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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2012 / Adventures in Wingnut Arithmetic

Adventures in Wingnut Arithmetic

by Dennis G.|  September 6, 20126:20 pm| 49 Comments

This post is in: Election 2012, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, Teabagger Stupidity

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<a href=”http://s1162.photobucket.com/albums/q524/dengre/?action=view&amp;current=f111bf2d.jpg” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1162.photobucket.com/albums/q524/dengre/f111bf2d.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Photobucket”></a>

While we wait for the evening’s events to kick off, I thought I would share a fresh dispatch from crazytown.

This one comes from old Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland who told an audience that Federal involvement in student loans will take us down the path Germany followed in the 1930s to Hitler.

Why? Well that requires one to leave all reality and embrace  a little Wingnut math and crazytown logic. According to Roscoe, he could not find “education” in his narrow reading of the Constitution, nor could he find any way that the Federal government could have any role in education in the text. Therefore, the student loan program–regardless of the intentions–will lead to a Holocaust:

 “Not that it’s not a good idea to give students loans, it certainly is a good idea to give them loans,” Bartlett said. “But if you can ignore the Constitution to do something good today, tomorrow you will be ignoring the Constitution to do something bad. You could. There are more people in our, in America today of German ancestry than any other [inaudible]. The Holocaust that occurred in Germany — how in the heck could that happen? And when you start down the wrong road, it can be a very slippery slope.”

Roscoe’s crazy filters are switched to ‘off’ and that has him marching in step with his Wingnut brethren  Only in their reality-free world could you make the case that Federal Student Loans are the first step down the slippery slope to mass murder and genocide–that plus black helicopters, armed Social Security shock troops and the Kenyan usurper in the white man’s house.

Thanks to redistricting in Maryland, Roscoe is facing his first competitive campaign and people are paying attention to the crazy things he says. We only need 25 seats to take back the House and Roscoe will be one of them.

I’m fired up and ready to go. Let’s clean House, hold onto the Senate and Re-Elect the President!

Cheers

 

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Reader Interactions

49Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    September 6, 2012 at 6:22 pm

    Definitely fired up and ready to go.

  2. 2.

    Short Bus Bully

    September 6, 2012 at 6:24 pm

    Time for a little blowback from 2010 to start happening. These crazy fucks are wearing out their welcome.

    Is it just me or do the Dems actually seem organized, fired up, and ready to fight?

    /boggle

  3. 3.

    Comrade Jake

    September 6, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    Are we sure this isn’t the Roscoe from The Dukes of Hazard?

  4. 4.

    Violet

    September 6, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    So fired up! I want Obama to win, I want to keep the Senate and increase the numbers of Dems in the Senate and I want to take back the House. I want NANCY SMASH with that giant gavel to send Sad Tangerine back to the bar where he belongs. I want to crush the Republicans. Grind their racist, homophobic, misogynist, 1%, IGMFY asses into dust.

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    September 6, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    “Not that it’s not a good idea to give students loans…”

    Time to repeal the GI Bill, maybe get rid of the VA as well. Damn them troops, expecting benefits not specified in the Constitution.

    And who needs edjimakation when ya got the Bible and the Baby Jebus. Too much book learning and you won’t understand that creationism is in the Constitution and is the supreme law of the land.

  6. 6.

    Roy G.

    September 6, 2012 at 6:28 pm

    On the flip side, maintaining the Post Office as part of the federal govt’s duties IS in the Constitution.

    But then again, consistency is an blind spot for these loons. Kinda like lying.

  7. 7.

    JPL

    September 6, 2012 at 6:28 pm

    UHOH..Debbie just said that vouchers wouldn’t keep up with costs but she didn’t say health care costs….
    factcheck wrong…. maybe pants on fire and four pinocchio’s

  8. 8.

    MaryJane

    September 6, 2012 at 6:29 pm

    Hmm. There’s lots of Republican voters of German ancestry in the Wisconsin/Michigan/Ohio region. Wonder if they’ll mind being linked to Hitler.
    Nah, since Fox won’t report this, they won’t hear it.

  9. 9.

    EriktheRed

    September 6, 2012 at 6:32 pm

    We only need 25 seats to take back the House and Roscoe will be one of them.

    Joe Walsh will be another one, I can assure you.

  10. 10.

    Steve

    September 6, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    Am I wrong to think he is saying that German-Americans, given the right set of circumstances, might be prone to doing another Holocaust? I wonder what they will think over in Germantown.

  11. 11.

    Dennis G.

