The breathtaking stupidity of #BernieOrBust

I love Bernie Sanders. Through three decades of political junkiedom, he is my favorite public official other than former Minnesota senator Paul Wellstone. Few politicians exhibit the authenticity and empathy that oozes out of Bernie’s every pore. No elected official speaks as passionately about the economic struggles of everyday Americans and the corrosive impact of corporate money on our ailing democracy. Bernie has my vote in the Democratic primary and I will enthusiastically volunteer for him if he becomes the Democratic candidate this fall.

Yet I find the #BernieOrBust crusade to be one of the most breathtakingly stupid political movements ever conceived.

Though many BernieOrBusters are not old enough to realize it, we have been here before. During the 2000 presidential race, Ralph Nader and his most ardent supporters repeatedly claimed that Al Gore and George W. Bush were so similar that it wouldn't make much of a difference who won. This assertion was accompanied by talking points that reduced an election with enormous human stakes down to bumper sticker slogans which were childlike in their simplicity. Gore and Bush were "two heads of the same beast" or "Tweedledee and Tweedledum." Rather than vote for "the lesser of two evils," Naderistas counselled that one should "vote your hopes, not your fears," though there was never a remote chance that Nader would become president and the fears of a Bush Administration were more than justified.

Based on Bush's record as governor of Texas, astute observers knew that the Nader talking points were nonsense and that a Bush presidency would be a nightmare for progressive

values. They were also acutely aware, through the application of basic math, that Nader's candidacy could siphon enough votes from Al Gore to put George W. Bush in office, which is exactly what happened thanks to Nader's vote totals in Florida and New Hampshire.

The results? The appointment of ultra-right officials who were determined to undermine their agencies' historic missions. A systematic reversal of liberal-learning Clinton-Gore policies. The worst environmental record in ages. Clinton's hard-earned surplus pissed away

on tax cuts for the rich that increased inequality and failed to grow the economy. The erosion of the wall between church and state. A slew of right-wing judges who genuflected before the corporate interests that Nader routinely flogged during his presidential run. The abandonment of international treaties, a unilateral invasion based on lies, and alienation from the international community. And staggering incompetence, from the lack of action taken before 9/11 (despite numerous warnings of potential attacks) to the failure to adequately plan for the occupation of Iraq to the gutting and privatization of FEMA, which failed New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, to Bush's failure to pre-empt the economic crash of September, 2008 despite clear warnings in 2007 that the housing bubble could burst. By any objective measure, Bush's presidency was a colossal disaster not only for America but for the progressive movement Nader claimed to champion.

Anyone who lives in a contested state who refuses to vote for Hillary Clinton in November of 2016 threatens to make the same stupid and reckless mistake that Nader's Florida supporters made in 2000.

No, Hillary hasn't won the Democratic nomination yet, and she was heavily favored in 2008 too, but the Bernie Sanders of 2016 is not the Barack Obama of 2008. His quest to become the Democratic standard bearer is a long shot, whether you look at polls, endorsements, betting markets, or the prognostications of data god Nate Silver, who gives Bernie a 5-10% chance of winning.

To justify not voting for the likely Democratic candidate this fall, BernieOrBusters peddle the notion that there is a major policy chasm between Bernie and Hillary, that Hillary is essentially "Republican light," but it just isn't so. During their time in the Senate, Hillary and Bernie voted together 93% of the time; far from being "Republican light," Hillary was the 11th most liberal senator, placing her to the left of 75-80% of the Democratic caucus and all of the Republicans. Over the past several months Clinton has released a long list of progressive proposals that offer a stark contrast to her Republican rivals, including policies dealing with the reform of Wall Street and drug laws, childcare, assistance to caregivers for the elderly and disabled, voting rights, prescription drug imports from Canada, LGBT rights, universal Pre-K and college debt, progressive taxation, autism, drug and alcohol addiction, Alzheimer's disease, gun control, and healthcare for veterans. 

