Today's GOP: The Inmates are Still Running the Asylum - UPDATE: Daniel Schulman's book on the Koch Brothers

by Sunnyjane

The Republican Tea Party is in disarray, and oddly enough, that's a good thing.  It's a little late in coming, but hey, at least the moderate Republicans have become frustrated with the Baggers and the Democrats are becoming bolder in calling them out on it.  More citizens who have always proudly aligned themselves with conservatives are stepping out of that dark hole and seeing the light of liberal policies.

We constantly fight that battle here at Politicalgates.  Let's see what others are saying on the issues in succinct and sometimes humorous ways -- ways that make you nod and think, That's right!

Gun Control

As governor, Ronald Reagan was all for gun control when the Black Panthers were making uncomfortable noises about armed revolution for social change in the 1970s.  Then Reagan decided to run for president in 1980 and reversed course and said citizens should be well-armed.  The NRA endorsed him.  He was shot by John Hinkley two months after his inauguration.  A lesson learned?  Unfortunately, NO.

See Ronald Reagan, above.

Energy Independence

One of the biggest Drill, Baby, Drill fallacies in this country is that by sucking oil out of every available piece of land in North America that we will decrease our dependence on foreign oil by standing next to the rigs and pumping it directly into American gas tanks.

Canada is particularly keen to run the XL Pipeline right smack-dab through America's heartland.  You get that, right?  Americans assume all the risk, Canada and the Kochs get all the money   From the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska through Native American sacred tribal lands, somewhere that sucker is going to spring a devastating leak; it's too late then.  And Americans benefiting from the pipeline?   Really?  Here's the truth...

Let's sail, boys, before these idiots figure out they've been lied to!

Immigration Reform -- or the Lack Thereof

One Montana county Tea Party group wants absolutely nothing to do with candidate Drew Turiano.  It seems Mr. T has gotten into a lot of trouble with this bunch for slinging around a heap of racial slurs, aimed primarily at Hispanics.  It is his contention that the U.S. should not just adopt a pathway to citizenship, but should also just send undocumented immigrants -- and their American-born children -- back to where they came from, via Operation Wetback.  [Note to Mr. Turiano: It's illegal to do that, you ignorant creep.] 

Of course, he's not the only GOP asshole to use the term wetback.  So have Don Young in Alaska and Chris Mapp in Texas because in both cases, it's perfectly normal.  Does this sound like your teenager saying, But Mom, everybody says it! 

Priorities, priorities, priorities.

Equal Pay for Women

   

     














  

Now, About the IRS Targeting the Republican Groups

Oh, and that Imperial President and His Executive Orders?

The Far-Right and Voting Rights

It's always dangerous when Tea Partiers start using big words.  You  know, like constitution and sovereignty, for example.  Rep. Ted Yahoo Yoho of Florida is no exception.  He loves his pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution, but has obviously never read it.  He cares about the sovereignty of this country, but has no idea that it necessitates a moral imperative to do right by its citizens.  Yoho was recently heard opining that only property owners should be allowed to vote.  Um, I recommend checking out the 15th Amendment, Congressman.  Oh, and he's awfully fond of voter ID laws.

Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi

And we'll take it all the way to 2016, if necessary!

Climate Change?  No Such Thing!

They don't know where babies come from, either.

Raising the Minimum Wage?  No, No, NO!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

End Note

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UPDATE (by Patrick):

I received an email-message by Daniel Schulman, a senior editor in the Washington bureau of "Mother Jones", in which he promotes his new book about the Koch brothers which was published yesterday, called "Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty", and it is my great pleasure to bring this email-message to your attention:

Hi everyone,

Excuse the email blast, but I wanted to alert you that my biography of the Koch brothers, Sons of Wichita, hit book stores this week. I poured the past (almost) three years of my life into this project, so needless to say I'm pretty excited to see this book leave my computer's hard drive for the real world. The early reviews have been great. Vanity Fair calls Sons of Wichita "never less than engrossing" and "a stylishly written saga." The American Prospect says "despite Schulman’s often-superb eye for the revealing and/or juicy detail…he never stoops to caricaturing his subjects as the Koch Ness Monsters of popular lore." If you'd like a preview, Vanity Fair published a short excerpt on Monday that chronicles my surreal visit with the elegant, elusive, eldest Koch brother, Frederick. Mother Jones published a longer excerpt Tuesday that covers the brutal legal battles among the four Koch brothers. (You can also catch me on NPR's Fresh Air today chatting about the book with Terry Gross. See here for air times in your neck of the woods.)

