Today's Dispatch From The Stupid Party

It's been quite a while since we had one of these dispatches, not because there wasn't ample evidence of cognitive rot in the Republican (a.k.a., Stupid) Party.  It was because if we were to memorialize it every time it appeared, we'd be doing nothing else on this blog.

However, an instance has arisen that is so profound in its abject stupidity, so cynical in service to a malign purpose, that we could not ignore it. Here you have Republican/ Stupid Party and Freedumb Caucus member Rep. Thomas Massie, from Kentucky coal country "grilling" former Secretary of State John Kerry in a House Oversight Committee climate change hearing the other day:

MASSIE: Isn't it true you have a science degree from Yale?

KERRY: It's a Bachelor of Arts degree.

MASSIE: Is it a political science degree?

KERRY: Yes. Political science.

MASSIE: So, how do you get a Bachelor of Arts in a science?

KERRY: Well, it's a liberal arts education and degree, and a Bachelor of Arts.

MASSIE: Okay, so it's NOT really science, I think it's appropriate that somebody with a pseudo-science degree is here pushing pseudo-science in front of our committee today. (quiet laughter around him) I want to ask you --

KERRY: Are you serious? (loud laughter) I mean, this is really a serious happening, here?

Later, the "questioning" turned to the topic of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contributing to global climate change:

KERRY: We know definitively that at least in the last 800,000 years, has atmospheric CO2 been as high as it is today....

MASSIE: The reason you chose 800,000 years ago is because 200 million years before that it was greater than it was today.

KERRY: Yeah, but there weren't HUMAN BEINGS then, it was a different WORLD, folks, we didn't have 7 billion people!

MASSIE: So, how did it get to 2000 ppm if we humans weren't here?

KERRY: Because there were all kinds of geologic events going on on Earth that spewed up --

MASSIE: Did geology stop when we got on the planet?

KERRY: Mr. Chairman, (to Chairman Cummings) this is just not a serious conversation.

Now, here's the catch:  Massie has a BS and an MS in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, so he knows political science isn't a science degree.  The best interpretation is that the cynical little squidge was trying to be sarcastic about Kerry's expertise, because that's what Republicans do when confronted with science.  They have no answers so they malign and disparage.  Massie would also be likely to know that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was high 200 million years ago because of, for example, volcanic activity.  So, one can assume Massie's not the dolt he was playing in the hearing.

So, how to explain Massie's performance?  It's because he thinks his constituents are stupid. He thinks they'll think he's clever and scoring points on that pointy- headed elitist Kerry (keeping in mind Massie himself went to MIT).  It's because he thinks his constituents can be distracted from the truth by a few dumb bombs dropped at a hearing (that'll no doubt be cut and pasted into a campaign ad next year).  Massie and his fellow Republican cynics have been working this angle for decades, thinking so little of the intelligence of their voters that they happily perform charades like this, counting on their ability to con the gullible when voting time comes.  It's working for some of them, so far.

Sad!

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

If you take time to read nothing else today, read Jane Meyer's deep dive into the incestuous, deep and continuing relationship between Russian asset Donald "Rump" Trump and Fox "News."  Here's one example concerning the Stormy Daniels episode, which broke just before the election, and Fox's catch and kill:

After the Journal story broke, Oliver Darcy, a senior media reporter for CNN, published a piece revealing that Fox had killed a Stormy Daniels story. [Fox executive Ken] LaCorte, who by then had left Fox but was still being paid by the company, told Mediaite that he’d made the call without talking to superiors. The story simply hadn’t “passed muster,” he claimed, adding, “I didn’t do it to protect Donald Trump.” Nik Richie, a blogger who had broken the first story about Daniels, tweeted, “This is complete bullshit. Ken you are such a LIAR. This story got killed by @FoxNews at the highest level. I know, because I was one of your sources.”

Richie told me, “Fox News was culpable. I voted for Trump, and I like Fox, but they did their own ‘catch and kill’ on the story to protect him.” He said that he’d worked closely with [Fox reporter Diana] Falzone on the article, and that “she did her homework—she had it.” He says he warned her that Fox would never run it, but “when they killed it she was devastated.” Richie believes that the story “would have swayed the election.”

