Craziest Republican of the Day: Karen Mueller

By Michael J.W. Stickings

ThinkProgress:

A Wisconsin Republican congressional hopeful warned Tuesday that a federal court ruling striking down the state's ban on same-sex marriage could lead to the legalization of marriage between siblings.

Karen Mueller, an Eau Claire attorney whose practice has focused on opposing abortion and defending those "discriminated against and harassed in the workplace, the school, college and/or the public square because of their faith," is one of three Republican candidates seeking to challenge Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI). At a Republican Party of Monroe County candidate forum, she denounced the ruling and warned that it would create a slippery slope.  

According to the Tomah Journal, Mueller said that the ruling might set a precedent that any two people can marry: "We've got, for instance, two sisters, and these two sisters want to get married. They love each other. They are committed to each other. They want to spend the rest of their life together." Lawyers, Mueller explained, would be able to argue "'We can just do away with that state law the same way we did away with sodomy laws,'" noting that "once you do away with that, you reveal what is really going on here."

Mueller also suggested that the court's ruling will be overturned on appeal because the state's ban is not really discriminatory against gay and lesbian citizens. "They can get married. They just can't get married to each other," she argued.

In other words, Mueller -- who is only a small-time pol at this point but who is obviously active on the bigoted theocratic right -- is a massive idiot spouting the same old Rick Santorum-style nonsense about how allowing gays and lesbians to marry will unleash the sort of wet-dream sexual chaos that gets fundies all revved up into frothing-mad hysteria, because apparently they just can't help thinking about all that sibling, not to mention inter-species, sodomizing. They get so hot and bothered about it you'd think they all want to go fuck their pet dogs.

So of course she's a Republican.

Craziest Republican of the Day: Steve Hickey (for yet another insane rant against anal sex)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Bigot, moron, and overall piece of shit Steve Hickey was back in the news on Monday with another rant about anal sex -- and, more to the point, against homosexuality, which of course he doesn't like very much:

To say that Steve Hickey is repulsed by anal sex is to say that South Dakota winters are a bit cold.

But the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based pastor and member of the state's House of Representatives managed to outdo himself on Monday, when he continued his crusade against "gay sex" during an online video chat with the Argus Leader newspaper.

Hickey drew tons of attention last week when he wrote a letter calling on the medical community to sound the alarm about the dangers of anal sex. Later, Dr. Kevin Weiland, who has run for Congress as a Democrat, responded with a letter of his own in the Argus Leader, calling Hickey's words "not only hurtful but entirely wrong."

During his video chat on Monday, Hickey argued that Weiland was missing what he's described as a "self-evident" concern.

"And here's what I'd like to ask Dr. Weiland. Do you tell your patients to wash their hands before they eat? Why? Because you touch a doorknob and you don't want to get it inside your body. I hesitate to get crude again, but Dr. Weiland, is it OK for, you know, eight of your friends that you're in love with to take a dump in your bed and then you can sleep in it all year long?"

The observation prompted Argus Leader managing editor Patrick Lalley to admonish Hickey for being "crude."

Yes, this guy is a Republican legislator, not just some random theocrat. And these are the sorts of ignorant, hateful views that are perfectly at home in the odious GOP, even in 2014. (Seriously, voters of District 09, just west of Sioux Falls in Minnehaha County. What the fuck are you thinking?)

I'd say Hickey needs a good, hard assfucking, but that's way too good for him.

Craziest Republican of the Day: (Virginia State Senator) Steve Martin

By Michael J.W. Stickings

(It's really a shame you share first and last names with this fucking idiot pictured below, really funny Steve Martin of movies like The Jerk and L.A. Story fame.)

HuffPo reports on the antics of yet another woman-oppressing Republican jackass:

A pregnant woman is just a "host" that should not have the right to end her pregnancy, Virginia State Sen. Steve Martin (R) wrote in a Facebook rant defending his anti-abortion views.

Martin, the former chairman of the Senate Education and Health Committee, wrote a lengthy post about his opinions on women's bodies on his Facebook wall last week in response to a critical Valentine's Day card he received from reproductive rights advocates.

"I don't expect to be in the room or will I do anything to prevent you from obtaining a contraceptive," Martin wrote. "However, once a child does exist in your womb, I'm not going to assume a right to kill it just because the child's host (some refer to them as mothers) doesn't want it." Martin then changed his post on Monday afternoon to refer to the woman as the "bearer of the child" instead of the "host."

