You can always count on Newt Gingrich to give you bang for your buck when it comes to rhetorical diarrhea. Here’s how it’s done.

At a campaign event in Suwanee, Georgia, the former House Speaker told supporters that he would bring back cheaper gas because “you can’t put a gun rack on a Volt.”

“There is no reason not to believe that we couldn’t stabilize with American production by drowning demand in supply the old-fashioned, free market way,” he explained. “There’s not reason we couldn’t have a stable price around $2 or $2.50 [per gallon].”

In a couple of lines Gingrich was able to attack President Obama and his campaign for clean energy, lie about what can be done about gas prices, suck up to gun owners (at least those gun owners who believe a personal vehicle is never fully accessorized until it has a gun rack prominently displayed) and all the while keep his ‘pompous buffoon‘ image intact. The man has talent.

For the record…

a) Domestic oil production has gone up under Obama.

b) There are a number of outside influences (e.g. economy, war, demand, Iran) which affect gas prices and make it impossible for a President to control prices at any one time. Economists will tell you that the main reason for the recent spike in gas prices is the fact that the economy is improving. A better economy means greater demand for fuel which means higher prices. Economy 101. A President Gingrich would not be able to unilaterally determine gas prices.

c) Why the hell would anyone want to put a gun rack in their Volt?

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(The Newt Gingrich source photograph for this illustration is a Creative Commons licensed image from photographer Gage Skidmore.)

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How deep does the hate for this President by right-wing loons run?  Read this bit of garbage from NRA Executive VP Wayne Lapierre and you’ll have a fair idea.  You’ll find the hate runs pretty deep…

[I]n public, [President Obama will] remind us that he’s put off calls from his party to renew the old Clinton [assault weapons] gun ban, he hasn’t pushed for new gun control laws, and he’ll even say he looked the other way when Congress passed a couple of minor pro-gun bills by huge majorities. The president will offer the Second Amendment lip service and hit the campaign trail saying he’s actually been good for the Second Amendment.

But it’s a big fat stinking lie, just like all the other lies that have come out of this corrupt administration. It’s all part — it’s all part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in our country. [...]

Before the President was even sworn into office, they met and they hatched a conspiracy of public deception to try to guarantee his re-election in 2012. [...]

And Obama himself is no fool.  So when he got elected, they concocted a scheme to stay away from the gun issue, lull gun owners to sleep, and play us for fools in 2012. Well, gun owners are not fools, and we are not fooled. We see the president’s strategy crystal clear: get re-elected, and with no other re-elections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroying our firearms freedom. Erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and exorcise it from the U.S. Constitution. That’s their agenda.

Lovely.  The NRA has nothing to pin on President Obama in regards to their gun rights being diminished so they accuse him of a conspiracy which has him laying low for four years and then coming back in his second term with the full intent of taking away their beloved guns.

And what do these degenerates have to serve as evidence for any of this?  Nothing…except for the frantic and delusional little voices running unchecked in their hate-filled, irrational minds.

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If you had any doubts about how powerful the NRA’s influence is in Republican congressional circles, this might clear it up for you.

Republicans on the House Judiciary panel shot down a proposal Thursday to prevent weapon sales to suspected terrorists.

In a party-line vote of 21-11, the committee Republicans killed an amendment from Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) that would have blocked firearm purchases by those on the FBI’s terrorist watch list.

To put this in context, Republicans have no problem preventing anyone on the the terrorist watch list from boarding a commercial airplane and flying over U.S. airspace. Nor do they have issues with Americans civil rights being violated via the Patriot Act (e.g. wiretaps on Americans conducted without warrants).  Where they do draw the line though, is preventing anyone from obtaining a gun even if that person is on the FBI’s terrorist watch list.  Why is that?  Well according to Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas it’s because it would be unthinkable to deny Second Amendment rights to an individual who was mistakenly placed on the terrorist watch list.

What a pathetic joke of an argument. I wonder if Gohmert has the same concerns about an innocent person being sentenced to death in his state of Texas where 467 have been killed since 1982 (1218 since 1819). Here is a partial list of people executed in Texas where new evidence uncovered after their death gives reason to doubt their guilt.

Carlos DeLuna Texas Conviction: 1983, Executed: 1989
Ruben Cantu Texas Convicted: 1985, Executed: 1993
David Spence Texas Conviction: 1984, Executed: 1997
Gary Graham Texas Convicted: 1981, Executed: 2000,
Claude Jones Texas Convicted 1989, Executed 2000
Cameron Willingham Texas Convicted: 1992, Executed: 2004

Could the hypocrisy and shallowness of Gohmert and his Republican cohorts be any clearer?  Execute an innocent man or prevent someone from flying because his name shows up on a terrorist watch list and it’s fine with them.  But have peaceful Muslims attempt to build a mosque in the U.S. or try to deny a possible terrorist from purchasing a gun and the claws come out and the screeching begins.

