This week, we saw the beginning of the end of conservatives’ love affair with Sarah Palin (maybe), and almost said farewell (but probably not goodbye) to a regular on “Wingnut Week In Review.”
From Rogue to Reject
It took them long enough. After her incoherent, meandering speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit, conservatives figured out what the rest of us always knew about Sarah Palin.
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To quote Gertrude Stein: There is no “there” there.
To be fair, not all conservatives were late to the party. Shortly after John McCain inflicted Sarah Palin on the American public, a live mic caught columnist Peggy Noonan saying exactly what was up.
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We know the rest of the story.
Fischer Out of Water
Hardly a week goes by when Bryan Fischer, daily radio host and Director of Issue Analysis for the American Family Association (AFA), doesn’t earn a spot on the “Wingnut Week In Review.” But Fischer may have gone too far even for the AFA. Rachel Maddow broke the news that the AFA fired Fischer following media coverage highlighting Fischer’s racism and homophobia, in advance of an AFA-sponsored trip to Israel for members of the Republican National Committee.
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Here’s a sampling of Fischer’s greatest hits from “Wingnut Week In Review”:
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The Israeli newspaper Haaretz got hold of the story, and the Southern Policy Law Center (SPLC) wrote to members of the RNC, asking them not to go on the AFA-sponsored Israel trip, because of the AFA’s “track record of bigotry and extremism,” and Fischer’s disparaging remarks about Jews, Muslims, and gays — among others. SPLC designates the AFA as a hate group, mainly because of Fischer’s bigoted mouth.
Does this mean the AFA has come to its senses? Of course not. Sure, the AFA wrote a letter to the SPCL repudiating some of Fischer’s views. The AFA explained that Fischer would continue to host his radio show, and write blog posts, but that his statements do not represent the views of the AFA. Fischer was right back on the air yesterday, saying that he has simply given up his role as a “spokesman.” So, the AFA has “repudiated” Fischer’s views, but still gives him and his views a platform.
Here’s the rest of the best of the worst in wingnuttia this week:
- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R, South Carolina) asked attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch, “What is the legal difference between a state — a ban on same-sex marriage being unconstitutional but a ban on polygamy being constitutional?” Lynch gently shut down Graham’s attempt at trolling.
- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R, Texas) accused “Republican females” of sending “entirely the wrong message” when they derailed a 20-week abortion ban because it did not have an acceptable exception for rape.
- Presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee called his female former Fox News colleagues “trashy,” because they cursed in the office.
- Fox Host Megyn Kelly later brought Huckabee up to date on how women really behave in 2015.
- Office cursing is probably the least of Fox’s worries. A new study shows that more than 60 percent of the claims on Fox News are false.
- Speaking at the Iowa Freedom Summit, Huckabee mocked President Obama’s plans to fight climate change, saying ISIL beheadings are a “greater threat to an American than a sunburn.”
- An an earlier conference hosted by televangelist Morris Cerullo, Huckabee said there would be no school shootings if public schools organized daily prayers, religious assemblies, Bible readings and “chapel services.”
- Iowa Freedom Summit speaker and presidential pretender Donald Trump said he would personally build a wall to stop terrorists. “We have to build a fence and it’s gotta be a beauty,” Trump said. “Who can build better than Trump? I build. It’s what I do.”
- Following his speech at the Iowa Freedom Forum, presidential wannabe Ben Carson said that anti-gay bakers “might put poison” in same-sex couples’ wedding cakes, if forced to make them or be sued. Whether that was a warning or a suggestion, only Dr. Carson knows.
- Bill O’Reilly got slammed by none other than basketball great Kareem Abdul Jabar, in an interview about Islam.
- O’Reilly also traded barbs with fellow Fox Newser Megyn Kelly. O’Reilly dubbed Kelly, “the only one the New York Times likes,” following a New York Times Magazine feature on Kelly. Kelly shot back, “Jealousy is an ugly emotion, Bill.”
- On Newsmax’s “American Forum” show, right-wing pundit Betsy McCaughey blamed California’s measles outbreak on immigrants, saying “sadly our federal government is not taking any responsibility at all for preventing people who are carrying measles from entering the country.” Never mind that most of the children coming from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala have higher measles vaccination rates than American children.
- Glenn Beck is taking his family to see Europe this summer, before it’s all destroyed. “Pat and I truly believe that we are in the 1930s,” Beck said. “I don’t know where, but we’re in the 1930s — maybe its ’39, maybe it’s ’35, I don’t know, but history is repeating itself.”
- House Republicans removed “Civil Rights and Human Rights” from the name of the former House Committee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. What’s in a name? We’ll see.
- Alabama’s anti-gay state legislators have been put on notice. Rep. Patricia Todd, a Democrat, wrote a Facebook post warning that she would expose as hypocrites any Alabama legislator who opposed marriage equality because of “family values” on one hand, but sleep around on their own spouses. Get the popcorn. This oughta be good.
- Oklahoma Republican state Rep. Todd Russ wants to send state officials who issue a marriage license to any couple — gay or straight — to jail for up to a year.
- Oklahoma Republican state Rep. Sally Kern has introduced legislation ensuring that gays in Oklahoma can undergo conversion therapy “without interference by the state.”
- A woman at an Idaho House committee hearing warned lawmakers that adding sexual orientation to the state’s Human Rights Act would legalize, “pedophilia, sadism, bestiality, necrophilia, exhibitionism, polygamy and many others.”
- Southern Baptists love their fellow men, but only from a distance. When Southern Baptist leaders called for more integration, they learned that two-thirds of Southern Baptists opposed it.
- During an appearance on the Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch” show, Rep. John Fleming (R, Louisiana) warned that marijuana reform would lead to a future of meth addiction and government dependency. Fleming also claimed that the government will soon begin arresting cigarette smokers, while ignoring marijuana use.
- Ryan Bundy, son of rancher Cliven Bundy was arrested when he arrived at the Iron County Courthouse for a separate case. The warrant was issued when Bundy failed to appear in court, after being charged with interfering with an animal control officer.
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