Republican Of The Year Nominee #4: It’s A Sad Thing When Cousins Marry Edition

2016 In Review: America Off The Rails, Part 9


Um, Rudy, near the end there, do you realize what you're saying?

by Noah

Before I get to the winner of my little Republican Of The Year contest (in tomorrow's installment), I thought it would be downright mean of me to leave out some other participants. I call them not just deplorables but also Dishonorable Mentions.

I also want to mention that I am not one who believes in that every-participant-gets-a-trophy nonsense. But I do want to give my No. 4 pairing below an award. I did, after all, declare Michigan's own Lex Luthor, Gov. Rick Snyder, the winner in the Governors' category for overseeing the poisoning of his citizens. So, with that in mind, James Comey and Rudy Giuliani are getting some well-deserved recognition. You can't just lightly dismiss people who will sell their souls (if they ever had souls to sell) and then sell out their country. For this, as you will see, they have earned, if not (regrettably) actual prison time, at least a very special award.


1. FRANKLIN (son of BILLY) GRAHAM

I haven't done any research into Franklin's mother, but he's blathered enough over the years to make me suspect that she was way too closely related to his father. Billy Graham was certainly very religious, very respected, and sane. Franklin? Well, maybe not so much.

Franklin has his own take on the whole Russians-interfering-with-our-election thing. He doesn't think Putin had any involvement. Instead, he offered up this pearl of "divine" wisdom:

I don't have any scientific information. I don't have a stack of emails to read to you. But I have an opinion: I believe it was God. God showed up. He answered the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people across this land who had been praying for this country.

I'm always amused by people who "give glory to God" for a victory. It's especially prevalent in the sports world. Some guy wins, the microphone is in his face, and he says he prayed to God and God came through. Well, what about the folks on the other team who prayed to God? Why did God choose you and not that loser on the other sideline? Is your ego so big? Are you so wonderful? In Franklin's case, he must think he's really extra-special, since he led so many in prayer and God sided with him. Then again, maybe God has had it with us and he's gone all biblical and decided it's time to rid the Earth of humankind.


2. NYS gubernatorial candidate CARL PALADINO

Bromancers Donald and Carl -- sticking up for the, er, little guy?

Republicans constantly whine that "The Left" is always accusing them of being racists. They go on and on, pretending to be mystified as to why. I saw one of these "out on a day pass" types just the other night on MSNBC. She was a guest panelist for a discussion about the nomination of Alabama $en. Jeff Sessions or some other KKK sympathizer to be a member of Comrade Trumpinsky's administration.

Over at FOX "News" it's an hourly, sometimes minute-by-minute whine. They do it so much on FOX that the total effect is like a yard full of straining, shorting, dull-bladed hedge clippers. It's so bad, you can smell the acrid smoke. They push it and push it and they just don't know when to turn it off.

Dear Republikooks: You are racists, and that's all there is to it.

Here in New York, republicans recently chose Carl Paladino as their candidate for governor against dem incumbent Andrew Cuomo. He lost badly, but New York is not Maine, Wisconsin, Michigan, Mississippi, or any other state that wants to proudly point to a racist governor as "one of us."

Still, Paladino is known for his racist and pornographic e-mails. In the past, he has sent out e-mails to his coworkers and his legions of republican fans which are are laced with N-words, pictures of President Obama dressed as a pimp, apes (i.e., to republicans: black folks), and, maybe worst of all, a clip of some African tribal dancers which he described as rehearsals for the Obama inauguration. More recently, he made a Michelle Obama-and-gorilla connection.

I'd like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.

Damn, Carl! You've managed to express republican bigotry toward not only African-Americans but transgender people as well, all in one sentence! Just one question: How does one return to being a male yet still be a she?

That republican "black = apes-swinging-from-the-trees" bit never gets tired for the republican freaks that walk among us. You'll see it with the next morons covered in this post, too. Best of all, when it came time for Carl to apologize for his e-mail about Michelle Obama, he said it wasn't racist because it wasn't meant to be seen by the public!

He's a birther guy, too, just like his friend and idol, Donald Trump. It turns out, Trump and Paladino have a mutual-admiration, bromance kind of thing going on -- forged in racism, no doubt. You see, Trump made Paladino the New York State chairman of his campaign. Kellyanne Konartist will, of course, whine that their words are just words and we don't know what's in Trump's heart. Oh yes we do.


3. Clay County, WV's PAMELA RAMSEY TAYLOR
and MAYOR BEVERLY WHALING

Don't you see, Pamela's the victim here!

Who, you say?