Hillary would also appoint radically different judges to the Supreme Court than any of the GOP candidates, which is an especially crucial issue now that four SCOTUS justices are 80 and older, including cancer survivor Ruth Ginsburg. Among many other toxic decisions, the current 5-4 Republican majority has given us Citizens United, unraveled the Voting Rights Act, kept millions of poor Americans from receiving healthcare coverage, and now threatens to deliver a death blow to unions. If the replacement for any of the four liberal judges is chosen by a Republican president, expect more of the same and worse, including the end of Roe v. Wade and a return to the glory days of back alley abortions.    

In addition, while a Republican administration would do everything in its power to dismantle the progress of the last seven years, President Clinton would protect and expand upon the Affordable Care Act and the rest of the Obama legacy.  

For these reasons, and many, many others—including Clinton's unique qualifications for the office due to her intelligence, work ethic, experience, and public policy knowledge—Bernie recently said that she "will be an infinitely better candidate and president on her worst day than the Republican candidate on his best day." Swing state lefties who plan to stay home this November if Bernie doesn't win the primary, or waste their vote on a write-in candidate, need to remember that social progress is made by coalitions, not noble gestures.

More political writing by Dan Benbow: 

178 reasons Hillary Clinton is infinitely better than Donald Trump (even on her worst day)

Ten reasons Barack Obama is clearly the best president in my lifetime 

                          Justice Delayed: "Kill the Messenger" vindicates Gary Webb

                                              21st Century Republicans, Part IV

                                "Inequality for All" and the Elephant in the Room

                                     Memorial Day in the United States of Amnesia

                                              Romney-Ryan's Road to Perdition

          The Master of Low Expectations: 666 Reasons Sentient Citizens Are Still Celebrating                                                         the Long Overdue Departure of George W. Bush

Colin Kaepernick is right

21st Century Republicans, Part IV

"Even as science, technology, and the human race evolve, vocal sectors of the GOP remain stuck in reverse—and proud of it. To capture this bizarre phenomena in real time, I am christening a semi-regular new series—'21st Century Republicans'—where I will share surreal GOP episodes of bigotry, misogyny, or hostility to science and reason."

-21st Century Republicans, the mission statement





Since Part III of "21st Century Republicans" came out three weeks ago, the crazy has continued apace. While the civilized world embraces the strides made by our gay, lesbian, and transgender brothers and sisters these past few momentous years, GOP reactionaries (including Governor Rick Perry, pictured above) maintain an unhealthy fixation on the things other people do with their genitals.

"Franklin Graham Is The Latest American Social Conservative To Praise Putin" [for signing anti-gay legislation] 

"Susanne Atanus, Who Blames Gay Rights For Tornadoes, Wins GOP Nomination For Congress"

"Pat Robertson: Jesus more likely to stone gays to death than bake them a wedding cake"

"Oregon GOP candidate for governor: Same-sex marriage is 'a sin, just the same as murder'"

"NC GOP candidate tells 6th grader: Gay marriage is like 'man marrying a dog'"

"Watch: 'Obama May Well Be A Homosexual' Says GOP Candidate For Governor"

"Eric Metaxas Points To Gay-Inclusive Churches As Proof America Is Turning Into Nazi Germany"

"Gordon Klingenschmitt Poised To Clinch GOP Nomination In Colorado Race"
"As ColoradoPols.com reports, Williams also has a long history of making extremist statements and promoting discrimination.
"Klingenschmitt has made anti-LGBT activism the cornerstone of his political life. Here are just a few of his shocking statements..."
"South Dakota GOP lawmaker: KKK business owners deserve right to ban blacks and gays"

While South Dakota's Phil Jensen openly advocated for legalizing discrimination, Republican State Senator Dale Schultz attacked Wisconsin Republicans for discriminating against minorities on the sly:

"Wisconsin Republican Legislator Tears Into His Own Party For Voter Suppression"

"As his own party pushed through the Wisconsin Senate the latest in a series of measures to make it harder to vote in the state, Sen. Dale Schultz (R) blasted the efforts as 'trying to suppress the vote' last week."

"....It’s just, I think, sad when a political party — my political party — has so lost faith in its ideas that it’s pouring all of its energy into election mechanics...it ought to be abundantly clear to everybody in this state that there is no massive voter fraud. The only thing that we do have in this state is we have long lines of people who want to vote. And it seems to me that we should be doing everything we can to make it easier, to help these people get their votes counted. And that we should be pitching as political parties our ideas for improving things in the future, rather than mucking around in the mechanics and making it more confrontational at the voting sites and trying to suppress the vote."

