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You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / Falling Down

Falling Down

by Tim F|  October 13, 20062:32 pm| 35 Comments

This post is in: Republican Stupidity

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People respond in strange ways to the prospect of losing your job and knowing that there is not a thing that you can do about it. Throw in the public disgrace, add a chance of incarceration and most people will pass some sort of breaking point. See, for example, the increasingly weird behavior of Republican candidates.

* Mark Foley (R-FL) may be gone, but Tom Reynolds (R-NY) and Dennis Hastert (R-IL) remain as living symbols of how not to manage a crisis.
* Don Sherwood (R-PA) strangles his illicit mistress, she survives, and now he wants voters to forgive him. Polls suggest that he should have tried not strangling his mistress.
* Katherine Harris (R-FL), the eternal sunshine of the clueless mind.
* The president‘s practically incoherent press conference. While not a candidate, this election is more or less a referendum on him. And it seems fairly likely that losing both Houses will eventually lead to jail.
* The strain of maintaining the “moderate” facade seems to have pushed Chris Shays (R-CT) over the edge.
* Knowing that he will lose his race might be what caused Rick Santorum (R-PA) to flip his lid on live TV.
* Bob Ney (R-OH) pleads guilty to corruption (possibly the least surprising development so far this year) but declines to resign until after the election. That kind of self-interested hubris would be fine if this was the 2002 midterms and the terra-sploitation steamroller could. not. be. stopped. But it ain’t 2002. No doubt the Dems will appreciate having a living symbol of GOP corruption hanging around Congress. [Correction] Ney will step down next week. Smart boy.
* [Update] John already has this above, but crazy Curt Weldon [R-PA] of Able Danger fame will face an FBI investigation over charges of corruption and nepotism.

Just a random sampling from the recent news.

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Reader Interactions

35Comments

  1. 1.

    Pb

    October 13, 2006 at 2:40 pm

    Don Sherwood (R-PA) strangles his illicit mistress, she survives, and now he wants voters to forgive him.

    But hey, no one died, right? Isn’t that the new Republican standard now?

    (please don’t ask about Iraq…)

  2. 2.

    cd6

    October 13, 2006 at 3:02 pm

    Rick Santorum is just flat out batshit crazy

    Bob Casey should have an ad where he just reads aloud from Santorum’s book.

    You can’t run to the middle when you WROTE A BOOK that suggests public schools cause “weird socialization” and “women who get college degrees are selfish”

  3. 3.

    RSA

    October 13, 2006 at 3:09 pm

    Boy, if Rick Santorum hadn’t been dressed in suit in that debate, I’d have thought he was some homeless guy who’d wandered into the TV studio by accident. “Look at the camera! Answer the question!” (Come to think of it, the whole point was that people don’t know where Santorum really lives. . .)

  4. 4.

    sidereal

    October 13, 2006 at 3:20 pm

    Polls suggest that he should have tried not strangling his mistress.

    Genius! Why didn’t he think of that?

    But,

    And it seems fairly likely that losing both Houses will eventually lead to jail.

    Assuming you mean ‘for Bush’, not in a million years. Nobody says it out loud, but Presidents don’t go to jail, ever. The worst he’ll see is apology, apology, pardon, disappear from public life.

  5. 5.

    Davebo

    October 13, 2006 at 3:27 pm

    sidereal you may be right.

    But…

    Given what we know now even I don’t think Dubya should go to jail. I’d just prefer he slink back to Kennebunkport and shut the hell up.

    But, as our esteemed Sec. of Defense has told us.

    As we know,
    There are known knowns.
    There are things we know we know.
    We also know
    There are known unknowns.
    That is to say
    We know there are some things
    We do not know.
    But there are also unknown unknowns,
    The ones we don’t know
    We don’t know.

  6. 6.

    Mike

    October 13, 2006 at 3:27 pm

    Greedy
    Old
    Pricks

  7. 7.

    ThymeZone

    October 13, 2006 at 3:29 pm

    1. Katherine Harris can’t be for real. I mean, she just can’t. I’ve seen her on tv and listened to her, and I assert that she is a spoof. She cannot be what she appears to be.

    2. Bush is not going to be impeached. No Democrat is going to make Dick Cheney president. Well, I mean titular president.

  8. 8.

    Davebo

    October 13, 2006 at 3:34 pm

    Actually if Bush is impeached I give it 10 t0 1 odds it will be due to something Cheney did. And most likely prior to impeachment Cheney will have been pushed out of the picture ala Agnew.