Leave it to "ordinary" republicans. The ordinary voters and officials who toil in near-anonymity. Because these are the people who often get to the heart of the matter when it comes to defining exactly who the foundation of the republican party is and revealing it to us all. Such was the case when Ms. Taylor, the now-former director of the Clay County (West Virginia) Development Corporation, proudly spread her republican freak flag and let it fly.

She had those best words, those best words that she just had to share on her Facebook page. She just had to let the world know what she thinks of incoming First Lady Melanoma Trump as opposed to outgoing First Lady Michelle Obama:

It will be so refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady back in the White House. I'm tired of seeing a ape in heels.

First Lady-in-waiting Melania -- classy is as classy does?

Mayor Whaling, as you can see below, was in total agreement:

Just made my day Pam.

Facebook screenshot from DailyKos's Walter Einenkel [click to enlarge]

I suppose I should just let that hang there, but hell, I bet they'll get jobs in the Trump administration, or maybe they'll just have Taylor do her stand-up republican comedy act at the inauguration.

Meanwhile, Whaling has resigned, but Taylor isn't going so easily. No, she's got a lawyer and she's pulled out the old, well-worn republican "I'm a victim" card. She says the retribution she has reaped is a "hate crime against me" and is charging that she's being done in by, get this, "reverse racism."

You go, girl! You go directly to hell!


4. RUDY GIULIANI and JAMES COMEY

Just another bromance, or criminal co-conspirators too?

Here's another republican bromance, FBI and republican operative James Comey and senile useful-idiot-crank Rudy Giuliani, who by the way really did marry a cousin.

Lost in all the discussion about the so-called shock of the Trumpinsky win was Rudy Giuliani's appearance on FOX "News" a few days before the election, which you can see at the top of this post. Go back and take a close look at it. Forget about Rudy's correct prediction. Forget about him failing to mention how Kerry "lost" Ohio in 2004. Forget (if you can) that wide-eyed crazed look. There are more noteworthy things in this clip.

One is Rudy's compulsive need to repeatedly state that he, the magnificent Rudy, "over-
    performed," "overperformed," "overperformed"! This is an assclown with some
    insecurity issues.

Number two comes towards the end, where Rudy states, reassuringly, to the FOX bozette (on October 25th):

And then I think he's got a surprise or two that you're gonna hear about in the next few days. I, I mean, I'm talking about some pretty big surprises. You'll see . . . We're not gonna go down. We're certainly not gonna stop fightin'. We've got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn this around.

Then comes Rudy's evil laugh.

Rudy was echoing what he and Eric Trump's wife, Lara, had said on FOX earlier in the day. That October Surprise was, of course, the infamous announcement by FBI Director James Comey, just three days later, that the FBI felt they should take a look at some more Clinton e-mails.

What the complicit media has failed to lay out for the American people is the relationship between Comey and Giuliani. It seems Comey, a former employee and still good friend of Rudy's, was just a phone call away. The result of the letter was a media barrage filled with false charges by Trump and Rudy that Comey's letter proved Clinton was a criminal.

When asked about Comey's letter on November 4th, the day after the election, Rudy responded, arrogantly and perhaps stupidly:

thought it was going to be about three or four weeks ago . . . I did nothing to get it out. I had no role in it. Did I hear about it? You're darn right I heard about it, and I can't even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents.

Note how Rudy goes to great lengths to say that he is honest and tells the truth. Then he says he knew about it for three or four weeks, quickly adding that he had nothing to do with getting the letter out, "no role." I believe the technical term for this is covering one's ass. But he admits he was in direct contact with the FBI, and, given his long relationship with Comey, we can assume that it wasn't just "agents" he was in contact with. Is this on-air public admission the reason why Rudy was suddenly no longer being considered for a cabinet position? His phone records should be seized, along with all of his phones and computers. Let's have a look at his e-mails!

The key sentence is: "You're darn right I heard about it, and I can't even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents." This is a public, on TV, admission that he could be a co-conspirator, along with current and former FBI people. He could be in violation of U.S. criminal code 18 U.S.C. § 1512 c (2): "Whoever otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both."

Where are the media on this? Where is the investigation? Where is the outrage?! Our media and our Congress might as well be listed as co-conspirators -- if we had a real criminal-justice system in this country, that is. In the absence of a proper investigation, the least we can do is declare Rudy and Jimmy co-winners of the First "In Treasonous Service To Trumpinsky" Award.


POSTSCRIPT: RE. TRUMP, DIRECTOR COMEY, AND THE RUSSIANS

Digby writes today about the new rumors swirling regarding links between Comrade Trump and the Russian. In "Comey and the Russian rumors," she notes, for example, CNN's report --

that a former operative for the British intelligence agency MI6, who had proved to be a credible source in the past, had produced some reports alleging that the Russian government said it had compromising information on Trump and that there had been contacts and deals made between Trump campaign associates and Russian agents.

