Republicans behaving badly

[Lani]

The Giffords gun safety organization has sued the National Rifle Association and the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana, alleging the group used shell corporations to improperly aid the Republican lawmakers in 2018. The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan campaign finance group, is representing Giffords, which was founded by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), a survivor of a horrific shooting, in part to counter the NRA’s influence in national politics.

The NRA has also been found to have received millions of dollars from Russia funds that they are alleged to have funneled into multiple GOP campaigns in 2016 and 2020.

The Giffords suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia this week, alleges two NRA affiliates made up to $35 million in illegal campaign contributions in the form of coordinated communications efforts to the GOP Senate campaigns of Hawley, Rosendale, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, as well as Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Although the suit only names Hawley and Rosendale, other matters concerning the other candidates named in the suit could be proceeding at the Federal Election Commission, the federal regulator for campaign finance violations. The FEC keeps proceedings secret while they are ongoing.

https://hillreporter.com/josh-hawley-su ... ses-117106

[John Thomas8]

It's idiocy like this is why my outrage meter burnt out. Nobody decent is whining about Big Bird:

Sesame Street’s Big Bird character decided to get vaccinated to protect himself from COVID-19 — and it caused a massive flap among vaccine skeptics like Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

Cruz said the whole scene was government “propaganda” — a pretty big word for Sesame Street!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/big-bird ... 666bdda473

[Volkonski]

Big Bird has been promoting vaccination for decades.

When the Republicans finally convince their followers to stop getting all vaccinations we will have outbreaks of measles, polio, whooping cough etc.

I just hope that when their children are suffering and dying Republican parents will come to their senses.

[raison de arizona]

Such a great picture. The man just *looks* evil. He reminds me of one of The Gentlemen from the Hush episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 4, episode 10. (I recommend the episode, even if you aren't into the show, 2/3rds of it is silent and it is creepy as all get out.)

rsz_1screen_shot_2021-11-08_at_23202_pm.png (482.5 KiB) Viewed 623 times

NRSC chair Rick Scott declines to say if Trump-backed Senate hopeful accused of strangling wife is right candidate for the job

Sen. Rick Scott, who heads the group that works to elect Senate Republicans, declined Monday to say whether Sean Parnell, a GOP hopeful in Pennsylvania who has been accused of strangling his wife and abusing his children, is the right candidate for the job.

Scott, who serves as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, was asked about the candidacy of Parnell, who has been endorsed by former president Donald Trump, during an interview on CNN. Scott maintained that in his role as NRSC chairman he should remain neutral in primaries, except in the cases of GOP incumbents.

“We’ll see who comes out of the primary,” Scott said. “Facts will come out. We’ll find out exactly what people think. I think what ultimately happens is people are going to look at somebody’s background and say is that the type of person they want and also are they talking about the issues I care about.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

[Volkonski]

It's idiocy like this is why my outrage meter burnt out. Nobody decent is whining about Big Bird:

Sesame Street’s Big Bird character decided to get vaccinated to protect himself from COVID-19 — and it caused a massive flap among vaccine skeptics like Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

Cruz said the whole scene was government “propaganda” — a pretty big word for Sesame Street!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/big-bird ... 666bdda473

Not only Big Bird.

[raison de arizona]

Rep. Paul Gosar tweets photoshopped anime video showing him killing Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden

Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) shared a photoshopped, animated video that depicts him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging two swords at President Biden, prompting condemnation and calls for his Twitter and Instagram accounts to be suspended.

Gosar has long drawn criticism for his extremist views, including his spreading of conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob and the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. In February, he appeared at an event whose organizer called for white supremacy. Gosar later distanced himself from the organizer’s remarks.

The congressman’s Sunday night post — which he shared on Twitter and Instagram — appeared to go further than his previous contentious remarks and social media posts, raising the specter of political violence in a manner similar to former president Donald Trump’s frequent allusions to armed revolution.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

[Phoenix520]

But calling that bimbo Tomi Larphen a bimbo is apparently one toke over the line. Sweet Jesus.

[raison de arizona]

AOC response. The shit she has to put up with, unbelievable. And unsafe.


Pelosi response:

Threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated. @GOPLeader should join in condemning this horrific video and call on the Ethics Committee and law enforcement to investigate.

Er, good luck with that! We'll see what his lukewarm response is, if anything.

The Kathy Griffin files:

► Show Spoiler

Gosar's response to the response to his anime video of him killing AOC and attacking Biden:

► Show Spoiler

[Volkonski]

13 senior Trump administration officials violated Hatch Act, report finds

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/09/politics ... _term=link

Thirteen senior Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act, according to a report from the US Office of Special Counsel that was released on Tuesday.

Eleven of those senior Trump officials allegedly violated the Hatch Act by "campaigning on behalf of President Trump's reelection" during 18 official interviews or media appearances, and two of them committed violations related to 2020 Republican National Convention, the report said. The agency, which is charged with investigating Hatch Act violations, also found that some Trump administration officials "intentionally ignored the law's requirements and tacitly or expressly approved of senior administration officials violating the law."
The agency said it began investigating the officials after many complaints were submitted during and after the convention.

The eleven former senior officials who allegedly committed media-related violations are: White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, national security adviser Robert O'Brien, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House adviser Stephen Miller, White House deputy press secretary Brian Morgenstern, then-Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short, White House communications director Alyssa Farah and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

[raison de arizona]

Whatta dilbert.

[Slim Cognito]

As in it's allowed?

[neeneko]

Whatta dilbert.

He says that like it is a bad thing. A standard where they do not go to jail probably should be scraped for a new one.

[raison de arizona]

"He's a sociopath."

[tek]

Rittenhouse and the QAnon Shaman are the canaries in the coal mine. If either of them go down, a new standard is set for jailing Republicans criminals.