    September 6, 2012 at 6:35 pm

    Did you know you can now text a donation to President Obama?

    I saw this on a Obama teevee ad the other night.

    You dial 62262 and text GIVE.

    You’ll get a confirmation text. You reply and text YES.

    Then your donation is added to your phone bill.

    It is pretty simple and I expect that we’ll hear about it tonight.

  12. 12.

    qwerty42

    September 6, 2012 at 6:36 pm

    And FEMA camps. Can’t forget the FEMA camps.

  13. 13.

    Mary G

    September 6, 2012 at 6:38 pm

    Can we note when a new thread opens in the old one?

  14. 14.

    SFAW

    September 6, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    Roscoe’s been taking Word Salad lessons from Caribou Barbie.

  15. 15.

    GxB

    September 6, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    @Comrade Jake: “I just did done scuffed my con-sti-tution” (hey if you didn’t watch you were the biggest dork in fourth grade – peer pressure is hell at that age)

  16. 16.

    Jibeaux

    September 6, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    @JPL: I don’t even know how we can make a determination on the accuracy of that statement without more information as to her sexual history.

  17. 17.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 6, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    So the “general welfare” does not include education.

    I’m sure Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison would find old Roscoe’s arguments “interesting” as in “an interesting study in seriously stupid”.

  18. 18.

    Joseph Nobles

    September 6, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    How about Glenn Beck, whose Jewish flight attendant didn’t open his soda for him and slammed it down in front of him, thus leaving Glenn to muse whether the guy had any family who might have suffered in the Holocaust? And also to ponder what Glenn might have done to him to make him exact his “pound of flesh”, a direct quote from his Tuesday radio show?

    This guy spoke in front of the Knesset in the past year. And now he’s talking about a “pound of flesh” over an unopened Diet Coke.

  19. 19.

    SFAW

    September 6, 2012 at 6:44 pm

    @qwerty42:

    And FEMA camps. Can’t forget the FEMA camps.

    Are those the ones with “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“No Free Welfare! You Suckahs Gotta Work!”) signs all over the place?

  20. 20.

    mclaren

    September 6, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    Isn’t it interesting that no one (Republicans or the people on this forum) is talking about the things are actually sending America down the same path as Hitler’s Germany today?

    Namely, America’s out-of-control limitlessly more repressive police-military-surveillance-torture complex.

    We now live in a country where refusal to produce your “papers” to a cop who demands to see them for no reason will result in your getting tased, beaten, pepper-sprayed, choked with a choke hold and dragged away by four burly riot-armored officers while a K-9 police dog savages your genitals.

    If that isn’t Nazi Germany, I don’t know what the fuck is. And we’re already there, baby. We are there.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    September 6, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    @Joseph Nobles:

    This guy spoke in front of the Knesset in the past year.

    Which is amazing considering how Shy he is, but he was a Lock for the job.

    (Sorry for that one.)

  22. 22.

    Lev

    September 6, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    Anyone live in Florida that can tell me if Allen West could go down? I know he moved to a redder district, but he’s still Allen West, and the polling has been all over the place.

    My personal hope is that Christine Vilsack takes down Steve King. Getting that obnoxious hatemonger out of office would be a real coup. If you’re looking for somewhere to park your donation money…

  23. 23.

    Suffern ACE

    September 6, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    Finslly someone in tune with the issue having the youth of the day

  24. 24.

    piratedan

    September 6, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    well it’s a good thing that Roscoe’s retirement and health care is covered by our hallowed drafters of that sacred document….

  25. 25.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    September 6, 2012 at 6:55 pm

    @mclaren: If you haven’t done anything wrong…

  26. 26.

    sparrow

    September 6, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    I also like the random jab at descendants of German immigrants… huh? Is he trying to say that they’re all liberals? Are we supposed to hate Germans now or something? confused.

  27. 27.

    MattF

    September 6, 2012 at 6:58 pm

    Roscoe’s got a heap of crazy:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/the-survivalist-roscoe-bartlett-prepares-for-a-threatened-future/2012/08/17/040e76c6-dda9-11e1-8e43-4a3c4375504a_story.html

  28. 28.

    Surreal American

    September 6, 2012 at 6:59 pm

    I swear it’s to the point that GOP candidates are just daring each other to say over-the-top stupid shit.

  29. 29.

    MikeJ

    September 6, 2012 at 7:05 pm

    The Air Force isn’t mentioned in the constitution.

  30. 30.

    tjmn

    September 6, 2012 at 7:11 pm

    Godwin’s law. Corollary- Anyone mentioning Hitler comparison should just be ignored.