After taking pains to note that allegations included in an "addendum" circulated to DC officialdom by the intelligence services remain unverified, Digby concludes:

[A] healthy dose of skepticism is called for, as always, when it comes to this fast-spreading new Trump scandal. There are many reasons why a foreign government might say it had compromising information and illicit ties to a presidential candidate, even if it’s not true. But according to the Guardian article ["a comprehensive article," "John McCain passes dossier alleging secret Trump-Russia contacts to FBI"], at least some of the early reports [from MI6's previously "credible" source] did turn out to be true. It’s also true that some of Trump’s mysterious campaign behavior, or the odd circumstances under which pro-Russian language was injected into the GOP platform, might make more sense in light of this timeline of events. This is far from the end of this story, and we’ll undoubtedly know more in the coming days.

All we can say for sure right now is that this is a perfect illustration of the way Comey improperly inserted himself into the election. These scandalous rumors connecting Trump to the Russian government information are unproven and unverified, and the FBI director was right not to reveal this material prior to the election. He completely ignored that principle when it came to Clinton, and there can be no doubt that it made a difference in the outcome. The fact that Comey clearly knew at the time it was at least possible that Trump had been compromised by a foreign government makes his decision even more shameful.

Well, yes, this is what I'm saying!

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2016 IN REVIEW: AMERICA OFF THE RAILS

Here it is, Noah's completed Year in Review for 2016:

Part 1, "Profiles in Cowardice: The Electoral College" (12/23/2016)
Part 2, "Republican Of The Year Nominee #1: Newt Gingrich" (12/27/2016)
Part 3, "The Trumpf Inauguration Committee Finds The Perfect Inauguration Entertainment At Last!" (12/29/2016)
Part 4, "Republican Of The Year Nominee #2: R-R-Reince Priebus" (1/2/2017)
Part 5, "Comrade Trump: The World’s Worst Cabinet Maker, Believe Me -- Meet The New Russian Oligarchs! (1)" (1/4/2017)
Part 6, "Comrade Trump: The World’s Worst Cabinet Maker, Believe Me -- Meet The New Russian Oligarchs! (2)" (1/5/2017)
Part 7, "Republican Of The Year Nominee #3: Governors' Edition" (1/9/2017)
Part 8, "Trump -- The Art And Acts Of The Emboldened: The Rise In Hate Crimes Under The Influence Of Comrade T" (1/10/2017)
Part 9, "Republican Of The Year Nominee #4: It's A Sad Thing When Cousins Marry Edition" (1/11/2017)
Part 10, "Republican Person Of The Year Nominee #5 -- And Winner!" (1/12/2017)
Part 11, "Comrade Trump: Inauguration Entertainment Update!" (1/15/2017)
Part 12, "A DWT Exclusive: We Have The First Draft Of Comrade Trump's Inauguration Speech!" (1/16/2017)

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Meet Carl Paladino-- The Utimate New York State Trumpist

same-same

Not many people outside of New York have ever heard of Caril Paladino— and they’re better off for that. The aggressively senile far right 70 year old Buffalo realtor managed to win the Republican gubernatorial nomination against the hapless Rick Lazio in 2010. He went on to be absolutely shredded in the general election of Andrew Cuomo, losing 2,910,876 (61%) to 1,547,857 (32.5%). His senior adviser was well-known right-wing crackpot and Trump retainer, Roger Stone.

Paladino was a right-wing Democrat until 2005 when he finally figured out he was a Republican and officially switched parties. His gubernatorial campaign was as ugly as anyone could expect, trying to woo reactionary Hassidic rabbis, for example, with rabid denunciations of the LGBT community and marriage equality. He told a gaggle of right-wing rabbis in Brooklyn, “I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don't want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option— it isn't." He’s also vehemently anti-Choice and insists victims of rape and incest give birth to any resultant pregnancy. He’s an anti-education psychopath, a racist (with a special animus towards Asians for some reason), a Climate Change denier and an anti-regulations fanatic. So, of course, he was an enthusiastic Trump supporter and co-chaired Trump’s failed New York campaign.

While co-chairing Trump’s campaign, he threatened— in writing— Republican officials who refused to endorse Trump. This was part of an open letter to Republicans in Congress and the state legislature: "This is our last request that you join 'Trump for President' and try to preserve what's left of your pathetic careers in government." He later threatened too have Republican delegates killed if they didn’t support Trump. "I don’t trust our entire delegation… I’d certainly whack them if they went off the reservation."