That's just a tiny morsel;  Meyers has the receipts on how this loathsome excuse for a "news" network became a mouthpiece for Rump and the ugly pathologies of the Republican Party.

The Booman discusses the Stupid Party (but has cautions for "too smart" Democrats):

The Republicans are losing the suburbs because they’ve become the stupid party.

If you think about this for two seconds, it makes sense. The Democrats appealed to working folks because they supported labor unions and stood up for worker’s rights. They defended people against predatory employers and exploitative industries that prey on people facing economic hardship. The Republicans don’t defend working folks at all, so the appeal has to be based on feeling. It’s values-based, but the values are populist primarily in an anti-intellectual, anti-elite sense. It’s no longer about class resentment related to poor pay, poor housing and poor working conditions. It’s about cultural resentment against people who think they’re better because they’re smarter, better-educated, more cosmopolitan, more “enlightened.”

Republicans can’t remain with one foot rooted in Wall Street and the other foot rooted in the coal and oil fields and still be a worker’s party unless they work overtime to fuel and exploit this resentment. The difficulty is that this makes suburbanites want to Clorox their cerebral cortex whenever they see an Oklahoma senator take a snowball onto the Senate floor to explain that climate change is a myth.

Add another count/ article:

President Trump sent out a predawn tweet Saturday boasting about Trump International Golf Links, constructed near Aberdeen, Scotland, among the high, wind-raked dunes along the North Sea.

“Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!” Trump tweeted.

The comment sparked immediate consternation from critics of the president, who suggested he was using his powerful office to advance his financial interests. The U.S. Constitution has two clauses designed to prevent a national leader from using power in such a manner.

“There it is. The president is using an official statement as an ad for his business and making sure everyone knows he ties his business to US relationships with foreign countries,” tweeted Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is suing the president over these issues.

Paul Krugman looks at the consequences of Rump's trade wars.  It's not a pretty picture.

Say this for Donald Trump: He’s provided us with many iconic quotations, which will surely be repeated in histories and textbooks for decades if not generations to come.

Unfortunately, they’ll be repeated because they are extremely clear examples of bad ideas.

In economics, the line you hear most is Trump’s declaration that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.” Coming in second is his assertion that “I am a Tariff Man,” coupled with the claim that foreigners pay the tariffs he has been imposing.

Now, that last claim is something you can test. Over the course of 2018 Trump imposed tariffs on about 12 percent of total U.S. imports, and many of those tariffs have been in effect long enough that we can get a first read on their consequences.

Finally, Infidel 753 is back with another heapin' helpin' of interesting links from around the internet. Always enjoyable to take some time and browse.

Why It's Called The Stupid Party...

... and why we can't have nice things anymore:

More than half of the Republicans surveyed for a Pew Research Center poll released Monday say colleges and universities are hurting the country, a drastic shift from how the same group viewed such institutions two years ago. 

Fifty-eight percent of Republicans say colleges have a negative effect on the nation, according to the survey, which also polled respondents on institutions like churches, banks, the media and labor unions. [snip]

The vast majority Democrats, meanwhile, say colleges are helping the nation: 72 percent say they think higher education is having a positive effect... 

On the other hand,

Seventy-three percent of Republicans have a positive view of the impact of churches and other religious institutions, compared to 50 percent of Democrats; 44 percent of Democrats think the media is good for the country, versus just 10 percent of Republicans...  (our emphasis)

Let's confirm this with your average Republican base voter:

"All that learnin' about histry an' science just clouds the mind, when all you need to know is what's in the Good Book, which was written by shepherds, fishermen, tentmakers an' such over 2,000 years ago (that's 3,000 years after the Earth was formed, in case you didn't learn that in your fancy college!). They weren't no college boys neither! Plus, why do they call them librul arts if they ain't a bunch of libruls?!"

