New Winners in the “Disqualifier Olympics”

This rather entertaining bit of GOP slapstick came up a couple of days ago; and since it’s been a day or two since their last faux pas graced the pages of GMD, we might as well start the week off with a bang.

What’s “entertaining” is certainly not the remarks  made by Rep. Jon Hubbard of Jonesboro and House candidate Charlie Fuqua of Batesville, but the flapping and flailing of the entire GOP as they attempted to flee the scene.

Arkansas is known for many things: Wal-mart, Razorbacks, and intern-diddling Presidents, for three.  Now add to that list the distinction of having not one but  two Republican candidates for the statehouse that have managed to make what are quite possibly the most objectionable remarks of this campaign season.

And that is one tall order, given the competition they’ve had from fellow Republican, Missouri’s Todd Akin and his “legitimate rape” remarks.

Aikin will have a lot of company now on the GOP wall of shame; and no attempt at false equivalency will ever lay a glove on Joe Biden.

For Rep. Hubbard has actually written a book that states that slavery was a

“blessing in disguise”

Contending that “blacks” have it a lot better living in America today than they would have had it if they were still living in Africa, Rep. Hubbard wrote in his 2009 book, “Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative,

“the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise.”

As if determined to dig his hole even deeper, he adds:

“Wouldn’t life for blacks in America today be more enjoyable and successful if they would only learn to appreciate the value of a good education?”

Not to be outdone in the offensive arena, Mr. Fuqua advocates for deportation of all Muslims in his own page-turner, released in April, “God’s Law: The Only Political Solution”

“I see no solution to the Muslim problem short of expelling all followers of the religion from the United States,” he writes in his book, according to The Arkansas Times newspaper.

Interestingly, although Mr. Hubbard’s comments on slavery have been in the public domain for three years, and Mr. Fuqua’s e-book came out in April, the GOP had no comment about either candidates’s offensive writings until Saturday, when the state GOP Chairman, Doyle Webb released the following statement:

“The reported statements made by Hubbard and Fuqua were highly offensive to many Americans and do not reflect the viewpoints of the Republican Party of Arkansas,”

Rather than just leave it at that, Mr. Doyle went on to attempt a trifecta of offense by accusing Democrats of using the candidates’ outrageous writings as “distractions.”  That means there are at least three Republicans in Arkansas who should not ever, ever be considered for election to office.

Jay Barth, who is a poli-sci prof at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas draws a direct line between the racial intolerance of 1960’s Arkansas and both men’s appalling views:

“It’s hard to remember a set of remarks this extreme on racial matters by an Arkansas official since the state’s politics modernized in the late 1960s than that by Mr. Hubbard,” Barth said on Saturday.

‘Way to go, AR GOP!

About Sue Prent

Artist/Writer/Activist living in St. Albans, Vermont with my husband since 1983. I was born in Chicago; moved to Montreal in 1969; lived there and in Berlin, W. Germany until we finally settled in St. Albans.

10 thoughts on “New Winners in the “Disqualifier Olympics”

  1. to excuse the subjugation & detriment of their fellow man, glossing it or explaining it away. They are no different than holocaust deniers. Sheer display of abject hatred.

    These dogwhistles are being heard with frightening regularity. Rightwingers seem to have the corner on the market which is also seen in our tiny state w/the likes of Mclaughry & the nutty antics of El Jefe. So unfunny.

    I see it as a backhanded dig at the present administration & an insidious call to arms. That racism & crimes against a segment of society are defended is hard to believe but obviously very real.  

  2. After all, even though Fuqua calls for capital punishment for children who disrespect their parents:

    Fuqua helpfully notes that “This passage does not give parents blanket authority to kill their children.” Rather, parents would have to “follow the proper procedure in order to have the death penalty executed against their children.”

    http://thinkprogress.org/elect

    So it’s not as though he’s an extremist or anything.

  3. What’s sad is that a great many southerners, and probably some northerners as well, still believe this nonsense about slavery.  It is like that “peculiar institution” is still getting its revenge on us.  

  4.         ABSURDITY 101

    Let’s see…there should be a death penalty for children who disrespect their parents?  This, of course, does not apply to the fetus.  So, it’s all right to kill a child AFTER the child has grown to ‘full term’ and is able to say to the parents:  “God, I hate you so much, I wish I’d never been born!”  Okay.

    And slavery was a “blessing in disguise?”  All right, how ’bout this:  Instead of ‘executing’ the disrespectful child, we make the child a SLAVE.  The blessing in disguise, of course, is all that free child labor.  No wonder these Republicans are against abortion.  They’re thinking ahead to the days when we’ll ‘need’ millions of kiddies to do free work.  And Blacks should note too that, according to this logic, they were spared the Death Penalty all those years ago–you know: “Hey, thanks for making us slaves instead of just killing us.”

    BUT…what if children form a UNION?  What if fetuses join that UNION?  Holy Shit!  I see millions of slave kiddies in some kind of Mau Mau type uprising.  I see little babies popping out of the womb and immediately going on a ‘killing spree’ like that little baby in It’s Alive.  Maybe the Republicans ought to consider this.  Maybe we should just kill all the kiddies, AND the fetuses, AND kill all the Blacks, Gays, Muslims, Foreigners, Women, Working People, Me, AND all you little Dems too.  Let’s see, that would leave only 1% of the Earth’s population left–all Rich White American Males.  Hey, sonsabitches!  They obviously want an all-male paradise so they can engage in…Why, those pre-verted fairies!  They just don’t want any of us around to see it. That’s what they’re up to.  I think now they should come out of the closet.  I’m on to them.  Fess up, boys–it’s a Blessing In Disguise.  Well, maybe not really.  What if they start to Unioize?  Guess we’ll have to kill them.  Or…put them to work.  Jeez, this is becoming a heavy duty philosophical and moral question.  When a White Male Republican goes to the forest with another White Male Republican and there’s nobody around to hear them ‘engage’ in ‘deep thoughts’, do they make any sense?  I wonder if the answers here are in The Bible?  Or, maybe they’re somewhere in a Swiss Bank Vault?  Spooky.  Perhaps Death With Dignity would be a Blessing In Disguise for ALL OF US, considering what’s been surfacing from the ooze lately?  

    Or…maybe we can get them to Kill Themselves.  Think they’d do it if we paid them?  And how much?  Damn, that’s why they want to take all our money.  There MUST be an ANSWER!  Tune in next week.  Maybe they’ll provide it.  We’ll just have to ‘translate’ it.  Who’s good at interpreting Republican?  I know, it’s getting harder and harder.  Perhaps the little kiddies can do it.  They’re smart little bastards.  Oh wait…that’s why the Republicans want to kill them.  Shit, I’m back where I started.  I’m stopping now.  I suddenly feel the urge for a cup of TEA.      

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