In 2013 Paladino ran for the Buffalo school board from South Buffalo, a largely conservative blue collar, Irish-American area. His campaign was basically a screed against the teachers union with an ugly dose of racism. He won and was reelected— narrowly, by 132 votes— against an 18 year old high school senior, in 2016.

Trump has been running around screeching like a madman that Obama is a Muslim for years and this year famously tweeted that Attorney General Loretta Lynch should be lynched. So it should have come as no real surprise this week whe he told the editors of the Buffalo News, who have endorsed him and generally support his ugly racism, that the outrageous interview he gave Artvoice this week— which seemed like an Onion-like parody— was a straight up, for real interview with him.”Of course I did,” he said when asked if he had uttered the remarks. "Tell them all to go fuck themselves.”

Artvoice asked 4 questions but the two that have stirred up controversy and inspired some people to ask themselves how typical of Trump supporters Paladino is were 1- What would you most like to happen in 2017? And 2- What would you like to see go away in 2017?

The Buffalo area’s other participants answered the way you might normally expect a public figure to respond. Not Paladino:

1. Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford.  He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.

2. Michelle Obama.  I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.

Of the 30 other participants, 4 mentioned they’d like to see Trump impeached and 5 said they’d like to see Trump disappear in 2017. A couple of people also mentioned how nice 2017 would be without Paladino and at least one person said they’d like to see him run for mayor. The Buffalo News:

Friday's response left many wondering about Paladino's political future.

"This is no longer a black issue, this is a community issue," said Warren Galloway, a Republican who was the local president of Jesse Jackson’s Operation PUSH. "This is a reflection of the whole community. As an African-American Republican, the party should sever ties with him."

The Artvoice comments are the latest example in a long history of Paladino making offensive statements, some of which caught national attention because of his role as a co-chairman in Donald J. Trump's New York State election campaign.

During the campaign, Paladino appeared on National Public Radio and described supporters of Trump as people frustrated with government who “want the raccoons out of the basement.” He described what’s happening in the presidential race as “a political revolution” aimed at getting rid of “the establishment class” within the Republican Party and ridding Washington, D.C., of “the Washington elite monsters.”

In June 2015, Paladino commented during a political rally in Olean about “damn Asians” and other “foreigners” attending the University at Buffalo.

Paladino also defended a then-Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority commissioner who used a racial epithet to describe several African-American politicians, including Mayor Byron W. Brown.

And during his run for governor in 2010, Paladino received national attention for circulating emails, including pornographic images, and one that included the use of the N-word.

“Paladino has a long history of racist and incendiary comments," Cuomo wrote in a statement Friday. "While most New Yorkers know Mr. Paladino is not to be taken seriously, as his erratic behavior defies any rational analysis and he has no credibility, his words are still jarring. His remarks do not reflect the sentiments or opinions of any real New Yorker and he has embarrassed the good people of the state with his latest hate-filled rage.

Earlier this week, Paladino was also criticized for introducing a resolution to mandate that all Buffalo Public Schools display a picture of Trump. Paladino served as co-chairman in President-elect Trump's New York State election campaign.

Such comments have lead to a push by some community members and a few of his colleagues on the Buffalo School Board to have him removed from the elected position. Earlier this year, the group devoted part of a committee meeting to discuss their legal options for his removal.

"The question we continue to ask is if we should have someone like this sitting on a board representing children," said board member Sharon Belton-Cottman. "The board sets a policy of expectations for student behavior. We expect them to be civil. We expect them to be courteous. And we should model that behavior.”

There has been some talk lately that the shock of not being offered a Cabinet post by Trump has sent Paladino, a gun-carrying walking freak-show, who expected to be Trump's running-mate, into a spiral of depression, rage and barely controllable insanity which isn’t likely to end well.

So it's come to this: We're listening to "Icky Carl" Paladino prattle about the homosexual "option"?

"My feelings on homosexuality are unequivocal. I have absolutely no problems with it whatsoever. My only reservation is marriage. That's the only reservation I have."

-- "Icky Carl" Paladino, yesterday with Matt Lauer (hmmm)

by Ken

The Ickman, who says he has "lots of homosexuals" working in his organization, goes further, saying, "The discrimination against homosexuals is horrible. It's terrible."

It's not so easy to tell from what the Ickman says what he actually believes. His most fully considered "thinking" on the subject of homosexuality appears to be, as he opines to Matt Lauer, that "it's very, very, very difficult."

But let's set that aside for a moment. Who would have thought that in the year 2011 it would be not just possible but necesssary for a candidate for statewide office, even in New York State (which has its pockets of liberalism, yes, but as a whole is far less liberal than many non-New Yorkers seem to imagine), to insist such an insistence, to be devoting so much time to damage control in the wake of the firestorm caused by his incendiary prepared remarks to a gathering of frothingly homophobic Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood Sunday.