FIFH

[raison de arizona]

► Show Spoiler

[Dr. Ken]

Whatta dilbert.

He says that like it is a bad thing. A standard where they do not go to jail probably should be scraped for a new one.

It's over a year since Scott said that if biden was elected we'd all be dead in a year. Are we all dead yet?

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1 ... n-misogyny

Trump-backed Pennsylvania Senate candidate Parnell may have just buried himself in his own misogyny

Parnell would face a Republican primary in May of next year. However, it now appears that he may not make it that far, Trump’s wholehearted endorsement notwithstanding. As reported by Nick Kepler and Michael Scherer, writing for the Washington Post, Parnell gave an interview to Fox Nation in 2019, providing some startling misogynist viewpoints, the contents of which are now receiving closer attention.

His comments came up in a discussion about a study that attributed low marriage rates in the U.S. to the lack of “economically attractive men.” Parnell gave what he now describes as a “tongue-in-cheek” response to the interviewer:

“I am going to say something very, very un-PC. I reject this study wholesale,” Parnell said. “I feel like the whole happy wife, happy life nonsense has done nothing but raise one generation of women tyrants after the next.”

“The idea that a woman doesn’t need a man to be successful, the idea that a woman doesn’t need a man to have a baby, the idea that a woman can live a happy and fulfilling life without a man, I think it’s all nonsense,” he said.

Blaming “high maintenance, narcissistic women” for their inability to find suitable mates, Parnell also pined for an earlier time: “It used to be, you know, women were attracted to your strength because you could defend them from dinosaurs.” He also claimed to have been repulsed by the “duck-billed selfies” taken by women and posted on Instagram.

► Show Spoiler

. According to the CNN report, shortly after Trump endorsed Parnell, Jeff Bartos, another GOP Senate hopeful, published documents on his campaign website indicating that Parnell’s ex-wife had sought and obtained two protection-from-abuse orders against Parnell. Both of those orders were later expunged from the public record.

The divorce and custody case, which has lasted four years, will likely be decided this week. Some of Parnell’s backers contend that if the court decides to award joint custody, Parnell could trumpet that fact in arguing that his candidacy is still viable. As Kepler and Scherer report, others have taken a decidedly dimmer view of his prospects, blaming Trump for not vetting Parnell before he endorsed him.

Several relatively lesser-known PA Republicans have indicated they would join the race if Parnell implodes any further. One of them, a hedge fund operator named David McCormick, recently traveled to Mar-a-Lago for a “private” dinner with Trump. On the Democratic side, the race appears to be crystallizing between current Rep. Conor Lamb, who President Biden has praised, and current Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman.

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[AndyinPA]

I hope that's the final nail in Parnell's coffin.

[raison de arizona]

Expelled.

Casper Star-Tribune: Wyoming GOP votes to no longer recognize Liz Cheney as a party member

The Wyoming Republican Party voted over the weekend to no longer recognize Rep. Liz Cheney as a member of the party, the Casper Star-Tribune reported, a new instance of GOP blowback as Cheney continues to speak out against former President Donald Trump.

The resolution, which does not strip Cheney of any power, cleared the Wyoming GOP Central Committee on Saturday by a vote of 31-29, the report said.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/15/politics ... index.html

[Ben-Prime]

Expelled.

Casper Star-Tribune: Wyoming GOP votes to no longer recognize Liz Cheney as a party member

The Wyoming Republican Party voted over the weekend to no longer recognize Rep. Liz Cheney as a member of the party, the Casper Star-Tribune reported, a new instance of GOP blowback as Cheney continues to speak out against former President Donald Trump.

The resolution, which does not strip Cheney of any power, cleared the Wyoming GOP Central Committee on Saturday by a vote of 31-29, the report said.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/15/politics ... index.html

I mean, if the GOP can actually prevent people from running as Republicans, then how did Trump even get through the gate to begin with? So does this have any teeth whatsoever?

[bob]

I mean, if the GOP can actually prevent people from running as Republicans, then how did Trump even get through the gate to begin with? So does this have any teeth whatsoever?

How did Sanders, who isn't a Democrat, run for the Democratic nomination?

It is mostly theater: Cheney is still the duly elected representative, and still caucuses with the Republicans in the House.

If Cheney seeks re-election as a Republican, then we'll see if the party actually challenges her claim of being a Republican.

Really, this is meant to signal to her to not bother to seek re-election (as a Republican, at least).

[RVInit]

I mean, if the GOP can actually prevent people from running as Republicans, then how did Trump even get through the gate to begin with? So does this have any teeth whatsoever?

How did Sanders, who isn't a Democrat, run for the Democratic nomination?

It is mostly theater: Cheney is still the duly elected representative, and still caucuses with the Republicans in the House.

If Cheney seeks re-election as a Republican, then we'll see if the party actually challenges her claim of being a Republican.

Really, this is meant to signal to her to not bother to seek re-election (as a Republican, at least).

The party machinery will make sure she has a Trumpian challenger and they will put all their money and muscle behind that person.

This is why all the previously "normal" Republicans are all announcing retirement or they have decided not to run for their current seat. They know they are going to be primaried. And it's less humiliating to quit than suffer a public loss. We are screwed. It will be a very long time before Republican voters start coming around and deciding they want to vote for people who are actually interested in serious governing instead of just being obstructionist and kissing DJT's rear end.

[bob]

The party machinery will make sure she has a Trumpian challenger and they will put all their money and muscle behind that person.

NPR:

Cheney is now facing at least four Republican opponents in the 2022 primary including Cheyenne attorney Harriet Hageman, whom Trump has endorsed. Hageman in a statement called the latest state GOP central committee vote "fitting," the Casper Star-Tribune reported.