Today's Infographic: Alt-Reality

Via Democratic Underground, selected results from a new poll by Public Policy Polling (click on graphic to enlarge):



To the corporate and right- wing media:  job well done!

Today's Swamp Draining Cartoon And Photo

(click on image to enlarge)


(Matt Wuerker, Politico)

The dolts who voted for neo- fascist con artist Donald "Rump" Trump in the hope that he would "drain the swamp" of the lobbyists and Republican insiders who created whatever swamp exists in Washington, DC, should take a close look at who the shitgibbon has on his transition team:

New reports this week make clear that the president-elect’s transition team is packed with the very veterans of the GOP establishment he spent months railing against, as well as with the lobbyists he vowed never to allow near his administration.

Only the most credulous cretins could not have anticipated this.  Oh, did we say "credulous cretins?" We meant "Republican base."

Meanwhile, all those Republican Congresscritters who a week ago were running to get as far away from Rump as their little chicken legs could carry them, have now decided they're all in with their authoritarian master.  To commemorate the occasion of their capitulation, they were provided with their own "Make America Great Again" hats at a meeting this morning of the House Republican caucus deep in the swamp:

@HouseGOP ready to Make America Great Again. @cathymcmorris giving hats to members this AM. #MAGA pic.twitter.com/6AQmSjdgba

— Nate Hodson (@natehodson) November 15, 2016

It's Trump's Party now.

Aggrieved Republican Economics: It's The "Lazy Welfare Moochers" Problem!

Michael Grunwald has taken the time to speak with some of the Stormtrumpers at the Republican National Convention Sh*tshow, specifically asking them about last night's purported theme, "Make America Work Again," in light of the economic progress being made around the country for most of the last seven years.  (First of all, would you have guessed that was their "theme" last night with all the foaming at the mouth Hillary hate?  Us neither.) Their responses should surprise no one, nor that there was a common theme in their answers:

In fact, the most common economic critiques I heard from delegates — more common than taxes, trade, unemployment, the national debt, or immigration — were variants of Mitt Romney’s “free stuff” critique of Obama, the notion that Obama is expanding the welfare state for lazy moochers. They said Obamacare is increasing premiums for the middle class, although premiums actually are growing more slowly than they were before Obamacare, in order to extend insurance to the poor. McNulty, the Republican activist in Iowa, compared the Obama approach to feeding homeless people under the bridge, so they remain comfortable under the bridge.

There's a condition known as "confirmation bias," which translates as "a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs."  It's a condition that is endemic in the "minds" of Republicans when it comes to any analysis of information that might suggest something positive about, say, Democrats or progressive policies.  Grunwald's interviewees provide clinical proof of this.  It's also proof that, when it comes to almost any topic, you can be assured that racially-charged code words like "welfare" and "lazy moochers" will work their way into the discussion.

Keep that thought and these numbers in mind, as you hear the bullshit being catapulted every night about the "disastrous" economy of President Barack Hussein =cough= black Muslim =cough= Obummer:

Unemployment rate under Republican George "Dumbya" Bush in January 2009:  7.8 percent
Unemployment rate under Democrat Barack Obama today:  4.9 percent

Jobs created during the record 76 straight months of job growth under Obama:  14.8 million

Dow Jones average in January 2009:  under 8,000
Dow Jones average today:  18,600 plus

If that's "disastrous," we wonder how one would characterize the last two days of the Republican National Convention Sh*tshow?

(h/t Wonkette and P.E.C.)

(Image:  A generic Republican.)

Tweet Of The Day - Porn Stars

Republican party platform: Porn is a public health threat; guns are not https://t.co/QhkVJyhhIg pic.twitter.com/21dJkFWtGh

— Charles P. Pierce (@ESQPolitics) July 12, 2016

Don't laugh!   Porn is a public health threat ... for Republicans ... like this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and, oh you get the (XXX-rated) picture.

(Must.  Not.  Make. "Pubic. Health."  Joke.)

Quote Of The Day

(First, a quick thanks to my brother blogger for keeping Hackwhackers running more than smoothly during my recent visit to China. Xie xie!)