  9. 9.

    Davebo

    October 13, 2006 at 3:35 pm

    By the way. You’ve gotta check out Rick Morans last post on RightWing Nuthouse.

    It’s hilarious!

    Who knew James Baker was a liberal eh?

  10. 10.

    Dug Jay

    October 13, 2006 at 3:42 pm

    How come you overlooked Harry Reid? I see that a half dozen of our nation’s newspapers editorialized against him over yet one more of his shady and unethical business deals, including The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal Constitution and The Philadelphia Inquirer. The latter paper concluded: “Unless Reid comes up with a better explanation for this lack of disclosure, Democrats should not keep him as their leader in the new Congress in 2007.”

    Maybe this reaction from some of our leading liberal newspapers accounts for his near incoherent and hysterical rant at an impromptu meeting with a few representatives of the media earlier today.

  11. 11.

    ThymeZone

    October 13, 2006 at 3:50 pm

    Democrats should not keep him as their leader

    Righto. We’ve got a crazy, drunk president in an administration full of incompetant lunatics … but Reid’s land deal is the number one concern on our minds right now.

    Nothing is more annoying than second-rate spoof, pal.

    Well, maybe third-rate spoof. Which is where you appear to be headed.

  12. 12.

    Andrew

    October 13, 2006 at 3:53 pm

    1. Katherine Harris can’t be for real. I mean, she just can’t. I’ve seen her on tv and listened to her, and I assert that she is a spoof. She cannot be what she appears to be.

    She is DougJ’s greatest achievement.

  13. 13.

    Pb

    October 13, 2006 at 3:55 pm

    Davebo,

    Although Bush has proven himself to be one of the most stubborn Presidents in recent history I doubt that he, Rumsfeld, and Cheney can hold out against the entire foreign policy and defense establishments as well as majorities in both Houses of Congress. He will have to reluctantly agree to some kind of withdrawal plan short of victory.

    And that’s when it will become very tricky indeed. The Administration will be forced to sit down with both Syria and Iran in order to get those two states to stop funding and supplying the insurgents – a task made extremely difficult by the fact that neither country wants to do us any favors.

    It’s sounding like the exit strategy from Iraq Moran predicts here might go through Iran… Go figure.

  14. 14.

    jaime

    October 13, 2006 at 3:57 pm

    How come you overlooked Harry Reid?

    Please explain Reid’s land deal and how, specifically, it is illegal or unethical. Please cite and link to specific sources. Seriously.

  15. 15.

    Dug Jay

    October 13, 2006 at 3:59 pm

    Here’s the Link to that Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial I noted earlier that called for Reid to step aside.

  16. 16.

    sidereal

    October 13, 2006 at 4:04 pm

    Note that that’s not nearly what jaime asked for, Doug. Explain the deal and explain how it’s unethical.

  17. 17.

    jg

    October 13, 2006 at 4:09 pm

    Falling Down doesn’t get enough props for the great movie it is.

  18. 18.

    John S.

    October 13, 2006 at 4:12 pm

    Here’s the Link to that Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial I noted earlier that called for Reid to step aside.

    Opinions = Facts!

  19. 19.

    Steve

    October 13, 2006 at 4:24 pm

    Here’s the Link to that Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial I noted earlier that called for Reid to step aside.

    Do you often lie about what’s in your links, or is it a new habit you just picked up?

  20. 20.

    jaime

    October 13, 2006 at 4:25 pm

    From the opinion/fact-ed:

    Then there are the free boxing tickets Reid took from the Nevada Athletic Commission.

    Dear Jesus,
    Thank you for ignorant retards like Dug Jay who neither care for, nor seek out facts. Love AJC.

  21. 21.

    Perry Como

    October 13, 2006 at 4:33 pm

    Just like Leftists to try to politicize crime. But both sides do it, and the Democrats would be worse if they were in charge. At least when Sherwood strangled his mistress, no one died.

  22. 22.

    Tsulagi

    October 13, 2006 at 4:48 pm

    I know the “pundits” say negative campaign ads work, but just once in an election cycle, especially given the state of these Republicans, I’d like to see humor. Go for the laugh factor.

    Jon Stewart could make a bundle in those ads. Maybe show a Mark “page turner” Foley sitting in front of a monitor wanking himself while Katherine “See, I have tits!” Harris just talks. Stewart in his style could just say something like “Look, you wouldn’t want these people living next door to you let alone running the damn country.” It’d work for me.