Martin voted for Virginia's mandatory ultrasound bill and supported a fetal personhood bill, which would ban all abortions and could affect the legality of some forms of contraception.

If only this Steve Martin were an outlier in the Republican Party, maybe he could be written off as a fringe-inhabiting extremist disconnected from mainstream Republican thinking.

But of course he's not an outlier, just, as in this case, a little less cautious with his words than most of the rest of his ilk.

Remind me again why any woman, or any man who cares about women, would vote Republican?

Craziest Republican of the Day: Tom "God wrote the Constitution" DeLay

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Tom DeLay used to be a big deal in the Republican Party. Whatever he's doing with himself now, he's as crazy as ever:

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) this week warned Americans to remember that God "wrote the Constitution" based on the Bible.

During an appearance on John Hagee Ministries' Global Evangelism Television (GETV) network on Wednesday, host Matt Hagee asked the Texas Republican where the country had gone wrong.

"I think we got off the track when we allowed our government to become a secular government," DeLay explained. "When we stopped realizing that God created this nation, that he wrote the Constitution, that it’s based on biblical principles."

This is where you'd like James Madison and Alexander Hamilton to tell him he's full of shit and then punch him in the face for good measure.

Craziest Republican of the Day: Ian Bayne (for comparing Phil Robertson to Rosa Parks)

By Michael J.W. Stickings 

Yes, seriously.

This idiot, who's running for the Republican nomination in Illinois's 11th Congressional District, said that Duck Dynasty's bigot-patriarch Phil Robertson is just like Rosa Parks:

Today, Ian Bayne called Phil Robertson, star of the A&E series "Duck Dynasty," the 'Rosa Parks' of our generation.

"In December 1955, Rosa Parks took a stand against an unjust societal persecution of black people, and in December 2013, Robertson took a stand against persecution of Christians," said Bayne.

"What Parks did was courageous," said Bayne. "What Mr. Robertson did was courageous too."

Right, because Christians today are facing totally the same situation that blacks were in the '50s. I mean, Christians can't vote, can't drink at non-Christians' water fountains, and face discrimination pretty much in every aspect of society. Plus, there are those anti-Christian lynch mobs roaming the countryside and terrorizing everyone, setting churches on fire and basically making sure that poor Christians live in abject fear every moment of their lives.

I mean, totally.

Except that, you know, Rosa Parks was fighting against bigotry and discrimination whereas Phil Robertson was identifying Christianity with bigotry and discrimination.

And of course Robertson didn't just say bigoted things about gays, he also said incredibly ignorant things about how blacks were supposedly all happy in pre-civil rights Louisiana, because apparently institutionalized bigotry and discrimination is some sort of panacea for him.

Obviously, Ian Bayne is too fucking stupid, his head stuck firmly up his right-wing ass, to get the point. 

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Craziest Republican of the Day: Steve King

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Yes, Steve King. Again. I think this is his eleventh appearance as CRD. The last one was... wait... a whole year ago? Huh.

But it's not like he hasn't been crazy in 2013. One just tires of his craziness. I mean, he could be our CRD every day of every week of every month of every year. Alongside, you know, Louie Gohmert, Michele Bachmann, etc., etc. Republicans are nothing if not generous with the material they provide us.

In any event, we did write about King in 2013, but the focus wasn't so much on "craziness" as on... anti-immigrant bigotry, with which the Iowa congressman is brimming. And, yes, he was at it again yesterday:

Rep. Steve King said Tuesday that granting amnesty to immigrants in this country illegally is more than the equivalent of giving a pass to a bank robber, it's like letting them keep the money, too.

"To grant amnesty is to pardon immigration lawbreakers and reward them with the objective of their crime," King said at a Washington panel on amnesty hosted by the conservative group Judicial Watch on Tuesday. "Whatever their objective is, the advocates of amnesty are seeking to grant them their objective."

*****

"And it isn't just as if amnesty for someone whom, say, might go in and rob a bank, because granting them amnesty would be when they get out on the street with the loot, you would say to them, 'I'm going to give you amnesty, now you're not going to be able to rob the bank anymore,'" King said. "But this is giving them the loot, too. You get to rob the bank and keep the money. That's what amnesty really is, it's pardon them for the crime and reward them with the objective of it. And it breaks down our culture and our civilization."

