As if Rick Perry wasn’t already facing an uphill battle, he’s now getting the endorsement of Arizona’s number one egomaniac, Sheriff Joe.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a man who’s made a career out of bootin’ brown folks back across the border, is reportedly going to endorse Rick Perry as the Republican nominee for president — which is more than a little surprising (if it’s true, that is), when you consider some of Perry’s recent comments about illegal immigration.

According to multiple national news outlets, Arpaio will campaign with Perry in New Hampshire on Tuesday, where he will give the Texas governor a political tip of the cap.

Arpaio’s endorsement might be a plus in the primary where the GOP base is fond of maniacal birthers and corrupt, pseudo-law enforcement agents more intent on self-promotion than actual crime prevention.  But in a general election with a broader-minded electorate, Arpaio’s endorsement is the kiss of death.  Not than any of it matters.  Perry isn’t going anywhere in this race except back to Texas.

Here’s what I’d like to know though: has Sheriff Joe, the man who set his “posse” out to uncover Obama’s Kenyan roots, asked to see Perry’s long-form birth certificate?  And if he hasn’t, why not?  Nothing to do with skin color I hope.

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To answer the question from the post heading, not much.  Cain has become a walking, talking joke.

My China strategy is quite simply outgrow China. It gets back to economics. China has a $6 trillion economy and they’re growing at approximately 10 percent. We have a $14 trillion economy — much bigger — but we’re growing at an anemic 1.5, 1.6 percent. When we get our economy growing back at the rate of 5 or 6 percent that it has the ability to do, we will outgrow China.And secondly, we already have superiority in terms of our military capability, and I plan to get away from making cutting our defense a priority and make investing in our military capability a priority, going back to my statement: peace through strength and clarity. So yes they’re a military threat. They’ve indicated that they’re trying to develop nuclear capability and they want to develop more aircraft carriers like we have. So yes, we have to consider them a military threat.

a) If China has a $6 trillion economy (it does) and if it’s growing at a rate of 10% (it is) and if the US has a $14 trillion economy (it does) and should that US economy grow at the rate Cain hopes it does (5 – 6%), then China will surpass the US and not the other way around.

Math, as we’ve come to learn, is not one of Cain’s strong suits.

b) China has at least 240 nuclear warheads and in all probability, many more than that.  China has been in the nuclear arsenal game since 1964.

Facts, as we’ve come to learn, are not one of Cain’s strong suits.

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In the last post, Gary Johnson spoke of Republicans, social issues and intolerance.  Let’s now take a look at Republicans and the views on climate change held by those vying for the President’s job.

Rick Perry:

“I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. And I think we are seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change. I don’t think, from my perspective, that I want America to be engaged in spending that much money on still a scientific theory that has not been proven, and from my perspective, is more and more being put into question.”

Michele Bachmann:

“I think all these issues have to be settled on the base of real science, not manufactured science.”

Rick Santorum:

“It’s just an excuse for more government control of your life.  And I’ve never been for any scheme or even accepted the junk science behind the whole narrative.”

Jon Huntsman:

“The minute that the Republican Party becomes the party – the anti-science party, we have a huge problem.  We lose a whole lot of people who would otherwise allow us to win the election in 2012.  When we take a position that isn’t willing to embrace evolution, when we take a position that basically runs counter to what 98 of 100 climate scientists have said, what the National Academy of Science – Sciences has said about what is causing climate change and man’s contribution to it, I think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science, and, therefore, in a losing position.”

And we won’t even get into Republicans and evolution.

Make no mistake about it, the Republican Party is the anti-science party.  But if critical thinking is not your thing and you happen to be a Fox News guzzling lapdog who watches and believes the crap served on that network, then Perry, Bachmann and Santorum are the ones you should be sticking with.  And if Sister Sarah joins the race, throw her into the moron heap as well.  But if you’re a thinking conservative, then you might want to consider Huntsman.  A presidential debate between Mr. Huntsman and President Obama would be a fine thing to watch and would do much to elevate American politics beyond the cartoon spectacle it has now become.  Sadly, it’ll never happen.

Who is leading the Republican primary?  Rick Perry. Who doesn’t have a chance in hell of winning the primary?  Jon Huntsman.

Obviously, the GOP has no intention of relinquishing its well earned title as the Party of Ignorance.

UPDATE:

Michael Tomasky is also impressed with Huntsman…

Far be it from me to fail to do my small part to help seal Jon Huntsman’s doom, so count me as one more impressed liberal. His tweet from last week about believing in science and evolution and his remarks from his This Week appearance on Sunday, in which he disparaged his opponents on various reality-based grounds, were the words of a man who actually occupies this planet (and I mean the 4.5 billion-year-old one, not the one formed divinely 6,000 years ago when caveman and dinosaur fell simultaneously from the sky). Occupying this planet, of course, gives him no chance of winning the GOP primary, but it does give the rest of us a narrow thread of hope about the future.

