Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2014 / Today in GOP Sociopathology

Today in GOP Sociopathology

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We’ve got two headliners today.

First up, child labor cheerleader Jack Kingston, a congressman from Georgia now looking for a promotion to the Senate, claimed that he’s no hater of the poor for saying this:

“Why don’t you have the kids pay a dime, pay a nickel to instill in them that there is, in fact, no such thing as a free lunch? Or maybe sweep the floor of the cafeteria — and yes, I understand that that would be an administrative problem, and I understand that it would probably lose you money,” Kingston said at a Jackson County Republican Party meeting, according to video surfaced by the Huffington Post. “But think what we would gain as a society in getting people — getting the myth out of their head that there is such a thing as a free lunch.”

But nah, that wasn’t aimed at shaming and constraining the poor, swears Kingston (R-eternally misunderstood).  Rather,

“This is not targeted to any one group,” Kingston said. “It would be very helpful for kids in any socio-economic group to do chores and learn the work ethic….I never did say poor kids.”

Over to you, M. Anatole France:

Thomas_kennington_orphans_1885

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

And then there is that noted scholar of the Civil Rights era, Ian Bayne, a Republican candidate running for the nomination to challenge Rep. Bill Foster, an actual smart person and a Democrat representing Illinois’s 11th district.  Mr Bayne identifies the ties that bind two characters most observers of lesser penetration would never have uncovered:

“In December 1955, Rosa Parks took a stand against an unjust societal persecution of black people, and in December 2013, Robertson took a stand against persecution of Christians,” Bayne wrote in the email. “What Parks did was courageous.”

Bayne added in the email that “what Robertson did was courageous too.”

That would be Duck Dynast Phil Robertson, who, as we all know, is convinced that African Americans with whom he worked in the pre-Civil Rights era were, as he put it “Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.”  And who says in the context of a current civil rights struggle, that gay men and women are bound not for equality before the law, but for Sheol:

“Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers–they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right. [via Ta-Nehisi Coates]

So, let’s recap:  Rosa Parks risks jail, bodily harm, quite possibly death to secure the minimal rights of citizenship for Americans who have been subjugated through a reign of terror for a century since the end of outright chattel slavery.  Some guy spouts hate at blacks and gays.

Just the same.

Ladles and Jellyspoons:  Your modern GOP.  A party that does not vomit out such characters cannot be allowed anywhere near the reins of power.

Or, as my man Cato would say, Factio Grandaeva Delenda Est

Image: Thomas Kennington, Orphans,1885.

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  2. 2.

    jonas

    Image: Thomas Kennington,Orphans Couple of Moochers Who Haven’t Learned the Value of Hard Day’s Work Just Look At Them Sitting On Their Sorry Asses There,1885.

    FTFY

  7. 7.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    Presumably, well-off children would be able to buy their way out of indenture.

  8. 8.

    jonas

    Rosa Parks risks jail, bodily harm, quite possibly death to secure the minimal rights of citizenship for Americans who have been subjugated through a reign of terror for a century since the end of outright chattel slavery.

    Well you obviously don’t know what it’s like to have a store clerk tell you “Happy Holidays” when the big crucifix around your neck makes it obvious you’re a Christian. It really hurts your feelings. I totally know how the Jews felt as they were herded onto the cattle cars now.

  10. 10.

    c u n d gulag

    It’s “The Age of Cruelty.”

    It’s not enough now to have more poor people than at any time since LBJ started his successful “War on Poverty.”
    No.
    Now, it’s open class warfare, where every level in the economic stratum, denigrates and tries to stomp on the next level down, and do a victory dance over them.

    In the last 30-40 years, some levels of sociopathy has entered into this country.

    Maybe the Fluoride in the water didn’t just harden our teeth, but our heads and hearts?

  11. 11.

    Librarian

    Comparing themselves to the civil rights movement has become a standard tactic for the wingnuts. They’re doing at least 3 things here: they’re portraying themselves as persecuted victims, which is what they always love to do; they are saying that liberals/Democrats/African Americans are the real racists; and they are trying to take the moral high ground by identifying themselves with the civil rights movement.

  12. 12.

    cokane

    Glad Robertson said what he said. The problem is not GOP politicians. The problem is GOP voters. While gerrymandering is an issue, it’s an undeniable fact that some of the crazies in the House and Senate are truly representing their constituency.

  16. 16.

    Glocksman

    Yes, under Comrade Barack Hussein Obama, all right thinking pious Christians are being persecuted as we type.
    The FEMA camps are being readied as we speak.
    This travesty must end and the true Constitution be put back in place under the leadership of such fine outstanding Christian men such as David Vitter and Ted Haggard.

    Santa is white.
    They’re after our precious bodily fluids.

    Did I miss anything?

  17. 17.

    GregB

    The GOP goons like Kingston and spinach chin Duck Dad and their fellow travelers want to turn America into a dicktopia.