Well, no, it's this sort of bigotry that's breaking down "our culture and our civilization," though of course what he means by our culture and our civilization is, well, disturbing. What does it mean? Well, what? No dark-skinned people? No Spanish-speaking people? Is White Iowa his utopia?

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Louie Gohmert still the stupidest member of the House of Representatives

By Michael J.W. Stickings

"Ass backwards" is one way to describe Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert. Not to be too crass, but you have to wonder if when he goes to the toilet he sticks his mouth deep in the bowl because he thinks that's where you defecate from.

And so you knew you could count on him to get the debt ceiling, like everything else, completely wrong: 

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) isn't sure whether he'll support a debt limit deal, but he is sure of one thing: a debt default would be President Barack Obama's fault.

A reporter for The Young Turks asked Gohmert whether he'd support a bill that would raise the debt ceiling at the Values Voter Summit on Friday.

"The word 'deal' concerns me," he said. "If it's good for America."

When asked whether he would allow the government to default on its debt, Gohmert projected the responsibility for such circumstances onto Obama.

"No," he said, "that would be an impeachable offense by the president."

What's amazing is that Gohmert actually seems to believe his own moronic bullshit. Republicans often say stupid things, but for many of them it's just the usual cynical partisan nonsense. They say down is up even though they know that down is down. But Gohmert and those like him -- and he's hardly alone -- really do seem to think that down is up.

In this case, last time I checked President Obama actually does want to raise the debt ceiling so that the country doesn't go into default. All Democrats do. It's a significant number of Republicans who are playing politics with the debt ceiling, either opposing an increase for right-wing ideological reasons (and disregarding the near-certainty of a subsequent economic catastrophe) or opposing it rhetorically (and holding the country hostage) so as to try to extract concessions from the Democrats in other areas.

Apparently Gohmert is too stupid to understand this.

An impeachable offense? Seriously? What a fucking moron.

Though he faces incredibly (and increasingly) stiff competition from any number of his fellow Republicans, he wins this award running away.

Cruz I lose

By Capt. Fogg

I don’t like that Cruz-I-Lose
I do not like him
On the Tube
I do not like him
He’s a boob.
I don’t like him on the floor
I don’t like him, he’s a whore
I do not like him here or there.
I do not like him ANYWHERE!

Iowa Republican Steve King ramps up the anti-immigrant bigotry

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Yes, some of the less extreme Republicans understand that their party has to make a concerted effort to reach out to Hispanics in order to remain electorally viable, and some of the less bigoted ones also realize that their party needs to be sincere in rebranding itself as more inclusive, even that it's good in and of itself to embrace basic decency and respect for others...

But then there are the likes of Rep. Steve King of Iowa, who obviously speak for many more in the Republican Party when they ramp up the ideological extremism and blend it with unabashed bigotry, including contributing to an immigration debate that is already making Republicans look like a bunch of retrograde fools by targeting the children of undocumented immigrants:

Iowa conservative Republican Congressman Steve King said in an interview with Newsmax that for every valedictorian DREAMer who has been brought to this country by his or her family, "...there's another 100 out there who, they weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. Those people would be legalized with the same act."

Seriously -- you can watch the clip below. This guy -- a prominent Republican congressman with solid standing in the party -- says that for every one success story there are a hundred drug runners. I can't speak for Hispanics, but this doesn't appear to be a compelling appeal for their support, and one could hardly fault them for thinking that the Republican Party doesn't much care for them, you know, what with the way it vilifies them and all.

Craziest Republican of the Day: E.W. Jackson

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Virginia may be turning blue, but its Republican Party -- the party of Gov. Bob McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Ken Cuccinelli -- is getting redder and redder.

And crazier and crazier, perhaps because it knows deep down that it's losing the state.

You'll recall that McDonnell, among other things, reinstituted state discrimination against gays and lesbians as well as Confederate History Month in Virginia, while Cuccinelli, who is now running for governor, worries about exposed boobs and blow jobs and otherwise pushed an even more extremist agenda.

Well, apparently that's not crazy enough for Virginia Republicans, who yesterday nominated E.W. Jackson, a far-right minister, to be Cuccinelli's successor. And just how crazy is Jackson?

Jackson also maintained a now defunct blog on his site, where he argued in one post that President Obama saw the world "from a Muslim perspective."

