JANUARY 2015 BONEHEAD ABSURDITY OF THE MONTH

1. Tom Cotton (R-Ark). Cotton heavily played the fear-of-foreigners card in his recent election to the US Senate. Cotton warned of a murderous mass invasion by Islamic bogeymen often cited by the far right:

“Groups like the Islamic State collaborate with drug cartels in Mexico. They could infiltrate our defenseless border and attack us right here in places like Arkansas.”

Here you have it. Mid-eastern jihadists are drooling about taking over Hot Springs. The sad thing is many of his fellow right-wing senators actually hope to respond to this phony danger by enacting anti-immigrant, anti-Latino legislation. They believe the 2014 election gave them a mandate to do so. And these people are senators?  


2. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gave this explanation for the wave of very good economic headlines flooding mainstream and social media these past few weeks. McConnell has the audacity to claim:

 “After so many years of sluggish growth, we’re finally starting to see some economic data that can provide a glimmer of hope; the 'uptick' appears to 'coincide' with the biggest political change of the Obama Administration’s long tenure in Washington: the 'expectation' of a new Republican Congress.”

Wow. This takes GOP propensity for blame avoidance and credit taking to a new level.  

3. Fox News host, Shannon Bream exposed the underlying racism that prevails throughout Fox News. In a discussion about the terrorist attack in Paris on the Fox News’ “Outnumbered” program, Bream, a former corporate attorney and graduate of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, asked how police would be able to identify “bad guys” if they had ski masks on so one couldn’t "even know what color," what "the tone of their skin was?" In her words:

"That's my question about these guys because if we know they were speaking unaccented French and they had, you know, ski masks on, do we even know what color they were?," Bream asked. Trying to clarify what she meant, she said, "I mean what if they didn't look like typical bad guys?"

Good to know she’s not racist.  

4. Americans who Watch Fox News. According to the most recent national survey from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind, more than four-in-ten Americans say it is likely that U.S. forces found active weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, and nearly a fifth say that President Obama “probably” or “definitely” is not a citizen of the United States.

This may seem shocking, but what isn’t shocking is that American opinions on these subjects split along partisan lines and are highly dependent on the primary television source from which people get their news. Individuals who reported getting their news from Fox were more likely to say that the WMD program had been found, with 52 percent saying that it was “probably” or “definitely” true. Those who get their news from MSNBC were the least likely, with only 14 percent saying the same. Cheers to Fox News for its leading role in perpetuating American ignorance.  

5. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) called on American leaders to emulate Egypt’s military dictator, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi–a man who orchestrated a coup d’etat and has presided over the killing of more than a thousand dissidents. Gohmert made his remarks in a January 14 speech from the House floor denouncing radical Islam, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

“I hope one day that our top leaders in this country will have the courage of president el-Sisi in Egypt and they will reflect, as general el-Sisi has, the will of the people of their country,” Gohmert stated.

He went on to suggest that that President Obama is secretly a Muslim, citing an incident in the 2008 primary season when then-candidate Obama mistakenly said he had visited 57 states, which Gohmert contends was an accidental reference to the 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The self-assured Gohmert went on to say:

“I fear God, I don’t fear any man. I’m not a ‘phobe’ of anything, but it’s time to recognize truth and that is that radical Islamic terrorists want to destroy our way of life and kill us. It’s very simple.”  

6. Former Governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Romney seems to be laying the groundwork for a career as a stand-up comedian if his desired third-run-at-the-presidency thing doesn't work out. Speaking on an aircraft carrier at the Republican National Committee winter meeting, Romney said:

"Under President Obama the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse and there are more people in poverty in American than ever before."

Very funny coming from a man who just three years ago criticized Obama for talking publicly about economic inequality, saying at the time:

"I think it’s fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like. But the president has made it part of his campaign rally. Everywhere he goes we hear him talking about millionaires and billionaires and executives and Wall Street. It’s a very envy-oriented, attack-oriented approach and I think it will fail.”

So now we have the Mittster railing about how the rich have gotten richer and income inequality has gotten worse. It took him three years to figure this out? Never a man of principle, Romney will switch positions and say whatever might gain political traction. I suspect that in this case, however, like his infamous 47% comment, he will again suffer another case of foot-in-mouth disease.  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And the winner is: Louie Gohmert by a nose over Senator Cotton. And to think that this nut case, certainly the dumbest member of Congress, has a hand in making the laws of our land!