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    Also, I love how Kingston’s defense is that he’s not bashing poor kids, just poor kids who get free lunch. He’s just trying to convince them that slowly starving to death is morally superior to eating regular meals, amirite?

  22. 22.

    Mandalay

    The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

    This quote reminds me of the great Scottish trade unionist and former Communist, Jimmy Reid. He contrasted the bogus freedom of anyone being able to buy a Rolls Royce or stay at The Savoy, with the real freedom to starve.

    This brief YouTube clip is worth the time.

  27. 27.

    Zifnab25

    Is there really any difference between Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a bus, and Phil Robertson calling Rosa Parks a welfare queen? I mean, freedom of speech people. I didn’t see Rosa Parks losing her gig on a top rated cable tv show.

    God damn liberals and their double standards. Wish we could make them sit on the back of the bus.

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @eemom: Actually, it was written by a Cricket (as in Buddy Holly and the…) and it was a top ten hit for the Bobby Fuller Four long before the Clash covered it. But now I’m just being a jerk.

  30. 30.

    Bhaal

    So, Mr. Kingston went to public grade school in the ’60s where he received “free” lunches in the school cafeteria. Has he forgotten about the fish sticks?

  31. 31.

    Betty Cracker

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Wasn’t she a big Palin fan as well?

    OMFG, yes! Palin gave her a bigger ladyboner than Madonna ever did. The fact that Paglia continues to draw breath while Molly Ivins is no more is proof enough for me that we are insignificant creatures in a godless, indifferent universe.

  35. 35.

    Suffern ACE

    @schrodinger’s cat: lol. I was just going to comment that Paglia is the bisexual equivalent of Sullivan. They share their dislike of anything left leaning gays and lesbians organize around (those types. you know. who ask that people do things). His problem with women who aren’t Thatcher is cancelled out by her disdain for gay men, especially gay men who like the same pop cultural icons that she does. They ruin it for her.

  36. 36.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    In 1965 a federal court ruled that Louisiana Tech University would have to desegregate.

    In 1966 and 1967 Phil Robertson was the starting QB for the Louisiana Tech football team. (His successor was some guy named Terry Bradshaw, BTW.)

    Is anyone on the planet who isn’t a movement conservative stupid enough to think that Phil Robertson is being honest about his youthful experiences with “the blacks”?

  38. 38.

    eemom

    @Betty Cracker:

    The fact that Paglia continues to draw breath while Molly Ivins is no more is proof enough for me that we are insignificant creatures in a godless, indifferent universe.

    Athefuckmen.

  39. 39.

    ranchandsyrup

    OT but I’m really enjoying the karma that Utah conservatives are reaping from their meddling in Prop 8 proceedings. I usually say that the best way to add insult to injury is when you’re signing a cast, but eventually losing on Prop 8 and in their home state is doing a good approximation.

  46. 46.

    mclaren

    Your modern GOP. A party that does not vomit out such characters cannot be allowed anywhere near the reins of power.

    I think you mean:

    Your modern GOP. A party that vomits out such characters cannot be allowed anywhere near the reins of power.

    It helps to read this stuff aloud before you post it, Tom.

  52. 52.

    Platypus

    If anything, it’s the rich kids who should take a turn cleaning up the cafeteria. It might be their only chance to see how the other half is forced to live.

  53. 53.

    LanceThruster

    Nice piece here —

    “Thus did a handful of rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth controlling in America. Thus was the savage and stupid and entirely inappropriate and unnecessary and humorless American class system created. Honest, industrious, peaceful citizens were classed as bloodsuckers, if they asked to be paid a living wage. And they saw that praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed. Thus the American dream turned belly up, turned green, bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited, filled with gas, went bang in the noonday sun.”

    ~ Kurt Vonnegut (God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater)

  55. 55.

    Birthmarker

    The school lunch program provides free or reduced meals, so many students do pay partial cost based on parent ability to pay. Some schools have 40, 50, 60% or more qualifying for the program. Can you imagine the logistics of having hundreds of kids attempting to sweep to earn their lunch?

    I will be so glad when this fake DD crisis passes. The DD guys have the right to say whatever they want, and A&E, a commercial enterprise, has the right to refuse to broadcast them …

  57. 57.

    Tom Levenson

    @mclaren: Actually, my fine feathered friend, I meant what I said. A health party would vomit out such evil, and then use the contents of the buckets for chum.

    Capisce?

  58. 58.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Trollhattan:

    Brown’s abject failure to have scabs on his knuckles (from dragging them on the ground, like those crazies in the crowd) foretells his electoral doom in the NH GOP primaries.

  61. 61.

    linda

    @beltane: How sweet! She is attempting to stretch her long-past 15 minutes. Bless her heart, in the southern sense of the phrase.

    Many people are willing to give the duck guy a pass, because they tolerate many assholes themselves without exiling them. But I don’t know anybody with a firing neuron who thinks they are heroes or martyrs.

  62. 62.

    rea

    No Black sang the blues in rural Louisiana before the civil rights movement? He sure don’t know much about music, among other things.

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