The GOP's Funeral Will Be Held When They Finish Digging Their Own Grave

by Sunnyjane

The GOP has been on life support since 2008 or so, but it has finally succumbed to its self-inflicted case of Wingnuttery Inclusionus Nervosa.  And it isn't just the legislators who brought on this condition; their followers, Big Money supporters, and the far-right media have aided and abetted them the whole way.

There are so many instances of the GOP's determination to thwart anything the Obama administration tries to accomplish that it's difficult to know where to begin when discussing the latest hoohahs.  However, with Benghazi, the IRS, and the AP stories a'sizzling on the grill in the last two weeks, the Republican Tea Party seems to have finally found themselves red meat on which to chew, and they're snarling and yelping like a bunch of savage wolves.

So let's just jump right in, shall we?

Louie Gohmert's Latest Nutso Rant   

Did you hear Gohmert say I was casting aspersions on his asparagus?

It all began during another House hearing; this is all they do, you see, hold hearings, and it's especially fun when the victim is Eric Holder.  Anyhow, Louie Gohmert (R-Texas Idiot) decided he had not had enough irate spew time on the TV machine lately, so he took the opportunity on May 15 to rage against the Attorney General on everything from the IRS going after Christian organizations like Billy Graham to the handling of information from Russia on Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev to PETA insulting his pet rock.  (OK, I made that up about the pet rock; the truth is that Gohmert's pet rock left home some time ago after being yelled at for pooping pebbles in Louie's favorite pair of bedroom slippers.)

Whatever.  Louie accused the FBI of failing to question the now-dead-and-buried-in-Virginia Tsarnaev brother thoroughly enough, even after Russia had said the Boston bomber had been radicalized.  Then there ensued some crosstalk with the Chairman about Gohmert's having run out of questioning (questioning?) time, but he insisted that the AG respond.  So Holder said, The only observation I was going to make is that you state as a matter of fact what the FBI did and did not do. Unless somebody has done something inappropriate, you don't have access to the FBI files.  I know what the FBI did. You cannot know what I know. That's all.

Louie then entered red-faced stroke-zone territory and said, I cannot have a witness challenge my character … The attorney general will not cast aspersions on my asparagus.  Oh, yes, he really said that.  Check it out.  (No word on whether or not his Hollandaise sauce was likewise insulted.)
 
You Say Benghazi and I Say Bullshit

Sarah Palin demands that the lamestream media interview Mr. Ben Ghazi immediately and find out what he knows about the attack.

So anxious to bring an impeachment resolution (we can be sure it's already been drafted) against President Obama, the Hill obsesses daily on the September 11, 2012 attack on the embassy outpost in Benghazi where four staff were killed by Islamist militants.

House Speaker John Boehner is, according to insider sources, totally fixated with the issue.  See, it takes away all the pressure on him to actually be a leader, and he can earn much-needed creds with the far-right crowd.   And, of course, he doesn't have to focus on those distasteful Obama-agenda issues like gun reform, immigration, and jobs -- those icky  thingies that would actually benefit Americans. Boehner has told Darrell Issa (well known car thief and illegal possessor of guns) how to run the show, and the salivating Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has done the job with a passion, concluding that the White House has been involved in a cover-up!  Why?  Well, because the President of the United States committed the grievous offense of calling the attack an act of terror!

Here's what the Benghazi cover-up consists of, according to Issa himself: The words that are being used carefully — an ‘act of terror’ is different than a ‘terrorist attack.’   

And what, dear readers, did George W. Bush (you remember him, don't you?) call the September 11, 2001 violence against America that killed more than three thousand people?  An unbelievable act of terror.  See, it's not what's done that counts, it's who does it:  Bush = That's Cool!  Obama = Grounds for Impeachment!

Reports have been made that suggest the Republicans did a tad of, shall we call it, wordsmithing with the talking-points emails they're so adamant about seeing.  On Thursday, May 16, Major Garrett on CBS Evening News pretty much called the Republicans liars:  Republicans told us these were the quotes; that wasn’t true.  Copies of the emails the GOP leadership gave CBS appear to have been, um, altered. 