[...]

The Huntsman strategy here is obvious: position himself as the moderate and reasonable guy on the off chance Republicans decide to be moderate and reasonable. We must assume he is aware that his odds on this are rather long, so what he’s really hoping for is to be the consensus candidate of 2016. Maybe the party just has to go through this purge, this Reign of Terror; so just let it do that, and once it does and nominates an extremist who can’t beat a weak incumbent during a time of 9 percent unemployment rates, and the heads are piled high enough in the tumbrels and enough people finally have returned to their senses, he will ride the Thermidorian wave to victory after Obama leaves town.

…but with a warning for liberals.

Remember: at the recent Fox News debate, when the candidates were asked to raise their hands if they would oppose a long-term budget deal that cut $10 for every single dollar it raised in revenue, Huntsman’s hand shot up just like Mitt Romney’s and Newt Gingrich’s did. There are some forms of standing out he is clearly not willing to do, and let’s keep focused on those, because liberals are too easily won over (as he surely knows) by Republicans who sound reasonable on cultural issues.

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How hot has it been across the U.S.?

Well, as CBS reports…

• 17 states have issued heat warnings and advisories
•  Oklahoma City has seen 47 consecutive days of 90+ degree temperature with only a single day this month below 100
• Record temperatures in various cities and towns has seen the high temperature record tied or broken over 800 times
• Tallahassee, Florida: 105 degrees on June 15 – Record high
• Amarillo, Texas: 111 degrees on June 26 – Record high
• Borger, Texas: 112 degrees  on June 26 – Record high
• Childress, Texas: 117 degrees on June 26 – Record high
• Gage, Oklahoma: 113 degrees on June 26 – Record high
• 29% of the U.S. is in drought and 12% is in exceptional drought – both are record highs

Tragic circumstances as the weather plays havoc with the lives of millions. So, what does Mary Fallin, Oklahoma’s Republican Governor, suggest people do?

Pray. Actually, she’s called for a statewide day of prayer.

“I think if we have a lot of people praying, it moves the heart of God.”

Is there anything wrong with people praying and asking for divine intervention at a time of crisis?

Definitely not if praying to one’s god helps comfort the soul and gives greater strength to deal with a difficult situation. In that case, it’s a positive. But if praying to one’s god is an excuse to sit on your ass and do nothing, then the practice is both dangerous and foolish.

In 2009, Mary Fallin, as a member of the United States Congress, voted against a global warming bill. Here was her rationale for doing so.

“Our state is a large producer of both oil and natural gas, and the restrictions this legislation places on the production and exploration of these resources will devastate our energy producers. That will not only destroy oil and gas related jobs, it will also lead to a reduction in tax revenue, which in turn will affect our ability to maintain and repair roads, bridges, schools and other public works and services.”

As a gubernatorial candidate in 2010, she said.

Protecting our nation should be a number one priority. Does leadership really think that our surveillance satellites should be aimed at polar ice caps and not terror cells, and that spies should be investigating global warming? Congress must adequately fund our intelligence operations. If we don’t, we may need to be more concerned about global warming in the U.S. caused by a nuclear attack in our own back yard.

She is on record as saying that climate legislation is completely unnecessary. Somehow, Fallin believes it makes much more sense to call for the citizens of her state to bow their heads, get down on their knees and pray to god to make it all go away even though climate science predicts the exact sort of extreme weather patterns which Oklahoma is currently experiencing.

Rest assured that while the ignorance displayed by Mary Fallin is astounding, it is secure and happy in the minds of Republican leadership everywhere.

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You know Republicans have not a shred of shame when they can still wheel out the old commie bogeyman. Rep. Duncan Hunter:

This is it folks. This is it. There is nothing after 2012. [...] I don’t care if it’s a more moderate/former liberal like Ronald Reagan, who would never be elected today in my opinion. If it’s someone like him or a hardcore conservative, you gotta elect the most winnable person this time. I know it sounds bad, but Congress makes the law. You’ve got a conservative Congress. You’re one third there. [...] You gotta vote and get behind an electable person for president. I know after what I said, me saying that doesn’t go hand in hand. Obama’s going to raise a billion dollars. He’s going to hold on to this thing, the communists in this country, the community organizers in this country, are going to hang on for dear life. This is it for them. If they can change the balance of the scale of this country, they will affect it until our downfall.