JUST FOR THE RECORD, HERE'S WHAT
THE ICKMAN ACTUALLY SAID SUNDAY

One point worth making in Icky Carl's, er, defense is that he's reading so haltingly, it isn't absolutely clear that he even knows what he's talking about, let alone is speaking from deep-rooted belief.


[Reading, um, rather haltingly] "We must stop pandering to the pornographers and perverts, who seek to target our children and destroy their lives. I didn't march in a gay parade this year, a Gay Pride parade this year. My opponent did, and that's not the example that we should be showing our children, and certainly not in our schools. And don't misquote me as wanting to hurt homosexual, uh, people in any way. That would be a dastardly lie. My approach is, 'Live and let live.' I just think my children, and your children would be much better off, and much more successful, getting married and raising a family. And I don't want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option. It isn't."

Sure enough, on the radio this morning there was the Ickman declaring that he's not a bigot. Matt Lauer, to his credit, tries to follow up on what the Ickman says in this interview, and points out that his remarks weren't about "gay marriage"; they were about homosexuality involving "brainwashing" and not being "an equally valid or successful option." The closest thing he gets to an answer is that "that remark has to do with schooling and children." Children, he thinks, are too young to be exposed to it -- "it" referring equally, it appears, to homosexuality in general, and to homosexuality as an "option," and to homosexuality as expressed in one of those Gay Pride parades he sneers at Andrew Cuomo for marching in with his daughter.

(Of course, to the Ickman a Gay Pride parade is a gathering of men in tiny Speedos grinding against each other. Well, I guess we all tend to see what we want to see. In Icky Carl's case this appears to be men in tiny Speedos grinding against each other.)

The Ickman is indignant about being held to account for even worse things in the prepared text, things he explains that he crossed out in the car on the way to Williamsburg. Which answers one of the real mysteries about the speech: Yes, he actually had read it before delivering it. And note that his story about the "paragraph" that contained the blatantly homophobic stuff changes.

He acknowledges that yes, material for the speech was provided by the Hasidic homophobes he would be speaking to, and apparently dumped into the prepared text without processing other than the candidate's car-borne read-through. Again Matt follows up and tries to clarify whether some of the deleted stuff that has been reported was from the supplied material or was staff-written, and at first the Ickman says he doesn't know. But when Matt begins to suggest that the candidate, who feels so abused for being held responsible for any words other than those he actually speaks, might bear some responsibility for prepared material his staff puts in his hands, he's suddenly able to say with assurance that all the stuff he deleted -- that stuff was not written by his staff.

So maybe it was only the leaders of the people to whom the Ickman would be speaking who think that homosexuality is "abnormal" and homosexuals are "dysfunctional." And again, taking Icky Carl at his word for how the speech was, er, "written" and "revised," I think there's something positive to take away about Where We Are Now -- that he wouldn't say the worst stuff that was written for him (by whomever), that he refused to pander to the homo-hating Hasidim as generously as they hoped. And as the video shows, he really did express a "Live and let live" attitude toward the gays.

Still, looking at the video, does anyone doubt that the Ickman went to Williamsburg to pander to his homophobic audience, or that those Hasidic homophobes considered themselves well-pandered-to?

The crucial point in the Ickman's remarks as delivered, which Matt Lauer tries to understand his thinking on, is the disconnect between his declared "Live and let live" philosophy, with his categorical denunciation of discrimination against homosexuals, and his branding of homosexuality as not just an "option" but a not-so-successful and not-so-valid one. Does he really believe that there's no connection between announcing such views and people who hear them discriminating against gays? (As far as I can tell, yes, he seems to believe that.)

Here it's worth going back to the first line of damage control that the Ickman's staff tried to apply to the breaking crisis: that the candidate's views were in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Sensibly, the candidate doesn't seem to have fallen in line with that argument -- it's not likely to be a winning political one. Probably he thinks he's come a long way from those teachings, and indeed "Live and let live" is not Church doctrine if it includes permission to, shall we say, grind those tiny Speedos together in private, just so long as the kiddies can't see.

Nothing we know about Icky Carl suggests that he has a high degree of sexual squeamishness, as long as it's of the (grown-up and straight) "boys will be boys" variety. With that polite veneer of Church-inspired hypocrisy, he seems pretty much a "law of the jungle" kind of guy in matters sexual as well as economic. His primordial economic views are probably a better reason to hope to see him trounced in next month's gubernatorial vote. But his social views don't inspire a lot of confidence either.

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