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 

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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 

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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"

Yet another reason to vote for Barack Obama

Yesterday I received my first hate mail, in response to "Romney-Ryan's Road to Perdition." 

Here, in microcosm, are many of the lizard brain tendencies that dominate the Republican Party in the 21st century. This post could be helpful to future historians (and anthropologists) as they try to wrap their heads around the fact that this election - between one of our better presidents, a self-made man of sterling character, and a plutocratic sociopath with a grim Dark Ages agenda - was so close. 

I've left the original comment fully intact to maintain the authenticity of expression:

"this article is a bunch of bs writtin by satanists to protect the false prophet ... obama is a traitor who practices Taqiyya ... Obama's Ring - Declaration of Islamic Faith - 'There is no God except Allah' is inscribed ... Wake the fuck up Americians ...I will NOT accept this destroyer of OUR COUNTRY, OUR CONSTITUTION OUR BILL of RIGHTS, Are you so dull, so insipid, that you would support this NWO puppet, based on what, his partial color ? You are obviously an intellectual midget, and as such, an absurdity to engage in debate." 

-Anonymous