While Dale Schultz was being a responsible legislator, his Republican colleague Scott Fitzgerald was engaged in crass cronyism: 

"Wisc. lawmaker blocks cancer treatment bill after insurance lobbyist brother opposes it"

"In a Sunday editorial, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted that the connection between Fitzgerald and his brother’s insurance lobbying 'looks suspicious and smacks of special interest politics.'

"'This is a matter of fairness for people facing grave illness,' the editorial added. 'Whatever his motivations, Fitzgerald is singlehandedly blocking a bill that most of his colleagues support and that could help people — probably some of his own constituents. He should allow the bill to come to the floor.'"

Idaho Republicans endangered air and water quality in a fit of ideological pique:

"Idaho House Committee Passes Bill To Get Rid Of All EPA Regulations"

Despite rhetorical efforts from Republican GOP puppetmasters to pretend otherwise, the GOP's hostility to women continued to leak out. 

"[Republican Senator Mitch] McConnell fundraiser: Wives owe their husbands sex even if they're not in the mood"

"'Dirty Old Man' Judge Wants To Tell Women Lawyers What To Wear"

"A [Republican] male federal judge in Nebraska is getting attention for writing a blog post Tuesday about 'how young women lawyers dress.'

"'I have three rules that young women lawyers should follow when considering how to dress for court,' U.S. District Court Richard Kopf wrote on his personal blog. '1. You can’t win. Men are both pigs and prudes. Get over it. 2. It is not about you. That goes double when you are appearing in front of a jury. 3. Think about the female law clerks. If they are likely to label you, like Jane Curtin, an ignorant slut behind your back, tone it down.'"

"Pat Robertson Says Woman’s Atheism Caused by Rape or Demonic Possession"

"Lamar Alexander Wants To Know What Equal Pay Bill Does For Men"

"Female GOP Senate Candidate Said Women Want Job Flexibility More Than Equal Pay"

"A 2010 video of Michigan's likely Republican Senate candidate surfaced on Equal Pay Day on Tuesday. The video shows Land, then Michigan's secretary of state, telling an audience that women aren’t actually interested in fighting for equal pay."

"....'Well, we all like to be paid more and that's great, but the reality is that women have a different lifestyle,' Land said at the 2010 Senior Women's Club event. 'They have kids. They have to take them to get dentist appointments, doctors appointments, all those kinds of things. And they're more interested in flexibility in a job than pay.'"

"Adviser to Texas GOP’s Greg Abbott: No 'evidence' that women are 'significant thinkers'"

To be continued.  

p.s. email GOP episodes of bigotry, misogyny, or hostility to science and reason to benbowdan@gmail.com 

***

Other political writing by Dan Benbow:

The 21st Century Republican series

"Reasonable Doubt: 50 questions for lone gunman theorists"

"Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Road to the Mountaintop"

"Basking in the Afterglow: Scenes from the 2012 Campaign"

"Romney-Ryan's Road to Perdition"

"The Affordable Care Act, demystified"

"The Master of Low Expectations: 666 Reasons Sentient Citizens are Still Celebrating the Long Overdue Departure of George W. Bush"

"Off the Books: The Outsourcing of American Foreign Policy, Part I -- A Roll of the Dice" features an interview with powerhouse historian Peter Dale Scott, in reference to his book "The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America"

"Off the Books: The Outsourcing of American Foreign Policy, Part II -- Operation Blowback"

21st Century Republicans, Part III

"Even as science, technology, and the human race evolve, vocal sectors of the Republican
Party remain stuck in reverse—and proud of it. To capture this bizarre phenomena in real

time, I am christening a semi-regular new series—'21st Century Republicans'—where I will share surreal GOP episodes of bigotry, misogyny, or hostility to science and reason."

-21st Century Republicans, Part I

Part III of 21st Century Republicans wrote itself. It seems that long overdue social change and a mild-mannered black president continue to drive Republican reactionaries to fits of rage. Here is last week's sample of hate and bile from the GOP, the gift that keeps on giving.

