In the news

What started out as a reply to a Facebook thread has evolved into a blog post 🙂 But first, BREAKING NEWS for all of my LGBT friends. IOWA….freaking IOWA just broke through as the first non-New England state to stand for marriage equality. As I said on twitter – cheering the state with a generous helping of corn today! Woot! Like I said after the election, the backlash of Prop 8 in CA is that gay marriage became a national topic of conversation. I firmly believe that the smaller states one by one are going to tip the scales towards equality and lead the way on this issue.

Now on to my original topic. GOP insanity. Sigh….here’s what I wrote on Facebook:

“Lunch hour perusal of blog sites reveals that conservative media bypassed being good opposition reporting right to Loonville. Not shocked.”

and the longer follow up:

“Here’s the thing – I absolutely gladly listen to their take on issues because I love understanding all sides of things. But when the major spokespeople from the party cannot even make an *attempt* to make sense? That is just sad. I have some quite articulate *reasonable* conservative friends who should be the ones on TV/Radio/politicians – not this current crop of buffoons. Fox News is more of a joke than ever. Rush/Bill/Sean & Glen – oh especially Glen – are leading the way into insanity and ridiculousness. For heaven’s sake my sane GOP friends – take your party BACK! Please!”

I ran out of space to even get into how ridiculous the GOP *politicians* have been! The budget/not really a budget announcement? A joke! Seriously, if I was a Republican, I would be utterly ashamed at the leadership right now. I love our two party system – it is *supposed* to spurn healthy debate on all issues. Only right now the GOP is decidedly UN healthy.

Here is what I would love – a REAL debate show. Not that piece of crap Crossfire which was thankfully put to rest just after Jon Stewart tore it a new one. I hate the programs that feature blowhards from both sides just trying to shout louder over the other. Throwing out lies and straw men and personal attacks and playing the fear card at every turn. No, I was serious, knowledgable, respectful debaters. Here – I will even nominate someone from the left: Rachel Maddow – no one smarter, quicker on her feet or classier on our side.

Now, conservatives – tell me who YOU would want to see. No Big Egos only in it for the face time (Ann Coulter, Bill Maher and their phony touring debate come to mind).  Do you have a Rachel Maddow out there? Because I have yet to see/hear one. But I really would LOVE to.

And because all of this really started with my dear friend Bill in Portland Maine rounding up the recent mess of GOP insanity – I shall copy/paste it here as evidence of why I think they are in serious need of assistance:

Party leader Joe the Plumber doesn’t like the Employee Free Choice Act but he doesn’t feel like explaining why. Mainly because he hasn’t bothered to read it. He’s a busy boy, you see, and it’s very time-consuming to travel around the country explaining why he doesn’t like things he doesn’t know anything about.

Party leader Sarah Palin was invited and then uninvited to be the headliner at a national GOP dinner and was replaced by Newt Gingrich. Even though the Alaska governor claimed it was an innocent communication error, organizers refused to re-invite her because, of course, they only have two more months until the event and have already moved on to the blowing-up-balloons stage. But at least now Palin can devote more time to not accepting federal funds for wasteful things like schools and help for the unemployed.

Party leader Rush Limbaugh is using the flooding in North Dakota to make “dyke” jokes as residents of Fargo cope with the possibility that their town could be wiped out. Levity is important in times of crisis, especially jokes that makes fun of minorities. LOL, ladies and gentlemen!

Party leader Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina says that accepting federal money for schools is a form of child abuse. And party leader Bill O’Reilly says people who use the internet are child molesters. Just a hunch, but I bet the dedicated medical and mental health professionals who deal with actual child abuse and molestation cases every day might beg to differ. Probably with their middle finger.

Party leader Rep. John Boehner approved a GOP budget proposal that basically says, “Let’s give the Bush plan another 50 years to work.” He was too embarrassed to unveil it himself, so he sent out his second-stringers to twist in the wind.

Party leader Senator John Cornyn hopes that Minnesota continues to suffer the consequences of having only one sitting senator, and threatens to launch World War III if Al Franken is seated. He’ll need a declaration of war from Congress for that, but I’m sure he’s got the clout to push it through. The tricky part will be drawing the rest of the world into a global fisticuffs over a U.S. Senate seat.

Party leader Rep. Michelle Bachman puts words in the Treasury Secretary’s mouth and then warns that America will cease to exist if he is allowed to do what he never considered doing in the first place. Got that?

And party leader Glenn Beck—who famously said, “[W]hen I see 9/11 victim’s family, you know, on television, or whatever, I’m just like, ‘Oh, shut up.’ I’m so sick of them. Because they’re always complaining”—continues to flog his “9/12” campaign which, as Stephen Colbert notes, “…is not for families directly affected by 9/11. Just people building their careers on it.”

I used to wonder what a political party would be like if it consisted of all the crazy aunts and uncles people keep locked away in their basements and attics. Mystery solved.