Obama clearly has Muslim sensibilities. He sees the world and Israel from a Muslim perspective. His construct of "The Muslim World" is unique in modern diplomacy. It is said that only The Muslim Brotherhood and other radical elements of the religion use that concept. It is a call to unify Muslims around the world...

Those who are paying attention and thinking about these issues do not find it unreasonable to consider that President Obama is influenced by a strain of anti-Semitism picked up from the black community, his leftist friends and colleagues, his Muslim associations and his long period of mentorship under Jeremiah Wright. If this conclusion is accurate, Israel has some dark days ahead. For the first time in her history, she may find the President of the United States siding with her enemies.

Um, what?

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Craziest Republican of the Day: Pat Toomey

By Michael J.W. Stickings

No, not for his and Democrat Joe Manchin's less-than-stellar but probably better-than-nothing gun control bill that went down in the Senate because of a Republican filibuster but because he is blaming his fellow Republicans for its failure.

And not because he's necessarily wrong, because he may be right, but because it's generally not a wise thing to do to criticize Republicans if you're a Republican yourself, particularly if the Republicans you're criticizing pretty much dominate the party. Actually, it's not just unwise, it's fucking crazy if you have any hope of getting your party to support you ever again:

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) revealed that some members of his party opposed expanding background checks for gun sales recently because they didn't want to "be seen helping the president."

Two weeks ago, only three Republican senators voted for the bipartisan background checks amendment sponsored by Toomey and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), despite overwhelming popular support for such a measure.

"In the end it didn't pass because we're so politicized. There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it,” Toomey admitted on Tuesday in an interview with Digital First Media editors in the offices of the Times Herald newspaper in Norristown, Pa.

Republicans are "politicized" and obstructionist -- opposed to anything and everything the president wants to do simply because it's the president? Sure. This has been the Republican strategy ever since Obama took office. It's a way of life now for Mitch McConnell and the minority Republicans in the Senate.

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Craziest Republican of the Day: Jeff Duncan

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Republicans never fail to prop up their ideological extremism with the most ridiculous, uh, arguments:

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) warned in a Facebook post on Thursday that a national gun registry would be similar to a database used by the ruling Hutu tribe in Rwanda in the 1990s to locate and slaughter members of an opposing tribe in a genocide that killed up to 1 million people.

*****

"The 2nd Amendment is (or should be) equal to the 1st Amendment and the 4th Amendment and all of the others," Duncan said in his Facebook post. "Ask yourselves why it is under attack? Ask yourselves about a National gun registry database and how that might be used and why it is so wanted by progressives?"

Duncan then likened it to a tribal registry in Rwanda.



"Read about the Rwandan genocide, the Hutu and Tutsi tribes," he continued. "Read that all Tutsi tribe members were required to register their address with the Hutu government and that this database was used to locate Tutsi for slaughter at the hands of the Hutu."

Duncan wrote that since the government had the names and addresses of nearly all Tutsis living in Rwanda, "the killers could go door to door, slaughtering the Tutsis."

He wrote that each Rwandan "had an identity card that labeled them Tutsi, Hutu, or Twa."

Duncan accused Democrats of "preying on the fears" of citizens.

Yes, that's right, this blithering idiot said that a gun registry would lead to genocide, as if the situation in the U.S. is the same as the one in Rwanda, with one tribe plotting to wipe out another and carrying out horrific mass murder. And he's accusing Democrats of "preying" on fear? Please.

You want fearmongering? There's no fucking gun registry, and there won't be one. It's just right-wing paranoia, stirred up by the NRA and other gun nuts to terrify, and mobilize, their followers against any and all gun control.

I'd say Duncan is engaging in such cynical exploitation himself, but he appears to be far too stupid for that -- and so crazy he actually seems to believe the shit he's spewing.

Craziest Republican of the Day: Lindsey Graham

By Michael J.W. Stickings

ThinkProgress:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pushed back against efforts to limit the availability of assault weapons during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday by echoing the paranoia of the National Rifle Association and insisting that Americans would need access to AR-15s to protect themselves from "roaming gangs" during natural disasters.

Speaking to Attorney General Eric Holder, Graham argued that an AR-15 would have been "a better defense tool" than "a double-barrel shotgun" in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy.

Um, does Graham know anything about the damage an AR-15 can do? And he really thinks people would be better off if they, and a lot of other people, had these killing machines, these weapons of mass destruction, to defend themselves? 