Yesterday, President Obama spoke to Rutgers University graduates in New Jersey and had some not- too- veiled warnings about neo- fascist empty vessel Donald "Rump" Trump:

“In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue.  It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about. That’s not keeping it real, or telling it like it is. That’s not challenging political correctness. That’s just not knowing what you’re talking about.

“When our leaders express a disdain for facts, when they’re not held accountable for repeating falsehoods, and just making stuff up while actual experts are dismissed as elitist, then we’ve got a problem. The rejection of facts, the rejection of reason and science, that is the path to decline.”

 "Ignorance is not a virtue."  Something American voters need to reflect on before pulling the lever for Rump or his know- nothing nihilist Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ Shooters Party down- ticket mates.

"I'm With Stupid!", The Remix

(h/t Balloon Juice)

Mama Grizzly arglebargle word salad with a beat you can dance to. These two deserve each other, don't they?!

"I'm With Stupid!"

The New York Daily News nails it again:



Also, as we noted yesterday, that line at the bottom of the page refers to Palin's son Trek Tribe Transit Turd Track, who was arrested on assault (domestic violence) and weapons charges hours before America's Mom made her endorsement.

BONUS:  Andy Borowitz has more on the impact of Palin's endorsement.

Civic Ignorance And Republican Politics

Salon has back-to-back articles today on roughly the same topic:  civic ignorance.  We've seen how, as an example, supporters of neo- fascist fartbag Donald "Rump" Trump seem impervious to facts that challenge their views , even becoming more certain of their misinformation when challenged.  Certainly, this is not unique to Rump's supporters but is endemic across the right- wing Republican spectrum. This "misinformation" (or, less politely, lies) that has been allowed to enter political discourse in this country has only grown stronger in recent decades, as nearly half of the nation holds to "facts" and concepts that are made out of whole cloth by the usual spinners. 

Here's Daniel R. Demicola's conclusion:

We have now developed a culture in which ignorance is celebrated, perversely flaunted as a badge of pride. This is not good ole American anti-intellectualism. It’s deeper than that. It involves not only the distrust of expertise and mainstream sources of information, but also the rejection of rationally relevant factors for adopting beliefs. It seems to abandon hard-won standards of knowledge and institutions like science that have served us since the Enlightenment and brought us the standard of living we enjoy today. Evidence and conclusions are accepted selectively or resisted stubbornly. Some adopt ridiculous conspiracy theories, believing they have the “real truth”—but this is false knowledge, ignorance in elaborate disguise.

Phil Torres notes a primary reason for this culture of civic ignorance:

Not only is the U.S. unique for its love affair with anti-intellectualism, but this romantic relationship appears to have grown stronger over the past few decades. A primary reason for this is no doubt the huge influence that conservative media have had on American culture, such as Fox News, which is currently the most trusted news network in the country. The problem is that “Fox News” is a misnomer. The network is, to quote Jon Stewart, more of a “relentlessly activist” organization for conservative causes than an intellectually honest conveyor of information. Indeed, there are to date at least seven academic studies that have found that Fox News’ viewership constitutes the most misinformed audience out there. 

And yet, a willful purveyor of civic ignorance like Fox "News" is deemed a "sister organization" by "mainstream media" enablers!

Republican appeals to intolerance, anger and resentment have fertile soil to grow in this field of ignorance, an ignorance that extends far into the American public, of whom only 36 percent can name the three branches of government(!).  With a media obsessed with pre- determined, simplistic "narratives" and shiny objects, don't expect an enlightened voting population to suddenly emerge in 2016.  That's perhaps the most frightening unknown we can imagine.

