The Republican Tea Party: Equal Opportunity Haters

by Sunnyjane

Déjà Vu All Over Again

Hardly had President Barack Obama gotten through his repeat swearing-in ceremony in 2009 when newly elected RNC Chairman Michael Steele (the Republican's we'll-show-you! retort to a black Democrat in the White House) issued a stern warning that he would torpedo the public perception that the Republicans are "a party unconcerned about minorities, a party that's unconcerned about the lives and dreams of average Americans."  Well, that may have been Mr. Steele's intention, but it obviously was not on the GOP leadership's agenda, and his torpedo turned out to be a dud.  And speaking of duds, the RNC ousted Steele and installed Reince Priebus.

Hey, forget what we stand for; we gotta sound "reasonable."

Fast Forward to early 2013.  Election over.  President Obama inaugurated to serve a second term.  Republican/Tea Party/Libertarian heads explode.  Recriminations and finger-pointing ensue: the GOP candidate was too conservative... or the GOP candidate was not conservative enough.  Karl Rove's fantastical fractured figure finagling blamed. 

Studies follow:  Ground game ineffective.  College Republicans conclude that the GOP is closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned.  And even though no one asks him for his opinion, in January Bobby Jindal tells an audience of Republicans, We must stop being the stupid party  ...  We must stop looking backward ... We must stop insulting the intelligence of voters.  It's rather good advice, actually, but...

...less than two months later, Priebus confirms for the country that there's little chance of a change in the GOP by saying that Mike Huckabee should be a model for a lot of people in our party.  Yes, indeedy, the same man who supported Todd Akin, says homosexuality is a sin and leads to polygamy, is against abortion for any reason, and believes that a breeder should be at home with one baby on her hip, one at her breast, and one in her belly.  That Mike Huckabee.   

Conclusion:  GOP business as usual.

What War on Women???
  

The little GOP bitch in pink thinks rape kits have magical abortion powers.

The far-right in this country badly need a war -- any war will do -- to alleviate their own insecurities, and one of the easiest ones to win seems to be their hostility towards women.   They've become very successful at destroying a woman's constitutional right to choose what's best for her, her family, and her own body.  If all goes according to the GOP's plan, Texas will enact* the most far-reaching and restrictive anti-choice laws in the country this week.  It will bring to nearly seven hundred the number of similar laws passed in just the past three months.

*Update: During a nail-biting special session of the Texas legislature on Tuesday, the bill failed.  However, Rick Perry has called for a second special session of the legislature to push the same restrictive anti-choice bill because Texans value women's lives so much that, according to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst...

In Texas, we believe in regulating vaginas instead of fertilizer plants.

Oh, and since Gov. Oops will probably run for president in 2016,  he's gotta shore up those family-values creds, dontcha know.  [Do you think the far-right Christianistas realize that they actually worship a Jewish liberal?] 

While Texas is hell-bent on ruining life for many women in the second most populated state in the country, Iowa legislators have given Gov. Branstad (a far-right pro-lifer) the final decision on whether Medicaid will pay for a woman's abortion.  [Legally, Medicaid can only be used to pay for abortions resulting from rape, incest, danger to the life of the mother, or a fetus so malformed that it would not survive outside the womb.]  So, after the abortion for one of these situations is performed, the governor will be presented with the details and make the decision on whether Medicaid will pay the bill.  Oh, Branstad has assured the citizens of Iowa that he plans to be very thoughtful in making his decisions, even though there appear to be no guidelines whatsoever for him to follow.  Bottom line:  Iowa has completely lost its fucking mind and they're obviously not aware that politicans are lousy doctors.

GOP governors are irrationally fixated on women's bodies and what they do with them.  Over in Wisconsin, Scott Walker thinks it's a dandy idea to perform transvaginal sonograms on first-term pregnancies.

There is no truth to the rumor that I want to prevent the next virgin birth from being aborted.

The governor has no problem with these invasive, medically unnecessary procedures and says,  I think most people think ultrasounds are just fine.  And which most people would that be, Governor?   It wouldn't be most men, now would it?  Just asking.  Oh wait, I get it!  Since Rush Limbaugh never got to see videos of Sandra Fluke having wild sex, I guess Scotty-boy is going to send his good buddy Rush videos of women having transvaginal sonograms.  Perhaps it's the only way Limpballs can get a stiffie going, huh?

But perhaps the most jaw-dropping bill being proposed against women at the moment is the one in Ohio that will require women who want birth control pills to undergo ultrasound procedures and wait twenty-four hours.  You cannot make this shit up.     

How about these states pass a law requiring a transpenile procedure for any man wanting a vasectomy or a prescription for Viagra or Cialis?

 

The Supreme Court Has Just Trod on My DOMA!

Q: How will DOMA repeal affect traditional marriage?   A: Ummm...

With a shrug and a Who cares?, Nancy Pelosi dismissed a reporter's question regarding Michele Bachmann's rant after the high court announced its decision on DOMA and Prop 8 in California: This decision is one that is profound because the Supreme Court not only attacked our Constitution today… Well, that's all you really need to know, because Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) had to school Ms. Bachmann and reporters on that little thingy called Separation of Church and State.  And he did it beautifully.

And in other far-right reactions on the DOMA repeal, Justice Scalia swallowed his legalized argle-bargle gargle by re-ranting his homosexual sodomy argument while Rand Paul believes that the DOMA decision could lead to bestiality.  No, seriously.  As Americablog points out, Rand just compared Mary Cheney’s relationship to sodomizing your pet.  Sweet.

And not to disappoint his faithful followers, the model for the GOP (see above) Mike Huckabee tweeted My thoughts on the SCOTUS ruling that determined that same sex marriage is okay: "Jesus wept."   Of course, the phrase Jesus wept has absolutely nothing to do with gay marriage, but hey, so what so long as it gets the far-right in a lather?

The Supreme Gutting of the Voting Rights Act

While the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (known as the formula section), it made Section 5 (the pre-clearance section) virtually null and void.  As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote in her scathing dissenting argument,  Section 5 is now "immobilized" without a working coverage formula.  Chief Justice Roberts said that it was the duty of the Congress to address the coverage formula; well, good luck with that, CJ.

I don't know where the Chief Justice was during the 2012 general election, but his ruling that racial minorities no longer face barriers to voting in states with a history of discrimination is naive at best, and deceitful at worst. Our country has changed, he wrote. While any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.  Current conditions, Mr. Chief Justice?  It only took Gov. Perry two hours after the decision had been announce to declare that Texas may now implement the will of the people without being subject to outdated and unnecessary oversight and the overreach of federal power.  You can bet your sweet bippy that there will definitely be racial barriers put up for the folks in the Lone Star state.  As John Oliver pointed out, It takes Texas less time to disenfranchise voters than to barbecue a pig.

End Note 

 

We Americans have our work cut out for us.  Stopping the regressive and repressive actions of the Republican Party and its far-right cohorts will take all of us working hard together.  We must believe that we can do it.

As Nelson Mandela once said:

 It always seems impossible until it's done.