Holder pointed out that it's unlikely that "New Orleans would have been better served with people with AR-15s in a post Katrina environment," which was marked by chaos, violence and looting. 

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Craziest Republican of the Day: Lou Barletta

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I'm not sure, though. Is this just craziness in the sense of being out of one's mind, or it is just another example of the sort of bigotry and ideological extremism one finds all over the Republican Party these days, particularly within the party's right-wing base?

Maybe both, but more the latter than the former, I would say.

In response to the bipartisan immigration reform plan currently being worked out on Capitol Hill, with the president prepared to present his own package, Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta didn't hold back in explaining just what he thinks of these undesirables:

"It's amnesty that America can't afford," Barletta said Monday. "We have to stop people from coming in illegally. This will be a green light for anyone who wants to come to America illegally and then be granted citizenship one day." [...]

"I hope politics is not at the root of why we're rushing to pass a bill. Anyone who believes that they're going to win over the Latino vote is grossly mistaken," Barletta said. "The majority that are here illegally are low-skilled or may not even have a high school diploma. The Republican Party is not going to compete over who can give more social programs out. They will become Democrats because of the social programs they'll depend on."

And there you have it, a glimpse into the ugliness of the Republican mind: These Latinos shouldn't be granted a path to citizenship (even a tough one, which is what a deal would likely include) because they're lazy, stupid bloodsuckers who will vote Democrat because, of course, the Democratic Party is the party of lazy, stupid bloodsuckers also known as the 47%.

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Newt Gingrich is still an idiot

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Does this make my dick look bigger?

There's really nothing Newt isn't willing to blame on his usual target of all that is wrong with America: secularism. And he was at it again in trying to explain the Sandy Hook massacre:

When you have an anti-religious, secular bureaucracy and secular judiciary seeking to drive God out of public life, something fills the vacuum. And that something, you know, I don't know that going from communion to playing war games in which you practice killing people is necessarily an improvement.

Right, because it wasn't the easily-accessible assault weapons or the mental illness, and as we all know there's never any violence like this when public life is all about God, Christianity being such a peaceful religion that never resorts to bloodshed.

For more, check out my post from November of last year, "Newt Gingrich, hypocrite extraordinaire, blames secularism for 'all the problems we have.'" 

Fucking, fucking idiot.

Craziest Republican of the Day: Steve King

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Quite a few Republicans are still suffering from Benghazi fever, and wingnutjob extraordinaire Steve King of Iowa has it worse than most: 

I believe that it's a lot bigger than Watergate, and if you link Watergate and Iran-Contra together and multiply it times maybe 10 or so, you're going to get in the zone where Benghazi is," Mr. King said. "I don't think the public has any idea, and I tell you, I don't either, of the chronology of the events — what took place, and who was where doing what and why. And all the way down through — we still haven't seen an autopsy report on the ambassador yet. Simple questions that you would ask in the first 24 hours have not been asked yet. 

So... he doesn't have a fucking clue what happened -- he admits as much -- but he's sure it was really, really, really bad. Like, the worst scandal ever. By far.

As ThinkProgress notes, "mainstream media outlets have extensively reported emerging details about the assault, many of which have undercut Repubican attempts to create a faux-scandal out of the events, over the past three months." (Have a look at TP's extensive timeline.) 

I've also written about it here, here, and here.

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Craziest Republican of the Day: Louie Gohmert

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Gohmert gets this award a lot (e.g., here and here). But there's just no denying it: he's fucking crazy. (And a fucking idiot; see, e.g., here and here.) Here's more proof:

The House voted on Wednesday to strike the word "lunatic" from all federal laws and only one lawmaker voted against the measure: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas). 

It was unclear initially why the Tea Party favorite opposed the change, and a Gohmert spokeswoman did not return a request for comment. The point of the bill, which cleared the Senate in May with no opposition, is to strike language from current law that contributes to the stigmatization of mental health conditions.

But during a rant on the House floor later in the day, about the need for a flat tax, Gohmert shed some light on why the word needs to stay.

"To keep spending and not pay the price, that is immoral," Gohmert said. "That's why we shouldn't eliminate the word 'lunatic.' It really has application around this town."

Right, so it's okay to keep stigmatizing those with mental health problems with a word the medical community rejects. Louie doesn't give a shit. He's got a stupid political point to make, a point that has nothing to do with the matter at hand, and darn it he'll make it even if he has to stand against his own party, the craziest among the crazy, no small feat.