  23. 23.

    cd6

    October 13, 2006 at 4:48 pm

    The only thing Harry Reid has stolen is my heart

    What a hunk!

  24. 24.

    Pooh

    October 13, 2006 at 4:50 pm

    Here’s the Link to that Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial I noted earlier that called for Reid to step aside.

    Well, if one newspaper said it…I guess you’ll agree that there’s an even stronger case that Rummy, or Hastert, or…should also go.

    You do agree, right?

  25. 25.

    Pb

    October 13, 2006 at 5:00 pm

    …or, if you read a little paper called The Washington Post, for example, then there’s also George Bush:

    Hold Bush Accountable

    By Richard Cohen
    Thursday, October 28, 2004; Page A25

    I do not write the headlines for my columns. Someone else does. But if I were to write the headline for this one, it would be “Impeach George Bush.”

  26. 26.

    Bombadil

    October 13, 2006 at 5:02 pm

    Dug Jay, can you please point out exactly where, in the Atlanta Journal Constitution editorial to which you link, they call for Reid to step aside?

  27. 27.

    jaime

    October 13, 2006 at 5:14 pm

    Dug Jay went bye bye. His google is broken.

  28. 28.

    Punchy

    October 13, 2006 at 5:23 pm

    Bob Casey should have an ad where he just reads aloud from Santorum’s book.

    Or in a debate. They’d ask Casey for a response, and every time, he’d just start reading from Santorum’s book. That would slay the crowd.

  29. 29.

    jaime

    October 13, 2006 at 6:24 pm

    Tim, please add Crazy Curt Weldon to your list.

  30. 30.

    Dug Jay

    October 13, 2006 at 7:28 pm

    Here’s the correct Link referring to Reid’s need to step aside, per the editorial. Obviously an editorial is not dispositive, but it is instructive when it comes from a liberal newspaper not generally known for opposing liberals such as Reid.

    Also, here’s a Link to more detail on the Reid land deal and several other sleazy deals as well; there are further Links at the end of the fstory.

  31. 31.

    Pooh

    October 13, 2006 at 7:54 pm

    Here’s the correct Link referring to Reid’s need to step aside, per the editorial.

    It was of course a simple omission that it is only calling for him to step aside from a leadership position. But that’s what you meant by “resign,” right?

    but it is instructive when it comes from a liberal newspaper not generally known for opposing liberals such as Reid.

    So what say you about the Washington Times calling for Hastert’s head? (crickets…)

    Really, try harder. The point of an agent provacateur is to, you know, provoke…

  32. 32.

    Steve

    October 13, 2006 at 9:28 pm

    Isn’t it just AMAZING how every single newspaper in the world is automatically “liberal”? Even if you endorsed Bush over Gore, you’re a liberal paper, cause duh, the media is liberal!

    I personally doubt there is a single newspaper in Pennsylvania which doesn’t criticize Democrats all the time, cause as fate would have it, the state is full of corrupt Dems.

    It’s amusing to see what substitutes for actual argument. No one can explain why this ought to be a major scandal, so they just look for proxy arguments… “Well, a super-liberal paper says Reid better have a good explanation! Obviously they wouldn’t say that unless it was a super-huge deal!”

    Yeah, explain why it matters, or give it up.

  33. 33.

    rachel

    October 14, 2006 at 2:07 am

    What’s Dug Jay going on about? I thought John Cole already posted about Reid’s land deal, and that he eventually decided there was not much “there” there.

  34. 34.

    Bombadil

    October 14, 2006 at 12:43 pm

    What’s Dug Jay going on about? I thought John Cole already posted about Reid’s land deal, and that he eventually decided there was not much “there” there.

    Yeah, and the same can be said about Dug Jay.

  35. 35.

    The Other Steve

    October 15, 2006 at 10:23 pm

    How come you overlooked Harry Reid? I see that a half dozen of our nation’s newspapers editorialized against him over yet one more of his shady and unethical business deals, including The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal Constitution and The Philadelphia Inquirer. The latter paper concluded: “Unless Reid comes up with a better explanation for this lack of disclosure, Democrats should not keep him as their leader in the new Congress in 2007.”

    I agree.

    Hillary Clinton would make a much better majority leader in the Senate than Harry Reid.

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