Month: September 2011

Perry Loses, Bachmann Rebuked in Republican Party of Florida Straw Poll

Jon Ponder

If the final tally in the Republican Party of Florida’s straw poll yesterday is an indicator, it appears the GOP base won’t be forgiving Rick Perry any time soon for describing their opposition to educating undocumented children as “heartless.”

Wouldn’t it be ironic if Rick Perry is forced out of the race because the GOP-tea party base couldn’t handle it when, for once, he told them the truth.

The day after Perry made the “heartless” comment at the Fox News debate in Orlando, he gave a rousing speech at a CPAC-Florida event that his campaign hoped would quell the unrest on the extreme right.

For good measure, Perry — like his principal rival, Mitt Romney — chose not to apologize for the ingratitude they and all the other Republican presidential candidates displayed to an active duty soldier who asked a question during the debate Thursday night about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. But even their compounded rudeness to a gay soldier could not cut it with the Republicans’ gay-hating base.

Instead a huge majority of voters in the poll essentially opted out by choosing “none of the above,” a.k.a. the ultimately unelectable Herman Cain:

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Bristol Palin Heckled in a Sunset Strip Bar That Caters to Reality TV Stars

Jon Ponder

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Bristol Palin was caught on tape out partying at a bar that caters to reality TV stars here in the liberal bastion of West Hollywood Thursday night.

“You’re fucking white trash from Wasilla.Your mom ran that city into the fucking grave. Fuck you, you fucking bitch!”

The video also shows an incident in which she was heckled while riding a mechanical bull. After an inglorious dismount, she collected herself and confronted her detractors, at least one of whom was gay, after which she and her entourage sashayed out the door.

According to US Weekly, the confrontation between Palin and the bar patrons went like this:

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Perry, Romney Opt Not to Apologize for Disrespect They Showed Soldier at Fox News Debate

Jon Ponder

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Here’s an update to this story from yesterday about the disrespect shown to an active duty soldier in Iraq by the entire Republican presidential field at the Fox News debate this week in Orlando, via Steve Benen at Washington Monthly:

Yesterday, Jon Huntsman and Gary Johnson, to their credit, also denounced those who booed Hill, albeit a day late. Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, however, refused requests for comment.

I don’t expect much from guys like Romney and Perry, and neither are likely to ever get a Profile in Courage award nomination any time soon, but if leading presidential candidates aren’t willing to stand up for an Army soldier serving honorably in Iraq, who will they stand up for?

From the ABC News report:

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GOP Florida U.S. Senate Candidate Urges Republicans in Congress Not to Fear Shutting Down Government

Jon Ponder

This is looking like another line in the sand moment. I want the Republican version to pass. Republicans shouldn’t be afraid of a shutdown.

– Adam Hasner, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaking to David Weigel minutes after winning the CPACFL straw poll in Orlando yesterday.

Disrespect Shown Gay Soldier by GOP Candidates at Debate Even Offends a Few Conservatives

Jon Ponder

Stephen Hill
Stephen Hill
Here’s a pleasant surprise. Jim Geraghty at the National Review Online has called out Republicans for their boorish treatment of a gay soldier who asked a question about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. And he’s not talking about the jerks in the audience who booed:

Rereading the transcript of last night’s debate, I am struck that Rick Santorum did not thank Stephen Hill, a gay soldier in the U.S. Army currently in Iraq, for his service. Nor did anyone else on that stage.

Whatever you think of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ or homosexuality, Hill is risking his life on behalf of his country. It is troubling, and revealing, that Santorum’s answer entirely defined Hill as a gay man first and as a soldier second, if at all.

Former Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer tweeted:

Booing a soldier serving our nation is uncalled for. If I were on stage, I would make that point.

Andrew Sullivan, a moderate, lapsed supporter of the GOP, is pissed:

I have become used to hearing gay people and our lives either ignored or stigmatized or demonized in Republican debates. It is a function of a political party becoming a religion. And so my skin is pretty thick at this point, and my outrage button eroded by two decades of learning to ignore this stuff and focus on the positive arguments we have to make…

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Carter Condemns Capital Punishment

Buck Banks

If one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated. We hope this tragedy will spur us as a nation toward the total rejection of capital punishment.

— Jimmy Carter, quoted by USA Today, on the the execution of Troy Davis by the state of Georgia last night.