What I mean is, how did we get to the place we are now, where a wack-job like Sharron Angle, of all people, can say things like the following, as examples, and be in a tight race for a Senate seat out in Nevada against Harry Reid?
--"I hope that's not where we're going, but you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out." --interview with right-wing talk radio host Lars Larson in Portland, OR, January 2010
--"People ask me, 'What are you going to do to develop jobs in your state?' Well, that's not my job as a U.S. senator." --May 14, 2010
--"We needed to have the press be our friend ... We wanted them to ask the questions we want to answer so that they report the news the way we want it to be reported." --during an interview with Fox News Channel's Carl Cameron, Aug. 2, 2010
--"You can make more money on unemployment than you can going down and getting one of those jobs that is an honest job, but it doesn't pay as much. And so that's what's happened to us is that we have put in so much entitlement into our government that we really have spoiled our citizenry and said you don't want the jobs that are available." --on unemployment benefits, interview with KRNO, July 14, 2010
--"The Federal Department of Education should be eliminated. The Department of Education is unconstitutional and should not be involved in education, at any level." --July 12, 2010
--"When I said privatize, that's what I meant. That I thought we would just have to go to the private sector for a template on how this is supposed to be done. However, I've since been studying and Chile has done this." --explaining why Social Security should be phased out in favor of a system resembling the one created in the 1980s by right-wing Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Aug. 12, 2010
"I think that two wrongs don't make a right. And I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade." --Sharron Angle, explaining why she is against abortion even in cases of rape or incest, July 8, 2010
"Government shouldn't be doing that to a private company. And I think you named it clearly: It's a slush fund." -- on the BP escrow account set up at President Obama's urging to pay out oil spill claims, Alan Stock Show, July 7, 2010
"They [Republicans] say, 'You're too conservative.' Was Thomas Jefferson too conservative? I'm tired of some people calling me wacky." --March 21, 2010
Okay, Harry Reid isn't perfect and he's no saint and Nevada can no doubt do better in their representation--you can always find someone "better", one way or another but at least he doesn't say patently stupid, outrageous things, rapid-fire, again and again on the record.
Then, here in Missouri, you've got someone like Roy Blunt, for pity's sake, who's been in Washington 14 years, and there's this huge anti-incumbent sentiment but he's ahead in the polls and he's been shown--factually--to be as dirty a politician as about there ever was.
Why is Roy Blunt leading in the polls, people? Are we really that stupid?
Sure, he's got name recognition and there's the incumbency thing on his side to campaign, you can't deny that, and then the corporations and all his wealthy friends are backing him because they know if he gets back in there he'll take care of them all with his votes but really---are we all that dumb?
It surely seems so.
Links: http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/republicanquotes/a/Sharron-Angle-Quotes.htm;
http://citizensforethics.org/crew-26-lawmakers-corrupting-halls-congress
UPDATE: Mon 10/18/10: LAS VEGAS – Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle told dozens of Hispanic high school students last week that "some of you look a little more Asian to me..."
Man, she's not very bright. (I'm trying to be nice)
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2 comments:
Angle's fundraising numbers are enough to make anyone a contender in that race.
The question isn't why is Blunt winning, but who is running Carnahan's campaign. The key to her winning is to get out the vote in the cities. Ending every commercial in a cow girl outfit is not inspiring city dwellers, especially those in the inner city, to get out and vote for her. She is running against Blunt like it was the Republican Primary rather than standing up and saying, "I am a liberal and that means I will represent your interest better than a bought and sold establishment insider like Blunt."
This Blunt vs. Carnahan race may end up being one of the campaigns that, after the fact, ends up being studied in history and politics/civics courses. It's a bizarre one, for sure.
mr
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