Some of this Week’s Questionable Right-Wing Statements and Decisions

David Streeter — September 16, 2010 – 10:35 am | Election 2010 | Election 2012 | GOP Hypocrisies | Republicans | Stop the Smears Comments (0) Add a comment

Below is a sampling of this week’s questionable right-wing statements and decisions:

• Former Speaker of the House and rumored 2012 Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich accused President Barack Obama of harboring “Kenyan, anti-colonial” views. 
• Minnesota Governor and rumored 2012 Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) used Washington, DC mayor Adrian Fenty’s defeat as an excuse to take a swing at the Washington, DC teachers’ union.
• Former Senator and rumored 2012 Presidential candidate Rick Santorum (R-PA) denounced former President John F. Kennedy’s belief in separation of church and state and blamed him or the secularization of America. Santorum also denounced the WWII generation for their late entry into WWII. Additionally, Santorum claimed that Obama’s health care reform legislation is turning American into “France.”
• Elements of the Tea Party announced that they will increase their outreach to Jews and other minorities. In stark contrast, a Tea Party parade in Yakima, WA contained a float with a man wearing an Obama mask whipping a white “future taxpayer.”
• Louisiana Senator David Vitter (R-LA) said that Obama’s security policies are “killing Americans.”
• Tea Party-backed Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell (R-DE) successfully led an insurgent campaign against long-time Delaware public servant Mike Castle (R-DE). It was revealed this week that O’Donnell holds extremely conservative views regarding sexuality and believes that the fight against AIDS receives too much funding.
• Think Progress uncovered video of O’Donnell implying that she would not lie to the Nazis if she were harboring Jews during the Holocaust.
• Reportedly, O’Donnell was also a marketing consultant for Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ film. More about O’Donnell’s background can be read here. And for an abridged summary of O’Donnell’s questionable statements, check out TPM’s top ten list.
• Former Alaska Governor and rumored 2012 Presidential candidate Sarah Palin (R-AK) appears to be engaged in an intraparty squabble with Karl Rove regarding O’Donnell’s victory. Other prominent conservatives have been lining up against Rove as well.
• Controversial right-wing candidate Carl Paladino (R-NY) won the New York Republican Gubernatorial primary. TPM has a round-up of Paladino’s past questionable statements and decisions.
• Nevada Senate Candidate Sharron Angle (R-NV) accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of being “the best friend an illegal alien ever had.”
• Angle also pulled out of a debate with Reid because she “wanted an informed electorate.”
• Apparently, Angle’s handlers in Nevada and Washington, DC are engaged in conflict with each other.
• California Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (R-CA) shattered the record for the highest-priced, self-financed political campaign.
• Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R-VA) declared that the Obama Administration and Congress have less respect for individual liberty than “King George III.”
• President George W. Bush’s former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez declared that he is the “least political animal of the Bush Administration,” even though he is associated with the suspected politically motivated firings at the Justice Department.
• Family Research Council leader Tony Perkins sent a letter to Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) that urges him not attend an event with gay Republicans.
• Several Republican leaders will be appearing at the annual Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC. This year’s summit will feature prominent right-wing radio host and American Family Association leader Bryan Fischer, who has a long record of spouting “anti-gay” and “anti-Muslim” rhetoric from his platform. Republican leaders scheduled to appear include Gingrich, Representatives Mike Pence (R-IN) and Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Governor Bob McDonnell (R-VA), and former Governors Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Mike Huckabee (R-AR).

 

The New Republic has also compiled a list of the “special candidates” to watch in 2010, some of whom have previously graced this blog feature. Click here to find out more.

 

Additionally, The New York Times explored the Republican Party’s attempts at using Obama’s “otherness” as a campaign tactic.

Comments

There are no comments for this entry