The Top Five Awful Anti-Science Moments Of 2015

You won't be shocked to notice that each one is brought to you by, or supported by, a member of the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ Shooter's Party:

Today's Dispatches From The Stupid Party - On The Road From Damascus Edition

The caucus of crazy, racist demagogues calling themselves the Republican Party are responding as expected to the terrorist attacks in Paris.  You can get a summary of their ugliness here, so we're just going to focus on a few representative comments from one of their never- going- to- be- President candidates, the Albert Schweitzer of the Ozarks and "Christian" minister (!) former Gov. Mike "Huckster" Huckabee (American Taliban- AR):

"It's time to wake up and smell the falafel...What we saw in Paris was the result of open borders in Europe."  -- to Fox "News'" Bret Baier.  No, Jethro, it was not the result of open borders; they were largely homegrown terrorists.  Nice dig with the "falafel," though.  We're surprised you even know about that.

Wait, there's more:

“Can you imagine bringing in a bunch of Syrian refugees who’ve lived in the desert their whole lives that are suddenly thrown into an English speaking community? Where it’s maybe in Minnesota where it is 20 degrees below zero? I mean just I don’t understand what we possibly can be thinking.” -- on the John Gibson show.   They're called coats, Jethro.  You put coats on, and boots.  Also, if you lived in an urban area like Damascus or Aleppo, you were hardly living in the desert.  Finally, you might want to consult with the Hmong people who were transplanted from subtropical Southeast Asia nearly 40 years ago to Minnesota;  they appear to have survived the ordeal, you bulbous cornpone jackass.

Make it stop - our brains hurt.

The Scariest Republican Crackpot - Today's Ben Carson Updates

Wherein we provide more glimpses into the strange mind of "The Scariest Republican Crackpot" Dr. Ben "On Meds?" Carson, in one poll beating Hillary Clinton by 10 points among the baboons apparently constituting half of the American electorate (no insult to baboons intended).

Charles P. Pierce pegs him as a budding John R. Brinkley:

​That Dr. Ben Carson, an accomplished man of science, and a gifted physician, and one of the most ridiculous men ever to walk into American public life, has found himself tangled up as a candidate in his earlier career as a pitchman for what the 21^st century has for patent medicine, is a development so rich with irony that I have to sit down for a brief nap after having attempted to take the business in whole. Carson has gone from denying any involvement at all, to acknowledging that, yes, he did make some videos in which he seemed to be extolling the virtues of some nostrums brewed up by something called the Mannatech Corporation, to blaming the media for confronting him with the details of his own biography. It's remarkable to me that Carson is audible at all, given the number of cocks that must be crowing in the background when he speaks.

We can safely say he "don't know much about history:"

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson once vocalized an odd theory about Egyptian history.

According to a video unearthed by BuzzFeed on Wednesday, Carson posited in a 1998 commencement address at Andrews University that the pyramids in Egypt were used for grain storage rather than as tombs for ancient kings and queens.

"My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain," Carson said, referring to the Old Testament. "Now all the archeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs’ graves. But, you know, [something to store that grain] would have to be something awfully big, if you stop and think about it."

Carson appeared to be referencing the biblical figure of Joseph, who was sold into slavery in Egypt and later went on to advise the Egyptian pharaoh to store grain due to a coming famine.  (our emphasis)

But he has a reality- based answer for those who might be concerned about his lack of qualifications:

The problem – one of them, anyway – is that Carson also seems manifestly unqualified to be president of the United States. He’s never sought or held elected office; he has no working understanding of government; and he’s never led anything larger than a medical department.

The retired right-wing neurosurgeon is aware of these concerns and, late last week, offered a striking response: “It is important to remember that amateurs built the Ark and it was the professionals that built the Titanic.”  (our emphasis)

From someone who believes Darwin's theory of evolution was the Debbil's work, that's at least consistent.

And Charles Pierce ties success of the rube- fleecing back to the most successful right wing huckster of all, St. Ronnie of Hollywood, who sold them on "supply side economics" and more:

The process began with Ronald Reagan, the greatest patent-medicine salesman of them all. It was he who marketed the economic snake-oil with a wink and a smile. It was he who taught them how to flex and pose – fiercely denouncing terrorism while selling missiles to the mullahs. It was he who gulled the country with tales of Sandinistas driving jeeps across the Rio Grande, and dangerous Cuban adventurism in Grenada, while Marines were being slaughtered in their barracks. He was the best show in town. The starstruck rubes flocked to see him. The country swallowed the swamproot whole.