Ann Coulter At CPAC: Democrats Want Immigration Reform for "Warm Bodies, More Votes"

Ann Coulter likens U.S. demographic shift to ‘being raped,’ blames Democrats

"...arch conservative pundit Ann Coulter likened the shift in U.S. demographics to 'being raped' as a room full of attendees of the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference guffawed and applauded."

FRC Hot Mic: Boykin Jokes about Jews, Says Obama Supports Al Qaeda, Sends Them Subliminal Messages

"The Family Research Council’s executive vice president, Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (retired), was caught on a 'hot mic' following a panel yesterday at the National Security Action Summit, which was held just down the street from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Boykin could be heard, in an awkward attempt at humor, telling a reporter from Israel that 'Jews are the problem' and the 'cause of all the problems in the world.' Boykin told another reporter that President Obama identifies with and supports Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood and uses subliminal messages to express this support."

GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal: Racism Wouldn’t Exist If Minorities Would Just Act Like White People (VIDEO)

Michele Bachmann: U.S. not ready for female president

Pat Robertson: Demons get ‘permission’ to wreck your car from X-rated movies

Arkansas Judge Mike Maggio Outed for Racist, Sexist, Homophobic Posts

Phyllis Schlafly: 'Girl' Marines Make US Look Weak

"Phyllis Schlafly has latched onto the news from December that the Marine Corps is delaying its toughened pull-up requirement for women, part of the preparation for allowing women to serve in combat roles.

"The delay does not mean that the Marines have lowered the strength standard for people going into combat, but don’t tell that to Schlafly. In her radio commentary on Friday, the Eagle Forum founder declared that 'women in combat are a danger to themselves and also to the rest of the unit' because 'lowering our strength standards sends a message to the world that our military is not as strong as it used to be, and that it’s more important to appease the feminists than to ensure the strength of our forces.'”

Fox Contributor Angela McGlowan Tries To Link Missing Malaysian Airliner To Obama Foreign Policy

Austin Ruse Says Left-Wing University Professors 'Should All Be Taken Out And Shot'

"While filling in today for American Family Radio host Sandy Rios, Austin Ruse commented on the media frenzy surrounding a Duke University freshman who announced that she is a porn actress.

"Ruse, who leads the ultraconservative Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-Fam), promptly blamed the college’s women’s studies department and said that 'the hard left, human-hating people that run modern universities' should 'all be taken out and shot.'"

WATCH: Front-Runner in GOP Senate Primary Says Planned Parenthood Wants to Kill Newborns

"According to North Carolina GOP Senate candidate Greg Brannon, Planned Parenthood has a secret plan to legalize the killing of newborn babies as old as three months. Brannon, a Rand Paul-backed obstetrician who is a front-runner for the GOP nomination, made the allegations at a November fundraiser for Hand of Hope, a chain of crisis pregnancy centers he operates in North Carolina."

Barber & Staver: 'President Obama Clearly Hates Christianity' 

"As Brian reported last week, Mat Staver is very upset that Rajiv Shah, a Hindu USAID official, was allowed to deliver the keynote address at the National Prayer Breakfast last month, saying it was proof of Obama's 'insensitivity to Christianity.'

"On today's 'Faith and Freedom' radio program, Staver and co-host Matt Barber continued to complain about it, with Barber asserting that the National Prayer Breakfast organizers never should have agreed to allow an 'anti-Christian speaker' to speak at the event even if it meant that Obama would not attend because, by refusing to attend, it would demonstrate to everyone that 'President Obama clearly hates Christianity' and reveal that he 'does not respect religious freedom.'"

Pat Robertson: God shut off D.C. power as a ‘fun’ way to punish Dems for climate lies

"Television preacher Pat Robertson on Thursday explained that God had caused a brief power outage in Washington, D.C. to mock Senate Democrats who held a late-night discussion about climate change.

"The office of the Architect of the Capitol said on Wednesday that high winds had caused a power surge that temporarily shutdown the building’s exterior lights.

"Robertson opened his 700 Club show the next morning by connecting the power outage to the Democrat’s Monday all-night Senate session that brought attention to climate change."