Clearly, the only rights Republicans are trying to protect in this instance are those of the NRA – one of the GOP’s many puppet masters.  Any thinking American with a conscience and love of country should be terribly concerned about ever granting Republicans – the party controlled by idiots, charlatans and scoundrels – the reins of power.  This one should have been a no-brainer for a party which has staked its name on implementing strong national security measures.

Democrat Mike Quigley:

“We’re here today to try to resolve the question of how best to strike the proper balance between ensuring our national security and protecting our civil liberties.”

Well, Mr. Quigley, you surely know by now that you’re up against a political party that doesn’t give a damn about striking a balance between anything. Logic, consistency and honesty are not what the GOP do. But that’s quite understandable for a political entity whose only driving force is the word of lobbyists for special interest groups who own Republicans outright. When you understand that little fact, then every seemingly illogical, heartless and lame-brained act by Republicans makes perfect sense, including allowing suspected terrorists to purchase guns in the U.S.

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Another wonderful idea courtesy of the Texas legislature…

Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus, adding momentum to a national campaign to open this part of society to firearms.

More than half the members of the Texas House have signed on as co-authors of a measure directing universities to allow concealed handguns. The Senate passed a similar bill in 2009 and is expected to do so again. Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who sometimes packs a pistol when he jogs, has said he’s in favor of the idea.

Do we really need to argue the many reasons why this is a dumb idea?  Where are all the vigilante stories about some gun-carrying citizen saving the day and preventing the massacre of dozens of innocent people at the hands of a gun-toting madman?  Why don’t we ever hear about those brave souls?  Instead we read about some kid getting a hold of his daddy’s gun and accidentally blowing a hole in his friend’s head.

And if “gun-free zones are shooting galleries for the mass murderers”, then should guns not be allowed in Texas’ government buildings?  Following the line of reasoning which says that guns on campus are a good idea, then it would follow that every citizen walking into their state legislator’s office to voice a complaint should be allowed to be armed.

Somehow you know that’s not going to happen, right?  The hypocrites would never allow it.

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“I blame the individual for the first 10 bullets.  I blame the law for the next 21 bullets that he fired.”

That was Lawrence O’Donnell in response to being asked who is to blame for the Tucson shooting.  He takes on GOP Rep. Trent Franks in a heated debate over gun control.

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There are no sensible gun laws which Republicans are willing to even consider. In their little minds, any common sense restriction is a first move toward taking away their 2nd Amendment rights.

The NRA so owns these guys.

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There’s something terribly sick about this.

Greg Wolff, the owner of two Arizona gun shops, told his manager to get ready for a stampede of new customers after a Glock-wielding gunman killed six people at a Tucson shopping center on Jan. 8.

Wolff was right. Instead of hurting sales, the massacre had the $499 semi-automatic pistols — popular with police, sport shooters and gangsters — flying out the doors of his Glockmeister stores in Mesa and Phoenix.

A national debate over weaknesses in state and federal gun laws stirred by the shooting has stoked fears among gun buyers that stiffer restrictions may be coming from Congress, gun dealers say. The result is that a deadly demonstration of the weapon’s effectiveness has also fired up sales of handguns in Arizona and other states, according to federal law enforcement data.

A mentally unstable individual murders six people and people rush out to purchase the weapon he used in the massacre. Insanity. Since the Saturday shooting, handgun sales across the country have risen by 5% which leads me to believe that gun manufacturers must celebrate each time a madman decides to listen to the little voices in his head.

And here’s more data to consider: Arizona has one of the least restrictive set of gun laws in the country in terms of ownership and carry requirements and you are five times more likely to die from a gun shot in Arizona than you are in Hawaii.  Concealed weapons require no special permit.  And guns, concealed or open carry, are permitted in most establishments including restaurants.  Not surprisingly, Arizona has the second highest tally of gun related deaths in the country.  The NRA will tell you that there is no correlation between gun laws and gun deaths, but the fact remains that the states with the most restrictive gun laws just happen to be the states with the fewest gun deaths.  Pure coincidence I’m sure.

In gun related lunacy…

A South Carolina gun and accessories company is selling semi-automatic rifle components inscribed with “You lie” – a tribute to the infamous words of 2nd District Republican Congressman Joe Wilson when he shouted at President Barack Obama during a congressional speech about national health care reform in the fall of 2009.

“Palmetto State Armory would like to honor our esteemed congressman Joe Wilson with the release of our new ‘You Lie’ AR-15 lower receiver,” reads a portion of the company’s website

“Only 999 of these will be produced, get yours before they are gone!” the website reads.

Does it sometimes feel as if it’s all getting a little crazier by the day?

Note: The gun store has since taken down the web page featuring the Joe “I Am A Lying Dick” Wilson assault rifle.
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The right-wing rag, The Washington Times, finds nefarious motive in the U.S. blocking South Korea from selling vintage World War II MI rifles stateside.