Now, because it sold so well, and because the audiences were so easily gulled, that's all there is—a decent vagabonding entertainment, rolling from town to town, pitching signs and wonders and miracle cures and can-I-get-an-Amen? So Doctor Ben Carson once was a front for some magic cancer elixir? What was that, if not the best training you can have to be a Republican candidate for president in the biggest medicine show of them all?  (our emphasis)

O.K., it's a year away from the election and Gentle Ben will have a lot of knives coming at him, just from fellow Republicans.  But, beating Hillary Clinton by 10 points?!  Rubes rule!  Sic transit gloria, America.

Trump Most Trusted By Republicans To Control Nuclear Launch Codes, Economy

Hey, we thought Halloween was over:

Donald Trump is the Republican candidate most trusted to manage the economy, deal with foreign leaders and serve as commander in chief, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll of Republicans conducted after the party's third debate.

And more Republicans would trust him with the nation’s nuclear weapons than most of the rest of their party's presidential primary field.  (our emphasis)

And in related news:

Ben Carson on Americans: "Many of Them Are Stupid."

Well, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Shockingly, Another Brilliant Republican Gambit Self-Destructs

The evolving debacle of the Republicans' "Debategate" has now entered a new phase with some candidates refusing to go along with a letter of demands whines to the networks concerning future "debate" formatting and ground rules.  Hot air balloon Donald "Rump" Trump, Master Negotiator that he is, intends to negotiate directly with the networks over their terms of surrender  debate structuring ("First, I want to build a beautiful yooge wall between me and the moderators, which the network will pay for.").  As might be expected when you're dealing with anything related to the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party, crackpot schemes well- laid plans have gone awry.  And the floundering has been noticed.

Eugene Robinson

In past cycles, the RNC was the final arbiter. But the party is in chaos and the candidates, led by Trump and Carson, are driving the bus. We’ll face down Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Iran, the contenders all say, but somebody save us from reporters asking rude questions.

Catherine Rampell

For one, all their whining about mean-spirited media bullying suggests the GOP candidates may not be equipped to handle the rough-and-tumble of a general election campaign, let alone the far more demanding presidency itself, despite tough talk about staring down dictators. A reasonable voter response to such bellyaching might be: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Maybe to someplace below 67 degrees. 

(Yes, even) Dana Milbank (in an amusing "application letter" to moderate the next debate)

I hope this application meets with your approval. I believe the format outlined above will, after the CNBC debate debacle, truly Make Republicans Look Great Again and return journalists to their proper role as palace courtiers. I am hopeful that I can convince my colleagues at washingtonpost.com to live-stream the debate. Though I cannot promise you that any network will broadcast the debate, I believe this should not be a major impediment. Under the requirements you proposed, very few people will be watching anyway.

The President, too, has chimed in:

“Have you noticed that every one of these candidates says, ‘Obama’s weak. Putin’s kicking sand in his face. When I talk to Putin, he’s going to straighten out’?” Mr. Obama asked a crowd of Democratic donors in New York, referring to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

“And then it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators at a debate,” he added to huge applause from his partisan audience. “I mean, let me tell you,” he added with gleeful scorn, “if you can’t handle those guys, you know, then I don’t think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you.”

A party in total chaos you say?  That should make for good television!

BONUS:  Let's not forget Michael Tomasky.

Today's Dispatches From The Stupid Party - Nothing To See Here

You may recall sputtering rage bomb Rep. Jason "Clouseau" Chaffetz (R-Zygote) who recently birthed a spectacular FAIL when he tried to bully and smear Planned Parenthood's President Cecile Richards at a House committee hearing September 29.  Well, what has his subsequent sleuthing turned up?

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Thursday that the GOP's investigation into Planned Parenthood's use of federal funds hasn't turned up anything.