  31. 31.

    Dennis G.

    September 6, 2012 at 7:13 pm

    @Surreal American: You may be onto something…

  32. 32.

    grandpa john

    September 6, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: what I was thinking. and I bet that Air traffic controllers are not mentioned either are they?
    As our population grows linearly, it appears that the growth of stupid dumb asses is exponential

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    September 6, 2012 at 7:16 pm

    @MikeJ:

    The Air Force isn’t mentioned in the constitution.

    Well, technically it’s not, but it’s sorta implied in Article II, Section 5, which give the President authority/command over the hordes of Flying Monkeys.

  34. 34.

    WereBear

    September 6, 2012 at 7:17 pm

    @Violet: Gee, Violet, tell us how you really feel :)

    It’s admittedly how how I feel.

  35. 35.

    Paul R

    September 6, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    Not sure where the German thing comes from. I grew up in Hagerstown, the biggest town in his district, which was settled by Germans (and a lot of the inhabitants including myself are of German ancestry), so you’d think he wouldn’t insult his own constituents. The district’s been pretty conservative until the redistricting — most of it is in Appalachia. I guess my Santorum-votin’ mom will have to have a democrat representing her.

  36. 36.

    SFAW

    September 6, 2012 at 7:22 pm

    @Violet:
    Or, as Shakespeare or someone else said:
    To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the Koch brothers.

  37. 37.

    Joseph Nobles

    September 6, 2012 at 7:23 pm

    @SFAW: Ooooooooooh…

  38. 38.

    Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937

    September 6, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    There are more people in our, in America today of German ancestry

    so Germans are predisposed to being Nazis? This guy is trying to out-Malkin Malkin

  39. 39.

    feebog

    September 6, 2012 at 7:29 pm

    @ Lev:

    New poll out, showing Murphy up one point over West in FL 18. In other words, a statistical tie.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/allen-west-patrick-murphy_n_1843401.html

  40. 40.

    mclaren

    September 6, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    @Surreal American:

    Yes, the Republican version is “Stupid or Dare.”

  41. 41.

    danah gaz

    September 6, 2012 at 7:39 pm

    @SFAW: “Well, technically it’s not, but it’s sorta implied in Article II, Section 5, which give the President authority/command over the hordes of Flying Monkeys.”

    LOL.

    On a serious note, I’ve heard many a bagger originalist defend the airforce over a broad interpretation of the constitution. Curiously, when I apply the same nature of arguments to the social safety net due to the “General Welfare” bit, they look at me like I’m speaking greek.

    Apparently if it doesn’t involve killing people, it’s not constitutional. Free Dumb, I guess.

  42. 42.

    danah gaz

    September 6, 2012 at 7:41 pm

    @Joseph Nobles: That’s more civil than what I would have done. I’d have opened it for him – right in his cow-eyes (after a thorough shake)

  43. 43.

    Soonergrunt

    September 6, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    There’s nothing in the Constitution authorizing the purchase of tanks or airplanes (or even the existence of a standing military) but we do that.

  44. 44.

    WereBear

    September 6, 2012 at 7:46 pm

    @danah gaz: Umm. I would have shaken it up good back in the galley.

  45. 45.

    danah gaz

    September 6, 2012 at 7:49 pm

    @WereBear: I doubt it would matter where you did it. You seem to be assuming he has the attention span of at least a 2 year old – an assertion I find to be questionable due to a total lack of evidence. =)

    Remember – this is a man that needed a chalkboard assist for stream-of-consciousness babbling

  46. 46.

    Poopyman

    September 6, 2012 at 7:57 pm

    I think Roscoe’s about the only MD politician NOT to be speaking at the convention this week.

    Oh my! That would be hilarious.

  47. 47.

    Calming Influence

    September 6, 2012 at 8:50 pm

    I think you’re all missing the point. It’s nothing against student loans per se; student loans could be something the Republicans would support, if only they had been mentioned in the Constitution, and specifically for the purpose of keeping the United States from turning into Nazi Germany.

    That’s also why we’re allowed to eat shellfish, but not gay marry our dog.

  48. 48.

    Lordwhorfin

    September 6, 2012 at 9:11 pm

    Roscoe is channeling, like most of these choads, some version of the comic book edition of Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. They are stone-dense.

  49. 49.

    jimmiraybob

    September 6, 2012 at 9:31 pm

    …how in the heck could that happen?

    Centuries of anti-Jewish hatred stoked by the church and a strong desire to restore lost tradition and family values?

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