New Hampshire GOP Lawmaker Refuses To Apologize For 'Battered Women' Comment

Michigan ‘rape insurance’ law goes into effect

"Michigan residents who buy health coverage in the private marketplace after Thursday will not have access to abortion coverage, even if a pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

"On that day, a new state law goes into effect that prohibits insurance companies from covering abortion services unless customers purchase separate add-ons – called riders – to their insurance plans ahead of time.

"No insurance companies will be offering those riders to new customers in the private marketplace after Thursday, according to the state’s Department of Insurance and Financial Services."

"....As Rachel [Maddow] explained on last night’s show:

“'Your insurance cannot even cover you getting an abortion if you got pregnant because you were raped. That’s why the law’s opponents are calling it the "rape insurance" bill. No one plans on having an unplanned pregnancy, but if you want to make sure your abortion is covered in case you get raped, you now have to buy special standalone coverage for that in Michigan – if you can find it.

“'If you have been getting your health insurance through your job, maybe there’s a possibility that your insurance company might start offering that coverage so you can plan ahead for an abortion and pay extra now. But if you’ve been buying health insurance on your own, maybe you got new individual coverage as part of Obamacare, then no insurance company will sell you this new special coverage. None. Not one company.'

“'They’re not offering specific abortion coverage to individuals at any price. So Michigan law now says that buying separate abortion insurance is the only way you can have your abortion covered by insurance if you need one. But also that coverage is not available for purchase in the state.'”

GOP Presidential Hopeful Mike Huckabee Says Abortion Will Lead to Euthanizing Old Folks

Fischer: Feminists Have A 'Fundamental Level Of Insecurity' About Their Own Femininity 

"It is no surprise that Bryan Fischer is not much of a fan of the 'Ban Bossy' campaign, saying on his radio broadcast today that the problem with feminists is that they want to be like men because they are insecure about their own femininity and therefore refuse to acquiesce to the role prescribed for them by God in the Bible.

"Feminists, Fischer said, have 'some kind of fundamental level of insecurity about their own nature, about their femininity, some kind of insecurity about being a woman.'

"'We don't need women trying to be like men,'" he added. 'We need more women whose ambition in life is to be a woman.'"

Michele Bachmann Claims Gay People Have 'Bullied The American People'

Bryan Fischer: Gay Rights Will Doom America

"Christian conservative Bryan Fischer on Thursday declared that the world will plunge 'into a moral abyss of darkness' if gay rights prevail in America.

...“'America's future is going to be determined by one thing and one thing only. And that is whether the forces of light or darkness will prevail in the battle over special rights based on sexually deviant behavior.'

“'Every advance of the homosexual agenda comes at the expense of religious liberty.'

"Fischer said that Americans want to believe that 'sodomy and liberty” can coexist 'but it is impossible,' because 'everywhere that Big Gay gains ground, Christ is forced into retreat.'

“'If the forces of sexual deviancy prevail, I submit that every part of our culture will be corrupted,' Fischer warned. 'It will be contaminated beyond repair and America, instead of leading the world, will plunge the world into a moral abyss of darkness and depravity.'”

And yet:

Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia top list of gay-porn watching states

"A new study, of sorts, by PornHub shows that the southern US states watch the most gay porn of any region of the country.

"The research also finds that Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia are the top gay-porn watchers of all 50 states."

To be continued.  

p.s. feel free to email GOP episodes of bigotry, misogyny, or hostility to science and reason to benbowdan@gmail.com 

***

Other political writing by Dan Benbow:

"Reasonable Doubt: 50 questions for lone gunman theorists"

"Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Road to the Mountaintop"

"Basking in the Afterglow: Scenes from the 2012 Campaign"

"Romney-Ryan's Road to Perdition"

"The Affordable Care Act, demystified"

"The Master of Low Expectations: 666 Reasons Sentient Citizens are Still Celebrating the Long Overdue Departure of George W. Bush"

"Off the Books: The Outsourcing of American Foreign Policy, Part I -- A Roll of the Dice" features an interview with powerhouse historian Peter Dale Scott, in reference to his book "The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America"

"Off the Books: The Outsourcing of American Foreign Policy, Part II -- Operation Blowback"

21st Century Republicans, Part II

Last week I began a new series which explores the phenomenon of 21st Century Republicans

Mississippi Tea Party head Janis Lane
wonders why women are allowed to vote

whose belief systems are stuck in a pre-modern America where men call the shots, women and people of color are treated as second-class citizens, gays and lesbians are expected to stay deep in the closet, and science and reason are considered suspect.