"Did I look at the finances and have a hearing specifically as to the revenue portion and how they spend? Yes. Was there any wrongdoing? I didn't find any," he said during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the family planning provider.  (our emphasis)

Never fear, though!  Like the similarly bogus Benghazi!!! "hearings," there's money to be fleeced from the rubes and poll numbers to be driven down, so Republicans plan to go forward with their "investigation" of fetal tissue research programs (including Planned Parenthood's) and, of course, hold government hostage in their fruitless attempt to de-fund the popular women's health provider.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy Wrestles With English Language, Loses

Dana Milbank lets us in on a secret:  likely next Speaker of the House Rep. Kevin "I'm Not a Pod Person!" McCarthy (R-Californington) might not be the brightest bulb in the House Republican chandelier (and, hoo-boy, there's not much wattage there to begin with):

“I have visited Poland, Hungria, Estonia,” he said, and also “visited in our, uh, the allies in the Arab Gulf.”

He has, furthermore, been informed that we “live on the greatest nation that’s ever been on the face of the Earth.”

McCarthy called for “an effective politically strategy to match the military strategy,” and he lamented that “we have isolated Israel while bolding places like Iran.” He blamed President Obama’s White House for “putting us in tough decisions for the future,” but he voiced hope that a “safe zone would create a stem the flow of refugees.

And he scolded the Department of Veterans Affairs for failing to assist returning servicemen “who fought to the death in Ramadi.”

McCarthy’s difficulties were particularly alarming, both because he was mostly reading from a text and because he’s about to enter a very public glare in which his every word, or attempted word, will be analyzed. With the death of Yogi Berra, the new speaker may become the most famous mis-speaker in America. But in a sense, it may not matter what he says, because his colleagues won’t be listening to him anyway.  (our emphasis)

We wishes him good.

(Photo:  Rep. McCarthy, appropriate leader for the Stupid Party.)

Man And Movement: Trump And The Stupid Party

(click on image to enlarge)

(Tom Toles, once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle)

Mirror- and long-term-memory-deficient neo-con Likudnik Republican Jennifer Rubin has a moment of partial clarity occasioned by the demise of Rick "Oops" Perry's (Secessionist-TX) candidacy:

It is not hard to see how we got here. The MSM obsesses on trivial matters, almost priding itself on political coverage that ignores the substance of candidates’ messages, and fixates on a self-promoting mogul running a campaign about himself. The right-wing media bubble is part of a crass political culture excusing (promoting, even) ignorance, anger and paranoia. This serves to dumb down our politics and turn the electorate into a mob. Flagship conservative weeklies irresponsibly fan anti-immigrant sentiment and celebrate frivolous candidates. The result is debased political discourse and a sense of victimhood bent on attacking Republicans who dare to govern responsibly. Voters surely shoulder their share of blame. They run to embrace bad causes, gobble up a steady diet of political junk food,  celebrate rotten behavior and buy into the notion that insufficient conservative extremism is the root of our troubles. If President Obama has done more than Republicans could have hoped to do on their own to unify the GOP and re-instill proper concern for national security, then the right wing has done more to undermine conservatism than any Democrat could have done. They are converting a serious party of ideas into an unattractive, angry racket for snake-oil salesmen.  (our emphasis)

We can't improve on Charles Pierce's rejoinder:

Conservative politics has been a fever swamp since long before our Jen began fulminating in Commentary. Once, the serious people in the party were able to rein in the flying monkeys. Then, the Goldwater campaign happened. Then the Southern Strategy happened. Then Ronald Reagan launched his presidential bid in Neshoba County, Mississippi, so that happened. Then Fox News happened. Newt Gingrich happened. Then impeachment happened. Then Bush v. Gore happened. Then 9/11 happened so the Iraq bungle happened, and all the other things happened that keep happening right unto this hour. Then the 2010 midterms happened. Then the 2014 midterms happened. Then Louie Gohmert, and Steve King, and Mark Meadows and Darrell Issa and Trent Franks and all the rest of the worst Congresses in the history of the Republic happened. I rise, Mr. Chairman, in defense of The Media, even the Right Wing Media. They didn't infect the party with the prion disease that is currently eating away its higher functions. They merely broke down the party's immunity to it. Rick Perry's presidential hopes always were as completely symptomatic of the disease as are the Trump, Carson, and Jindal campaigns. The party has not descended anywhere. The party is the fever swamp.  (our emphasis)