It’s more likely that the administration is seeking to win the admiration of gun grabbers. Mr. Obama has a history of supporting gun control as a state senator and U.S. senator, but he’s been limited in his ability to implement this anti-gun agenda as president. Democratic members of Congress remember the federal assault-weapons ban as one of the lead issues motivating voters to turn Congress over to Republicans in 1994. Senators facing tight races in pro-gun states don’t want to see a repeat of that midterm landslide. Therefore, the best way for Mr. Obama to appease the gun-grabbing fringe is to take actions that won’t bring too much attention to what he’s doing. As long as the destruction of these rifles stays under the public radar screen, he will have achieved his goal.

Too ridiculous.  As the DailyKos notes, if the President was seeking the “admiration of gun grabbers”, why would he keep the ban on MI rifles “under the public radar screen”?  Why not shout it out from the mountain tops?

There’s just no end to this crap.

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Photo credit: LA Times

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The crazies are winning this fight.

More than a dozen people packing pistols on their hips strolled down the Hermosa Beach strand Saturday, picking up garbage and distributing fliers about the rights of gun owners.

The event was part of a burgeoning and controversial “open carry” movement nationwide promoting the right to carry guns in public. Although carrying a concealed weapon is illegal without a permit, California allows people to openly carry guns in many areas as long as they are unloaded, though they can keep ammunition with them.

Members of South Bay Open Carry, which organized the beach cleanup, said they hope such events will dispel misgivings about gun owners and make carrying a handgun in public more acceptable. Organizers said they turned the event into a cleanup to demonstrate that they are contributing to the community.

“Just because somebody is carrying a gun doesn’t mean that they’re a criminal,” said Scott Brownlie, a 25-year-old firefighter who stood outside Peet’s Coffee & Tea with an unloaded Colt M-4 Carbine slung across his back. “If a lot of people were allowed to carry more … there would be a lot less crime.”

Forgive me if I’m somewhat skeptical about these people’s intent.  What we’re looking at here has less to do with battling crime and more to do with, as a reader aptly puts it, the steel dick syndrome.  Does anyone seriously believe that the guy with the Colt Carbine cares about anything other than how wonderfully macho he appears parading about with his shiny toy slung across his back?

From a San Diego Union-Tribune editorial:

It is just not acceptable to have people in modern-day California wandering around while openly packing pistols as if it were the Wild West.

And it’s not just families and coffee-shop patrons who are troubled by the displays. The California Police Chiefs Association is among the supporters of the bill.

“Open carry is not just a threat to public safety, it’s a threat to officers,” [said] Emeryville Police Chief Ken James.

The truth is that there are no reasonable gun control laws which could ever satisfy these people.  They want it all.  To think that anyone believes that walking into a McDonalds with your child and finding half the customers packing heat is in any way a sign of a smart, forward thinking society is frighteningly ignorant.

Blooming idiots, the entire lot.  Really.

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Virginia and Georgian have passed bills which allows patrons to carry guns into bars and restaurants.  Tennessee is trying to pass the same type of law after their first attempt was deemed to be unconstitutionally vague.

What part of “guns and alcohol don’t mix” do these jackasses not understand?  Rep. Joe McCord, a Republican state legislator who is not seeking re-election explains:

“Essentially, NRA is saying to us, if you don’t support and vote for carrying guns in bars, we will not endorse you.  This line of reasoning borders on lunacy.”

“What line will we not cross for the NRA? At what point do we say that’s too much?’ asked McCord, who is not seeking re-election. ‘I’m sorry for those of you who feel you have to hold your nose and vote for it … because of the NRA.”

The idiocy of laws like this are beyond comprehension.  Many saloons in the Old West had a ‘leave your guns at the door’ policy and now, a hundred and fifty years later, redneck states like Tennessee are being pushed by the NRA to enact moronic laws.

Hey, even Johnny Cash knew it was a bad idea.

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Between gun crazies, teabaggers, religious fanatics and other assorted nutjobs, it’s getting awfully scary out there in the land of the right.

Speaking of vetoes,  [West Virginia Governor] Manchin will be put in a quandary over a bill passed Saturday to have a sales tax holiday on firearms in October (HB4251).

Offering a tax-free weekend on gun sales potentially could get West Virginia booted out of the Streamlined Sales Tax agreement — an agreement between about 20 states, and retailers within those states, to collect and remit sales taxes on purchases (mainly via the Internet) that otherwise would go uncollected.

For West Virginia, that arrangement currently brings in about $3 million a year, which could be forfeited if the state violates the agreement by allowing a gun tax holiday, expected to save gun buyers only about $25,000 in sales taxes.

Legislators who voted for the bill not only picked up brownie points from the National Rifle Association, which was pushing the bill, but also knowingly put Manchin into a position of losing popularity points with some voters if he is obligated to veto the bill.

Apparently the ‘Obama-is-gonna-take-away-your-guns’ movement is picking up steam.  Is it obvious enough that the right has given up any attempt at rational thought?  It’s like one huge Glenn Beck Show out there…every hour, every day.

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(Hat Tip: BalloonJuice)

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