Burke: Should a GOP slate like this really worry Democrats?
Published 1:30 am Monday, March 14, 2022
By Tom Burke / Herald columnist
Click-bait polling is still trying to handicap the November mid-term elections; and the pundits still are trying to predict the 2024 presidential election.
As is often stated, it’s simply too early to predict anything, especially voting. The world is too volatile (Ukraine, gas prices, covid, etc.) and too much can happen to think yesterday’s attitudes will predict tomorrow’s winners and losers.
But let’s assume, gentle reader, you’re just trying to make a rational, fact-based decision on how to vote and genuinely don’t know if it’ll be Trump and the Republicans or Biden and the Democrats. (Just for the record, in the past year Biden and the Democrats have: achieved the biggest single-year drop in unemployment in American history; a 32 percent reduction in hunger; more than 6 million jobs created, breathed new life into NATO, put a big stick in Putin’s spokes, delivered — with Republican support — a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill; allocated $1.9 tillion in covid relief, and got us out of Afghanistan.)
Anyway, as you think about the future it’s best to take a look at some of the people you’ll get by voting Republican and think about how they’d legislate if in power; understanding the GOP’s 2022 “platform” is simple: ban books, ban abortion, ban Black history, ban transgender teens, ban saying “gay,” restrict voting; spread lies and conspiracy theories, bear false witness to defame; dissolve Medicare, raise taxes on seniors and the poor, make America a theocracy all the while shouting “Freedom!” at MAGA rallies.
(I love the quote by Harry Truman about the Grand Old Party, “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a Republican. But I repeat myself.”)
So, voting Republican would get you:
Donald Trump: A liar. Thief. Cheat. Twice-impeached. A Putin-loving Big Lie, covid killer, wanna-be despot.
Loren Culp: Failed Washington gubernatorial candidate running for Congress. Raised $40,000 and spent $65,000 last quarter. Endorsed by Trump; claims his 2020 election was stolen (He lost by 545,000 votes); and advises supporters to send money to a Florida telemedicine clinic that dispenses “covid” drugs that are both ineffective and dangerous, namely vermectin and hydroxychloroquine.
Marjorie Taylor Green: Promotes the Big Lie. Says Pelosi’s “gazpacho” police are spying on members of Congress. (She’s a souper gal?) Blamed wildfires on space lasers. Said her congressional salary is now $0 because of fines ($100,000.00) for refusing to wear a mask on the House floor.
Lauren Boebert: Jeered Biden when he shared the loss of his son to cancer. Says “Protecting and defending the Constitution doesn’t mean trying to rewrite the parts you don’t like,” clearly displaying her Constitutional ignorance; it’s been rewritten/revised 27 times doing things like abolishing slavery and extending the right of women to vote. Duh!
Rand Paul: Says if you believe in the right to health care you believe in slavery.
Matt Gaetz: Supports repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), defends anti-Semite and Holocaust denier Charles Johnson, and voted against all the covid aid bills.
George P. Bush, son of Jeb Bush and running for Texas attorney general: Says he’ll “finish the Trump wall” and promulgates the Big Lie.
Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers: Says “The European Union is New World Order tyranny and Germany’s attempt to rebuild the Third Reich.”
Robert Regan: Republican candidate for Michigan state legislature said, “I tell my daughters, ‘Well, if rape is inevitable, you should just lie back and enjoy it.’” Regan’s three daughters urged voters not to vote for him tweeting, ”If you’re in Michigan and 18+ pls for the love of god do not vote for my dad for state rep. Tell everyone.”
Marco Rubio: Live-tweeted Ukraine president’s call with Congress putting Zelenskyy’s life in danger.
Paul Gosar, Thomas Massie and Matt Rosendale: The only Republicans to vote against aid for Ukraine. (Rosendale says he won’t agree to help Ukraine until Biden finishes the border wall. Gosar says Putin, “puts Russia first as he should,” and Gosar’s three siblings say he’s a white supremacist.)
Boebert, Cawthorn, Gaetz, Gosar, Gohmert, Massie: All voted to keep importing Russian oil.
Mike Pompeo: Screamed at NPR host Mary Louise Kelly, “Do you think Americans f*cking care about Ukraine?”
Madison Cawthorn: Says he built his staff for communications, not legislation; that Asians always score higher, so we need to make it more difficult for them to get into college; and calls the Jan. 6 insurrectionists “political prisoners” while advising crowds to stockpile ammunition for what he described as potential American-vs.-American “bloodshed” over unfavorable election results. Also said, “Zelenskyy is a thug. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”
But wait! There’s more. For your Republican-line vote you also get, at no additional cost: Mitch McConnell, Mo Brooks, Jim Jordan, Ronny Jackson, Rick Scott, Kevin McCarthy, Gregg Abbott, Ken Paxton … and the King County GOP, which wants to abolish mail-in voting in Washington state.
Today’s GOP comes with a pro-Putin faction, wants to arrest members of the House Jan. 6 committee, restrict immigration, resist Biden’s tax measures on large corporations, eliminate incentives for going solar and repeal environmental rules.
But then there is New Hampshire Republican governor John Sununu, who said “No” to running for the Senate after discovering their plan for the future was to do little more than obstruct President Joe Biden until, ‘hopefully’ 2024 ushers in a Republican (Trump?) to the White House. He was, he said, “Bothered that they were OK with that.”
You should be, too. A lot bothered.
Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.
