Former GOP Senator Trashes GOP's Presidential Field

Not that many years the occupants of the GOP presidential candidate clown car would have been viewed as participants in a freak show and would never have been allowed to get to the level of declared (or soon to be declared) candidates.   That, of course, was before the rise of the Christofascists and Tea Party lunatics within the GOP.  Since that hijacking of the GOP base occurred, it seems the GOP veers further and further into crazy land with each passing day.  Former Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has decried the GOP presidential field and stated that the clown car occupants are "not ready for primetime" and that they "scare him to death."  What makes these remarks even more frightening is that Coburn is the brightest of lights and looks semi-rational only when compared to current Republicans. Here are highlights from Think Progress' coverage of Coburn's statements:

Regardless of their actual feelings, politicians tend to praise their colleagues in public as a matter of decorum, especially those in the same political party.

That’s why it was so surprising when former Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who served 10 years in the Senate and 6 years in the House of Representatives before retiring in January 2015, offered up candidly negative comments about the 2016 Republican presidential field.

In an interview with conservative commentator Andrew Wilkow last week, Coburn trashed nearly every GOPer running for president, calling them “not ready for primetime,” lacking “integrity,” not “capable,” and saying he wouldn’t support one of them even if he won the nomination. 

Here are Coburn’s individual takes on the Republican presidential candidates (emphases added):

Rand Paul: “Scares me to death on international foreign policy. Know him well, very smart. Think he was totally wrong on NSA. Didn’t speak truthfully about what was actually the facts. Would not vote for him for president.”

Marco Rubio: “Of all that are out there right now, probably my favorite.”

Scott Walker: “Not ready for primetime, in my opinion. You look at what happened in Wisconsin in terms of him beating the recall and everything else, he didn’t do that. The Republicans around the country did it for him. They pulled him out of the fire. I just don’t think he’s quite ready for primetime, in my opinion.”

Ben Carson: “I have a personal bone to pick with him on integrity that I witnessed. He made a commitment at the Prayer Breakfast not to attack the president. The speech was nothing but an attack on the president. The people who organized the Prayer Breakfast asked him not to do that. He said he would not, and then he went out and did it.”

George Pataki: “Probably smart enough, but would never encounter the votes. Nor does he have the conservative fiscal credentials or other credentials he would need to have a coalition behind him, in my opinion.”

Rick Perry: “Good guy. I don’t think he’s capable at that level.”

Lindsey Graham: “Love him, but he’s right in the middle, so I don’t see how he builds a coalition. I think his effort is try to talk about foreign policy and that’s what he ought to stick to.”

Carly Fiorina: “Smart lady. I helped her in her Senate campaign of which she was ultimately unsuccessful, but it’s because she could never get into good debates. Smart, savvy, experienced. Knows the issues that I’ve been talking about. Presents well. Doesn’t have a voting record. They’ll trash her bigtime because of her Hewlett-Packard experience.”

Ted Cruz: “Not ready for primetime.”

Mike Huckabee: “Possibility. Good guy, well-rounded. Could fit in the middle and could attract votes from both sides.”

Rick Santorum: “Love him as a man. I think he feels called to try to do this. I don’t think it’s within his reach.”

Chris Christie: “Don’t know. I haven’t followed him well. I saw his tollgate problems. I like the fact that he answers questions correctly, which very few candidates do. I like the fact that he’ll take a risk and give you an answer that’s not politically popular.

Jeb Bush: “I don’t think America will elect another Bush president. I talk to a lot of liberals all the time. They still loathe George Bush. And so you shut out 47 percent of the electorate with that nomination. So you only get to lose three or four percent. I just don’t think it’s a possibility.”

Still, lest he come off as a milquetoast conservative, Coburn is still the same man who warned of “rampant lesbianism” in Oklahoma schools, said that breaching the debt ceiling wouldn’t result in a default, believed doctors who perform abortions should be executed, and thought the Second Amendment should allow people to buy bazookas.

I truly do not know how a sane, moral person not driven by greed, hate and/or religious extremism can be a Republican in this day and age.  Those "moderates" who are left need to open their eyes, stop drinking the Kool-Aid and walk away.
 