And ABC admitted that in their haste to smear the Obama administration, they didn't actually read the Benghazi emails.  These are journalists?  Perhaps they attended the Sarah Palin School of Journalism and/or Communications -- take your pick. 

Investigations?  You Really Wanna Talk Investigations?

Would you care for a little arson on the side, Mr. Issa?

In 2010, an investigation was conducted on Darrell Issa's background and it revealed that a fire that burned his Ohio manufacturing plant was, according to inspectors,  most likely the work of an arsonist.  Because the fire insurance policy had been raised from $100,000 to $462,000 just a few weeks prior to the fire, and evidence arose that Issa had removed computers and papers from the building, led inspectors to suspect Issa himself.  Neither he, nor anyone else, has ever been charged, however.

Ari Melber and Martin Bashir discussed this issue on Thursday, May 16.

Curiouser and curiouser.    

The Scourge of Sexual Assault in the Military

 Not only is it a crime, not only is it shameful and disgraceful...  President Obama, May 16, 2013

The President is pissed, and rightly so.  He hauled Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey to the White House on Thursday to read them the riot act.  Attending were also the chiefs of each military service, the civilian heads of each service, and enlisted advisers.

The issue received needed attention when the Air Force official in charge of its sexual-assault prevention program was recently arrested for groping the breasts and buttocks of a female.

And just this week,  the Sexual Assault Program Manager at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was arrested in a domestic dispute with his former wife.  

It's rather like what happens when the fox is guarding the hen house, isn't it?  Where's the GOP outrage?  When's the hearing on this issue going to be scheduled?  Oh, sorry...since it's only assaults against women, that doesn't count.

Obamacare: Let's Vote to Repeal it for the 37th Time!
 

And they did.  And it passed.  Yawn.

The Speaker of the House decided, once again, to spoil the children and let the seventy newbies in Congress vote to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act.  I did think it was very considerate that they waited until the lying adulterer Mark Sanford was sworn in on Wednesday, don't you?

Mr. Speaker, please let me introduce my mistress.  I found her while hiking the Appalachian Trail.

And Darrell Issa was having such a good week that he took the opportunity to start a little rumble on Obamacare, tweeting: 
 

Darrell Issa        ✔ @DarrellIssa

Hey folks, #ObamaCareInThreeWords -- go!

The White House lost no time in responding:

  The White House        ✔ @whitehouse

It's. The. Law. #ObamaCareInThreeWords, pic.twitter.com/yCHSmuxkKj

 
Curses!  Obama Ruined Our IRS Scandal!

Revelations that the IRS had been targeting conservative groups that had applied for tax exempt status hit the news on Monday, May 13, when ABC obtained the Inspector General's [IG] draft report.  Naturally, the GOP leadership began salivating at the prospect of another Obama Scandal!  YIPPEE!  Surely they had him by the short hairs this time, dontcha think?  Well...no.  They prepared all their talking points for when the President went on  defense.  That scenario didn't come to pass, however, because President Obama said on Wednesday that the actions that were outlined in the IG's report were unacceptable.  He further said that his administration would accept all of the recommendations in the report and would work with the Congress in their investigation.   Please proceed, Mr. Speaker.  

Naturally, there was no outrage when, under George W. Bush, the IRS targeted liberal organizations, including the NAACP, Greenpeace, and an Episcopal Church in California. 
   
Deaths by Idiots With Guns Continue Unabated

My Bonnie looked into the gun barrel, the contents she wanted to see. She fired the gun to assist her, oh bring back my Bonnie to me.

No post on the GOP would be complete without a mention of gun violence.  

According to Slate, which is (thankfully) keeping track of gun violence since Sandy Hook, 4,127 people have died since that awful day in Newtown.  At least seventy-one victims of that horrid statistic are children, many of whom had been killed by, um, accident.  This is not only unacceptable, it's a sin. 

Logic, Republican Tea Party style:  Dr. Kermit Gosnell, an abortion doctor who has recently been found guilty of murder in the deaths of three babies, is representative of all abortion doctors.  But gun-wielding mass murderers, children's deaths by their own hand or by accident, and all other gun injuries and deaths are not representative of the NRA-backed House and Senate...or, by responsible, law-abiding gun owners.

End Note