The frequency of these installments is determined by the level of crazy in the GOP universe, and lately, the GOP has delivered. As you read these headlines, ask yourself, "Is this party fit to govern in the 21st Century?"

"North Carolina Congressional Freshman Declares Barack Obama Terrorist Enemy Number One"   

"North Carolina Congressman Robert Pittenger has sent out a fundraising letter warning that the POTUS is actually an enemy of the United States of America:

'You see, I am already on the front lines, taking seriously my oath of office: to defend the U.S. Constitution — and you and your fellow Americans — against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And for that I am being attacked from all sides, including from my fellow Republicans. My friend, make no mistake, Barack Obama is Enemy Number One!'"

"Oklahoma House Passes 'Merry Christmas Bill' Authorizing Religious Symbols, Greetings In Schools"

"Although no Oklahoma teacher has ever filed a complaint at the state level, the

legislation’s advocates argue that HB 2317 -- modeled after Texas’ 2013 Merry Christmas law -- will shield Oklahoma schools from lawsuits against religious displays.

"'There is a war on Christians and Christmas, and anyone who would deny that is not paying close enough attention,' [Republican representative Bobby] Cleveland said in a December 2013 press release. 'This bill will create a layer of protection for our public school teachers and staff to freely discuss and celebrate Christmas without worrying about offending someone.'"

"Meet A Woman Who Thinks Should Women Be Able To Vote? This Tea Party Woman Says No, Women Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Vote"

"Mississippi Tea Party leader Janis Lane thinks the women’s vote is bad for the country. And yes, Janis Lane is a woman herself, who benefits from the women’s vote. After being asked whether she thought there were too many male politicians deciding women’s issues back in 2012, she said:

"'I’m really going to set you back here. Probably the biggest turn we ever made was when the women got the right to vote. Our country might have been better off if it was still just men voting. There is nothing worse than a bunch of mean, hateful women. They are diabolical in how than can skewer a person. I do not see that in men. The whole time I worked, I’d much rather have a male boss than a female boss. Double-minded, you never can trust them.'"

"Anti-gay Christian lawyer found guilty of 8 counts of producing kiddie porn"

"Georgia Republican stands up for sex offenders’ access to schools and playgrounds"

"Scott Walker Documents Reveal Aide Forwarded SIX-PAGE Racist E-Mail" 

"Revealed e-mail records show that then-chief- of staff [Thomas] Nardelli forwarded a disgustingly racist e-mail to his deputy Kelly Rindfleisch and other unknown recipients, as Buzzfeed first reported. The e-mail focused on a 'nightmare' in which the protagonist wakes up as everything right-wingers hate:  a 'black, one-armed, drug-addicted, Jewish homosexual on  [sic] pacemaker who is HIV positive, bald, orphaned, unemployed, lives in a slum,' and 'has a Mexican boyfriend.'"

"GOP lawmaker: Being Gay is ‘self-professed behavior’ which can’t be ‘independently verified'"

"Michele Bachmann: American Jewish Community 'Sold Out Israel'"

"Arizona Advances Bill For Surprise Inspections Of Abortion Clinics"

"Conservative writer upset '12 Years A Slave' doesn’t show happy slaves"

"State Senator: Sex Is 'Recreation' And Birth Control Is Cheap, So I Shouldn't Have To Pay"

To be continued.  

p.s. feel free to email GOP episodes of bigotry, misogyny, or hostility to science and reason to benbowdan@gmail.com 

***

Other political writing by Dan Benbow:

"Reasonable Doubt: 50 questions for lone gunman theorists"

"Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Road to the Mountaintop"

"Basking in the Afterglow: Scenes from the 2012 Campaign"

"Romney-Ryan's Road to Perdition"

"The Affordable Care Act, demystified"

"The Master of Low Expectations: 666 Reasons Sentient Citizens are Still Celebrating the Long Overdue Departure of George W. Bush"

"Off the Books: The Outsourcing of American Foreign Policy, Part I -- A Roll of the Dice" features an interview with powerhouse historian Peter Dale Scott, in reference to his book "The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America"

"Off the Books: The Outsourcing of American Foreign Policy, Part II -- Operation Blowback"

21st Century Republicans

Michele Bachmann's effervescent glow

Is the Republican Party caught in a time warp?