Christofascists: If Christians Can't Discriminate Against Gays They're Victims Of Discrimination

Yet another lunatic of the Christofascist pantheon has enunciated the demand driving "religious freedom" laws favored by GOP political lackeys: making Christians abide by non-discrimination laws is anti-Christian discrimination.  These people want the right to mistreat and discriminate at will against whoever they want (gays in particular) and view themselves as utterly above the law.  This time the mouthpiece was anti-gay zealot Josh Duggar who with his equally lunatic wife pops out children at a rate that would make rabbits blush.  Many Virginians recall Duggar because he was an outspoken supporter of the equally insane Ken Cuccinelli in his failed gubernatorial bid.  The New Civil Rights Movement looks at Duggar's latest batshitery which sadly sums up the views of the "godly folk" when it comes to persecuting others (note Duggars ties to the hate group FRC).  Here are highlights:

"19 Kids and Counting" reality TV star Josh Duggar has become something of a folk hero to the far Christian right, who see him as an anti-choice and anti-gay icon. Duggar is also the executive director of Tony Perkins' Family Research Council Action – the political action arm of the anti-gay hate group. 

On Sunday, after speaking at the National Organization For Marriage's anti-gay marriage hate rally, CNS News interviewed Duggar about this week's Supreme Court marriage case.

"Right now in America there is an agenda to silence people of faith, those who hold a dissenting opinion," Duggar told CNS. "That’s not what America was founded on. America was founded on respect, tolerance, and really not discriminating against people based on their religious convictions."

In other words, not allowing Christians to discriminate against gay people is "discriminating against people based on their religious convictions."

Duggar also claimed that "only one other country in the entire world has ever redefined marriage and that was Brazil when they stepped in through the court system to do that."

Raw Story's Travis Gettys was quick to set the record straight this morning.  "In fact, 18 countries worldwide legally approved same-sex marriage through legislative action or court rulings, and two others – Mexico and the United States – recognize same-sex unions in at least some regions," Gettys notes.

 The reality is that Duggar an his family are freaks and their "reality show" is little better than a carnival freak show.  

Duggar Family Freak Show to Campaign for Cuccinelli and "Bishop" Jackson

Family Freak Show - I feel sorry for these kids who obviously will have a hard time knowing what normal looks like.

If you are try to dupe people into wrongly believing that you are not a right wing Christian extremist and ideologue, then it is probably not at good idea to have the Duggar Family - a reality TV family with 19 kids - out on the campaign trail working on your behalf.  Even more so when Jim Bob Duggar has just appeared at the lunatic "Value Voters Summit" and engaged in a spittle fleck tirade comparing citizens of the United States to Germans under Nazi Germany.  Oh, and did I mention that 

Duggar’s son, Josh, is the executive director of Family Research Council Action (Family Researc Council for those who do not know is a designated hate group)?  Or that the Duggars are also campaigning for the utterly delusional "Bishop" E.W. Jackson?  Here are highlights from LGBTQ Nation:

A busload of reality television stars – all from the same family – will cruise through Virginia to support anti-gay Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli. The Duggar family from the TLC series “19 Kids and Counting” is planning a three-day bus tour starting Monday. 

The Duggars will make stops in Lynchburg, Richmond, Virginia Beach, Fredericksburg and Woodbridge in support of Cuccinelli, the father of seven.

During seven years as a state senator and in the past four year as Virginia’s attorney general, Cuccinelli has endorsed Virginia’s anti-gay marriage legislation and has advocated for a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

In a 2009 op-ed for the The Virginian Pilot, Cuccinelli wrote, “Homosexual acts are wrong. They’re intrinsically wrong.”

He also opposed a state bill that allowed private companies to voluntarily provide health insurance benefits to employees’ domestic partners, warning it might “encourage this type of behavior.”

Cuccinelli also waged a failed campaign to reinstate Virginia’s “crimes against nature” sodomy law that bans oral and anal sex among all consenting adults.

The Duggar tour is sponsored by Family Research Council Action. The executive director of the conservative advocacy group is 25-year-old Josh Duggar, the oldest of the 19 Duggar children.

Duggar’s son Josh is the executive director of Family Research Council Action, - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jim-bob-duggar-compares-us-nazi-germany-during-holocaust#sthash.r0LM64rF.dpuf