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mcar

(42,372 posts)
Tue May 11, 2021, 05:27 PM May 2021

Pierce: I Am Asking Republicans to Stop Electing Insufferable Dickheads

I Am Asking Republicans to Stop Electing Insufferable Dickheads
Time was that right-wing members of Congress had loony views while being at least marginally likable human beings.

By Charles P. Pierce
May 11, 2021

I know that the Republicans are seeking my advice on the question, “How can we stop being half-crazed rabid dogs chewing democracy into a pulp?” It took a lot of small steps for this to happen, so let’s take them one at a time. The first step is, or should be, an easy one: We can’t ask you to stop electing Bible-banging hypocritical dumbasses all at once. But how about you start by deciding that you will not elect Bible-banging hypocritical dumbasses who also are insufferable dickheads?

I mean, is it that hard to find Bible-banging hypocritical dumbasses who are otherwise at least marginally likable human beings? This simple step would have immeasurably improved the climate in the committee meetings held in the Senate on Tuesday. For example, it would eliminate the presence of Senator Rand Paul. At a hearing of the HELP committee called to discuss the ongoing national response to the pandemic, Senator Aqua Buddha once again seemed determined to prove that Dr. Anthony Fauci is a Chinese sleeper agent from Mars. It is Paul’s contention that Fauci is concealing evidence that the virus escaped from a Chinese lab, and that it was created through what is called “gain-of-function” research through cooperation between the virology institute in Wuhan and scientists at the National Institutes of Health....

There’s more than a little evidence that Aqua Buddha picked this theory up on the sole of his shoe while walking through the Newsmax studios, because that particular outlet has been banging this drum so loudly that it’s starting to leach into the (relatively) more respectable precincts of the conservative media ecosystem. It is a useful trope for those who, for whatever reason, find Dr. Fauci to be an enemy of their tribe. (China! Scientists! Unclean!) But there’s a way even to that without alienating every human on the planet. Senator Paul never has found it, however....

The committee was debating an amendment to the bill that would eliminate a provision therein that would help the Federal Election Commission actually do its job. Basically, the adjustment to the FEC would end the nearly automatic deadlock on all issues caused by the current law by which each party gets three commissioners. This has led to repeated 3-3 deadlocks. The FTP Act would change the size of the commission from six to five, with no more than two commissioners from a single party. This was interpreted by Cruz and McConnell as a “Democratic power grab.” But Hagerty came prepared.

If the Democrats want to see their ideas in action, Hagerty said, “they should look past our southern border to Venezuela, where Maduro weaponized” the election officials. “Venezuela” is another one of those conjuring words that elude most of us, but for the initiates, it opens a vast world of fanciful monsters and black-hearted conspirators. It is a spell that reveals the vast unreality in which the Republican Party now exists. I didn’t agree with ol’ Lamar on anything, but he at least was somebody you could be around and not feel as though you were locked in the reptile house.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a36398652/rand-paul-dr-fauci-wuhan-lab/

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Pierce: I Am Asking Republicans to Stop Electing Insufferable Dickheads (Original Post) mcar May 2021 OP
I love Charles more everyday ChubbyStar May 2021 #1
He delivers on a regular basis mcar May 2021 #3
Charlie Pierce does it again Hekate May 2021 #2
I heard that exchange during the hearing mcar May 2021 #4
Oh, he's in fine form here. crickets May 2021 #8
That's all the Russian oligarchs want in the GOP. C Moon May 2021 #5
Charlie, they're entitled to elect people like them to represent them. n/t TygrBright May 2021 #6
Good luck with that, dude. calimary May 2021 #7
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