stop embarrassing his district and America.”
A Republican New Hampshire state legislator told a county convention Monday evening that kindergarten leads to higher crime rates.
Rep. Bob Kingsbury (R-Laconia) told the Belknap County Convention that research he’s been conducting for the last 16 years has led him to believe that kindergarten programs leads to higher crime rates, theLaconia Daily Sun reported. Kingsbury, one of the more conservative legislators in the Tea Party-controlled House, said that his analysis was of local crime rates in communities that offered kindergarten versus those that do not offer the educational program.
“We’re taking children away from their mothers too soon,” Kingsbury said, who also linked higher crime to the lack of boxing classes in high schools
Kingsbury’s comments came during a discussion over whether or not to build a new county jail and why inmate populations continue to rise. He said he shared his research with other legislators when he tried to fight mandatory kindergarten in the state.
Kingsbury, 86, has a history of supporting ideas that differ from his fellow legislators. In January, he partnered with two allies of birther queen Orly Taitz to push a bill partially ending the direct election of U.S. senators. Kingsbury said that he believed that all U.S. Senate candidates should first be picked by the state legislature and then put up for popular vote.
Both Democrats in the race, Maggie Hassan and Jackie Cilley, have called on Lamontagne to address the comments while condemning Kingsbury. Hassan called Kingsbury’s comparison “quite frankly ridiculous” in a statement and suggested that Lamontagne will try to roll back kindergarten requirements as governor.
Cilley went on Twitter to express her support for Kindergarten. “Just to be clear, I absolutely support kindergarten, and do not believe it increases crime,” Cilley said in a tweet.
ooooooooooooo …. K
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
Susan Clark of Santa Monica, Calif., who opposes health care reform, stands on Wednesday with a red hand painted over her mouth to represent what she said is socialism. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
View snapshots from outside the Supreme Court during the health care law arguments.
susan clark, you look very stupid.
I see absolutely no difference.
+1 to California.