It takes a village to launch a book, so I'd certainly appreciate your help in spreading the word. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Talk loudly about it at crowded places where strangers will overhear you. Tweet it. Tumble it. Facebook it. Forward this email to anyone you can think of. Anything helps. And, if you're so inclined, buy a copy of the book. You can purchase it online from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or via iBooks. It should also be available at your local book store (and if it isn't, ask them why not!). If you do buy the book, please make sure to let me know what you think.

Best regards—and thanks,

Dan Schulman

I also want to use this opportunity to promote my video-clip about the Koch Brothers from 2011, which features the secret recording of one of their super-secret meetings:

Michele Bachmann: 'Don't Know Much About a Science Book'

by Sunnyjane

Jesus! I'm facing extinction and Bachmann thinks toxic carbon dioxide emissions are a natural by-product of nature.

I regret being the bearer of bad news, Mr. President, but unemployment numbers will rise in January 2015 after all of the Michele Bachmann fact-checkers are laid off from their jobs.  I guess you really do have to take the bad with the good.

It is not news that Bachmann has trouble with facts; hell, she has trouble with reality, why let facts get in the way?  For anyone who remains ignorant of this, um, fact, I suggest you simply go to your favorite search engine and type in Just How Stupid IS Michele Bachmann?  OK, I'll give you a few links here, here and here so you really don't have to go through that exercise. 

With humble apologies to the fabulous Sam Cooke, I will bastardize one of his greatest hits to explain Michele Bachmann in twenty-four words:

Don't know much about history,
Don't much biology.
Don't know much about a science book, 
Don't wanna talk about that list I took. 

Denying the Effects of Man-Made Climate Change

I can see God from my House seat and he says more carbon dioxide emissions are a GOOD thing!

After a hearty laugh and an exaggerated eye-roll, most of what Bachmann spews can be whisked away with a careless wave of the hand.  That she doesn't seem to know the difference between cowboy-film star John Wayne and serial-killer John Wayne Gacy is almost totally irrelevant.  Even her statement that the Founding Fathers, otherwise known as the writers of the United States Constitution, worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States has little consequence; that will surely be corrected for our nation's school children when they study American history -- well, except in Texas, of course.

But when she stands in the House of Representatives and states with authority that the threat of man-made global warming doesn't make sense because it is a natural byproduct of nature, and is part of the fundamental life cycle of Earth,  she is attempting to influence desperately needed legislation that would reduce man-made carbon dioxide emissions that are causing global warming that is devastating to the planet. 

It took Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon to school Ms. Bachmann on the issue: It’s interesting to listen to her say that something that was naturally occurring simply couldn’t be harmful, ignoring the fact that we have the highest concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for 2/3 of a million years.  The  consensus of the scientific community — not people making things up on the floor of the House — is that this has been profoundly influenced by human activity, starting with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, where we started consuming huge quantities of coal, burning fossil fuels, accelerating that over time.  The consensus of the scientific community is that this is in fact a serious problem.
   

I understand that there is absolutely no truth to the tittle-tattle that Bachmann believes that tearing down all greenhouses in America would reduce the effect of greenhouse gases.  That's totally a scandalous rumor -- maybe.

Congresswoman Bachmann has also claimed that there have been no scientific studies supporting the toxic effect of carbon dioxide on humans: But there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows carbon dioxide is a harmful gas. There isn’t one such study because carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural. It is not harmful.   That is, of course, a totally bogus and stupid claim.  (Is Sarah Palin her fact-checker?  Just wondering.)  As far back as 2004, the New York Times reported in a scientific article that toxic carbon dioxide extends its harmful reach to the oceans.  Another report shows that Fossil fuel combustion releases carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, methane and other emissions in the air. Although some of these chemicals are naturally occurring, the high concentrations cause pollution and its effects.  And how do countries rank in CO2 emissions?  China is first and the United States is second.  That is not a record of which we can be proud.

Of course, Bachmann is only one of many climate-change deniers in the House of Representatives.  Organizing for America has done an excellent job of bringing them all together in one place.  There is even a click-on map that displays well-sourced quotes of who in your state is a climate-change denier.

End Note

As the National Journal pointed out recently, the subject of climate change may well become a huge issue in near-future elections, especially with young voters, an important  demographic that the GOP lost in 2012: 

...for a 22- or 23-year-old voter, being a climate denier is like opposition to gay marriage in the way it paints Republican politicians as completely out of touch with how they see the world. 

But how will the GOP repair that image when House Republicans passed a bill in 2010 declaring the science behind climate change a hoax?

And Michele Bachmann was a big part of that.