A few thoughts…

a)  “communists in this country“…really?  Is that still an effective fear tactic in this day and age? Someone should bring Mr. Hunter up to speed and remind him it’s 2011.  As someone once mentioned, there appears to be two types of Republicans – those stuck in the 1950s and those yearning for a return to the good old 1770s.

b)  When does the Republican “electable person for president” make his or her appearance? Surely, no GOPer of reasonable mind believes that Bachmann, Paul, Santorum, Gingrich, Pawlenty or Cain is electable? As for Romney, he appears to lack the Tea Party credentials required to become the GOP nominee. They’re not going to let a guy who was once pro-choice and enacted “socialist” legislation (Romneycare) become their standard bearer.

c)  It’s nice to see someone on the right recognize the fact that that Ronald Reagan would be destroyed by today’s brand of conservatism. It’s always ironic to hear some teabagger praise the Reagan legacy when in truth, they’re clueless as to the man’s policies.

• Raised taxes in 7 of his 8 years in the White House.
• He tripled the federal budget deficit.
• As governor of California, he liberalized the state’s abortion laws.
• He gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented illegal immigrants.

And we won’t get into Iran-Contra or Reagan’s role in creating the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.

d)  Why do Republicans despise community organizers as much as they do?

Duncan’s entire line of reasoning smacks of desperation. While his ‘elect-anyone-as-long-as-they’re-not-evil-libuls’ might sound appealing to right-wingers, independents aren’t going to buy it in the national elections. They’re going to need more than a Michele Bachmann and her 23 foster children to convince them that turning the reins of power over to wingnuts and merchants of fear is the way to go.

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The best part of the 2012 election race might very well be watching Newt Gingrich go down in flames…and not by enemy fire but from his own words and the nihilistic sewage he spews out on a daily basis. And I can’t think of a more deserving individual than Mr. Self-Proclaimed Intellectual (although Palin, Bachmann, Boehner and a dozen other GOPers do come in for a close second).  Anytime a politician gets mocked by both the opposition and his own party, you know his chances for higher office are all but gone.

With his latest salvo, Gingrich has crossed the dividing line from STFU You Lying Immoral Bastard to Ridiculous Monkey.  First there was his appearance on Meet The Press where he referred to Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal as “radical change”.

“I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering… I don’t think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate.”

When angry conservatives stood up in unison to defend the Ryan plan, Gingrich felt compelled to back down. And back down he did with this lovely piece of Newtonian logic.

“Any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood, because I have said publicly those words were inaccurate and unfortunate.”

Which begs the question: why Newt? If you thought it accurate enough on Sunday to actually go on about Ryan’s Medicare plan and call it a “radical change” and an example of “right-wing social engineering”, what made it inaccurate on Tuesday? Is it too cynical to suggest that the only thing that really changed in the intervening two days was the sledge hammer placed squarely over your head by a right-wing noise machine who called you a bad conservative for not marching lockstep with other Republicans? Might that be it, Newt? We think so, scumbag.

And then there was the matter of Gingrich’s 1993 support for the individual health insurance mandate, something which he has fought hard against in the last two years. Here’s how Newt reconciled his apparent inconsistency.

“I do not support a mandate. I am opposed to Obamacare. I am in support of the 26 attorney generals (sic) who have filed suit. The Center for Health Transformation that I supported, that I helped found, has been actively opposed to Obamacare for two-and-a-half years.”

“That was a clip from 1993, when in fact, the conservative position was to have individual insurance, in opposition to Hillarycare — because she wanted everybody to be in government — but let’s get that out of the way, okay?”

Well no asshole, it’s not okay. Tell us more.

“I’m saying that you see a 20-second clip from 18 years ago, when you were fighting Hillarycare, and when virtually everybody in the conservative movement was united in trying to stop Hillarycare.”

“Now, nobody at that time was talking about the 10th Amendment. Nobody at that time was talking about these kind of constitutional issues. But to jump from that and say, ‘Gosh, if Newt said this in 1993, he must be for Obama’ — skipping, by the way, two-and-a-half years of active, consistent opposition to Obamacare?”

“I mean, I think the kind of amnesia that Washington gets into is, frankly, silly.”

How stupid does Gingrich take everyone to be? His entire argument boils down to: “If Democrats are against something, than I’m for it. When Dems were against the individual health insurance mandate, my buddies and I were for it. Now that Dems have shifted to the right and accepted individual mandates, I’m against it. Don’t you get it, morons? I’m Newt Fucking Gingrich. What I said 18 years ago or 2 days ago doesn’t matter. All that matters is what I say and do in the next 15 seconds.”