In 2012, the NASA Rover Curiosity landed on Mars. Google virtual reality goggles were invented, as were self-inflating tires, fuel-cell powered MacBooks, and mind-controlled

 cybernetic limbs. There were major advances in stem cell research, and two molecular biologists in the United Kingdom created RNA, the first synthetic information-storing molecule. And the National Institute of Health decided that it would no longer conduct medical research on chimpanzees.

But the Republican Party was stuck somewhere way back in America's ugly past, with presidential candidates to match. 

Every week or two a different grotesque captured the fancy of Republican primary voters who couldn't accept Mitt Romney as their standard bearer. There was Newt Gingrich, who'd hooked up with his second wife while he was still married to his first wife (who had paid for his law school education) and met his third wife, an intern, while he was still with his second wife (and orchestrating the impeachment of Bill Clinton for his indiscretions with an intern). 

Then there were Herman Cain, a candidate with zero government experience who faced multiple sexual harassment charges, and Rick Perry, a climate change-denying Texas governor who was in bed with right-wing religious extremists. Rick Santorum, who'd lost his Senate seat by 20 points in 2006, had railed against "the dangers of contraception" and said that gay marriage rights were the gateway to "man on dog" relations. And last but not least, there was Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota Millenarian who criticized evolution thusly, "Where do we say that a cell became a blade of grass, which

the honorable Governor Rick Perry

became a starfish, which became a cat, which became a donkey, which became a human being? There's a real lack of evidence from change from actual species to a different type of species."

I thought the crushing defeat in the 2012 presidential election might wake the GOP up, might convince the Powers That Be to keep the crazies in their party locked in the closet, but the Republican Party is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Even as science, technology, and the human race evolve, vocal sectors of the Republican Party remain stuck in reverse—and proud of it.      

To capture this bizarre phenomena in real time, I am christening a semi-regular new series—"21st Century Republicans"—where I will share surreal GOP episodes of bigotry, misogyny, or hostility to science and reason.

Included here are just the examples from the past week. 

"Powerful GOP lobbyist drafts bill to ban gay athletes from playing in the NFL"

"Virginia Republican Says A Pregnant Woman Is Just A 'Host,' Though 'Some Refer To Them As Mothers'"

"Utah lawmaker targets women with new divorce barriers so men aren't 'surprised'"

"Utah state Rep. Jim Nielson (R) says that he is sponsoring a bill to force divorcing couples to take classes because he says that men are often 'surprised' when women want to end the marriage.

"The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Nielson had filed a bill that would require couples to take part of mandatory divorces classes even sooner than the law required when Utah became the first state with the mandate in 1994. Nielson would like to see couples take at least half of the $55 two-hour classes at the beginning of divorce process."

"Texas Republican Says Ranchers Should be Able to Shoot 'Wetbacks,' Calls Obama a 'Socialist Son of a Bitch'" 

"Anti-LGBT researcher Paul Cameron open to death penalty for ‘dangerous’ gay ‘parasites’"

"Fox news guest tells Hannity:  'Overfed' non-whites use food stamps as a 'fat pill'"

"Tea Party Nation says Brewer’s Veto will mean mandatory penis cakes for 'homosexual weddings'"

"Maine Republican regrets saying men should rape women if abortion is legal"

"George Will: It’s ‘not neighborly’ for LGBT people to ask for equal rights"

There you have it. A window into the mindset of the Republican Party in 2014. To be continued.  

p.s. feel free to email new stories to benbowdan@gmail.com 

***

Other political writing by Dan Benbow:

"Reasonable Doubt: 50 questions for lone gunman theorists"

"Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Road to the Mountaintop"

"Basking in the Afterglow: Scenes from the 2012 Campaign"

"Romney-Ryan's Road to Perdition"

"The Affordable Care Act, demystified"

"The Master of Low Expectations: 666 Reasons Sentient Citizens are Still Celebrating the Long Overdue Departure of George W. Bush"