Congrats, Louie! You certainly have a way of distinguishing yourself.

Craziest Republican of the Day: Louie Gohmert (for nominating Gingrich for Speaker)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Yes, he's as insanely crazy as ever.

But I would also say that this qualifies as some of the best and funniest news of the day: 

Former Speaker and failed presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was nominated for the position of Speaker on Wednesday by conservative Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas). There was no second.

Do you have to be a member of Congress to be elected Speaker? Apparently not. Which makes this all the more hilarious.

Say it with me again: There was no second.

Poor Newt.

**********

Update:

From Dan Amira:

Gohmert's odd stunt does allow us the opportunity to revisit one of the many gratuitous quirks of our beloved Constitution: You don't have to be a member of the House to serve as the Speaker of the House. The Constitution states that the "House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers." And that's all it says on the topic. It doesn't even specify that the Speaker has to be a living person, actually. Ronald Reagan's jar of jelly beans could probably become the Speaker if enough congressmen were on board. "Freedom" could be the Speaker.

Dan, I'm not sure it's helpful to be giving Republicans any such ideas.  

Craziest Republican of the Day: Richard Mourdock

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Raped? Pregnant? Hey, there's a silver lining. It's God's will!

It's just not Todd Akin. Republicans generally seem to have some seriously disgusting thoughts about rape. Here's the latest -- another shot in the Republican war on women but also an assault on decency and justice:

Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said Tuesday that pregnancy that results from rape can be "something that God intended to happen."

"I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God," Mourdock said at a debate. "And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

Yes, that's right, Mourdock -- not some fringe Republican without standing in the party but the GOP's Indiana Senate candidate, having defeated long-time and highly respected Sen. Richard Lugar in the primary earlier this year -- said that his "God" is behind rape, that rape is... divine. As his opponent, Democrat Joe Donnelly said in response:

"The God I believe in and the God I know most Hoosiers believe in, does not intend for rape to happen -- ever," Mourdock's opponent, Rep. Joe Donnelly (D), said in a statement. "What Mr. Mourdock said is shocking, and it is stunning that he would be so disrespectful to survivors of rape." 

Mourdock later issued a statement clarifying his remarks but also lashing out as his critics:

"God creates life, and that was my point," Mourdock said in the statement. "God does not want rape, and by no means was I suggesting that he does. Rape is a horrible thing, and for anyone to twist my words otherwise is absurd and sick."

Mourdock is obviously an extremist on abortion, and perhaps he did speak a tad inelegantly, but what he said was pretty clear: pregnancy from rape is something that God intended to happen. He can try to rewrite that any way he wants, but it would seem that he's only trying to cover up his real views on the matter: Rape can be a good thing. It's what God wants.

Indeed, even the Romney campaign -- and Romney's a big Mourdock supporter -- ran as far from his comments as possible. "Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock's comments, and they do not reflect his views," said his spokesperson, Andrea Saul.

Yes, even Romney understood that Mourdock said something, and believes something, truly crazy and utterly reprehensible. 

Craziest (Arkansas) Republicans of the Day: Charlie Fuqua and Jon Hubbard

By Mustang Bobby

Here's some handy parenting advice from Charlie Fuqua, a Republican candidate for the Arkansas legislature: if your kid mouths off to you or doesn't clean their room, kill them:

The maintenance of civil order in society rests on the foundation of family discipline. Therefore, a child who disrespects his parents must be permanently removed from society in a way that gives an example to all other children of the importance of respect for parents. The death penalty for rebellious children is not something to be taken lightly. The guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children are given in Deut 21:18-21.

Mr. Fuqua is on record as being in favor of expelling Muslims from America, presumably because he thinks they're too easygoing on their children.

By the way, Mr. Fuqua doesn't have the corner on the loony market in Arkansas. There's a state representative who says that slavery was a "blessing" for African-Americans:

Jon Hubbard, a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, has written a new book in which he says slavery was "a blessing" for African-Americans, among other questionable statements.

Hubbard, a first term Republican from Jonesboro, Ark., makes a series of racially charged statements in the self-published book, including saying that integration of schools is hurting white students, that African slaves had better lives under slavery than in Africa, that blacks are not contributing to society, and that a situation is developing the United States which is similar to that of Nazi Germany.

Lovely people.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)