And there folks is your worthless Republican party of 2011 – no different from the 1993 version. They were lying, self-serving vermin then and they’re lying self-serving vermin now. With no principles to guide them other than “I”m against whatever Dems are for”, these people have turned a once proud political party into a decrepit joke.
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Best quote I’ve seen on Bush’s Internets regarding last night’s Republican presidential debate:

“…it looked like an episode of Jerry Springer or Maury without the intellectual appeal.”

Here’s what you need to know about last night’s debate in South Carolina and the status of the Republican party. Two of the pre-debate “Freedom Rally” sponsors were the John Birch Society and The Oath Keepers – two extremist right-wing groups. With paranoid friends like those, who needs enemies?

The sanest of the insane at the debate were probably Pawlenty and Cain – but the latter was not given a chance to spout his anti-Muslim hate.  Cain has stated in the past that he would never appoint a Muslim to his cabinet or as a federal judge because

“there is this attempt to gradually ease Sharia law and the Muslim faith into our government.”

Cain, who sets himself apart from President Obama by referring to himself as “a real black man”, has also stated that Planned Parenthood was…

“put in black communities so they could help kill black babies before they came into the world.”

The odds that this jackass gets the Republican nomination are less than zero.  While the GOP has no problem embracing fools (Bush, Palin, Bachmann, Trump, birthers, teabaggers…), they do draw the line at embracing non-white fools. This we know.

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For a party which has the not-so-bright and comical Michele Bachmann considering a presidential run, nothing should surprise anyone when it comes to the idiocy running rampant throughout the GOP.  Yet somehow, Texan Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert never ceases to surprise.  Gohmert (of terror baby fame) believes he might know the real reason behind President Obama’s Libyan intervention.  The conspiracy theory has it’s origins in the Affordable Care Act which Gohmert is hoping to dismantle.

Gohmert on the floor of the House:

It’s a bad bill. And then when you find out that the prior Congress not only passed that 2,800 page bill with all kinds of things in it, including a new president’s commissioned officer corps and non-commissioned officer corps. Do we really need that? I wondered when I read that in the bill. But then when you find out we’re being sent to Libya to use our treasure and American lives there, maybe there’s intention to so deplete the military that we’re going to need that presidential reserve officer commissioned corps and non-commissioned corps that the president can call up on a moment’s notice involuntarily, according to the Obamacare bill.

Good one, Louie.  You figured it out.  The Kenyan Muslim in the White House is going to bring about the end of the U.S. military so that his Obamacare Force of doctors and health care workers can rise and take out good conservatives with hypodermic needles filled with a venomous solution concocted by an African witch doctor.

Louie Gohmert is either paranoid or a dumbass.  I’m guessing he’s both.  FactCheck has the truth behind Obama’s secret army.

Do you ever wonder how so many willfully ignorant Republicans get elected to public office?  Might it be that they’re fractionally less stupid than the people who vote for them?

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Somewhere in America, self-serving fat cats at Exxon are grinning like a clowder of Cheshire cats.

George Will is concerned.

If pessimism is not creeping on little cat’s feet into Republicans’ thinking about their 2012 presidential prospects, that is another reason for pessimism. This is because it indicates they do not understand that sensible Americans, who pay scant attention to presidential politics at this point in the electoral cycle, must nevertheless be detecting vibrations of weirdness emanating from people associated with the party.

The most recent vibrator is Mike Huckabee..

When not showing righteous indignation toward unwed mothers, Huckabee finds himself pandering to the lowest form of human intelligence existing in the right’s growing fringe of loons – birthers. Asked by a talk radio wingnut about the President’s supposed unwillingness to show his birth certificate, Huckabee said:

“I would love to know more. What I know is troubling enough. And one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya. . . .”

Huckabee was given a golden opportunity to earn credibility points by dismissing the question as well as the entire birther movement as pure nonsense. Instead he opted to feed the beast with his “I would love to know more..” response. And for good measure he threw in an outright lie. Barack Obama did not grow up in Kenya. Five of his first eighteen years were spent in Indonesia. The rest were in Hawaii.  As for Huckabee’s claim that he meant to say Indonesia, well, that’s been shown to be a lie too.

Huckabee joins Newt Gingrich in attempting to create a nefarious Obama/Kenyan connection. Here was the newt’s comment from a few months back.

“What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?” Gingrich asks. “That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.”

Which led Will to write…

So the Republican winnowing process is far advanced. But the nominee may emerge much diminished by involvement in a process cluttered with careless, delusional, egomaniacal, spotlight-chasing candidates to whom the sensible American majority would never entrust a lemonade stand, much less nuclear weapons.

And that, folks, is your day’s message from a conservative icon.  Good stuff.
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