Meanwhile, the party "establishment" (as represented by the "emptiest suit in politics" Reince Priebus) thinks Republicans merely have to use gentler rhetoric to mask their ugly policies.  We don't think Trump and the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party base is down with that, Reince.  Enjoy the fruits of your party's labors.

BONUS:  Paul Rosenberg expands on the role played by the skewed "balance" of the "mainstream media" in getting us into this mess.

BONUS II:  Ana Marie Cox piles on.

The Republican Party - Of, By, And For The Stupid

There are some interesting, but only in a pathological sense, numbers in a recent poll from Public Policy Polling about beliefs held by Republicans, and by Donald "Rump" Trump supporters in particular:

Our new poll finds that Trump is benefiting from a GOP electorate that thinks Barack Obama is a Muslim and was born in another country, and that immigrant children should be deported. 66% of Trump's supporters believe that Obama is a Muslim to just 12% that grant he's a Christian. 61% think Obama was not born in the United States to only 21% who accept that he was. And 63% want to amend the Constitution to eliminate birthright citizenship, to only 20% who want to keep things the way they are. And 63% want to amend the Constitution to eliminate birthright citizenship, to only 20% who want to keep things the way they are.

Trump's beliefs represent the consensus among the GOP electorate. 51% overall want to eliminate birthright citizenship. 54% think President Obama is a Muslim. And only 29% grant that President Obama was born in the United States.  (our emphasis)

On that last point, to demonstrate how terminally clueless (or willfully ignorant) Republicans are, the pollsters report this comparison (click on image to enlarge):

Um, as most people who don't play with their toes know, President Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii (USA! USA!) "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, eh.  But, Obama ... different!   Martin Longman (BooMan) explains in some detail how this ignorance gap was engineered:

What the Republicans did was create an electorate that didn’t previously exist. Sure, the gullible people were there already, but they weren’t misinformed and they weren’t sorted politically.

The reason this was done by Republicans, I believe, is because the conservative movement has determined that they can hold onto power a little longer despite demographic changes and the browning of America if they can sharply increase their share of the white vote. And the way to do that is not to figure out what these people need and offer ways to give it to them, but to get them to think more in terms of their whiteness. Whites go over here in the right column and everyone else goes over there in the left column.  [snip]

It’s a transparent effort to ramp up racial animosity as a way, probably the only way, to avoid softening their positions on their conservative ideology. If they don’t do this, then they’ll have to recraft their appeal, which means that conservatives will lose control of the Republican Party– one of only two viable parties in the country.

Once you understand what has happened in this way, everything else begins to make more sense. And you can see why the RNC’s advice to pass comprehensive immigration reform was rejected by the Republican-led House of Representatives because they’re the ones benefiting from the racial polarization of the country and higher levels of tribal thinking among whites. Senators, by and large, do not benefit from this since they have to run statewide.

Now, this leads to an interesting place, because, looked at this way, Donald Trump is almost a savior for conservatism despite being a heretic on several items on the traditional conservative movement’s agenda. He’s a savior because he’s completely internalized the strategy that will allow them to continue on without moderating to appeal to a changing electorate: make whites think more about their whiteness. [snip]

So, Trump helped create and sort this ridiculously misinformed Republican electorate and now he is the clear beneficiary. But he was by no means alone. It was, essentially, a group project that the Republican Establishment signed off on when they thought it could benefit them in beating Obama. (our emphasis)

For all their decades- long efforts to stay in power by feeding nonsense to an ever angrier, ever more ignorant white base, it's a fitting reward that "establishment" Republicans are now being consumed by the tiger they thought they could control.

BONUS:  David Corn has a good read, similar thrust.