Yeah, But The "Usual Pedo Grifters" Are The Only Ones With Any Ideas
Cheap personal insults and character assassination don't make America a better place
How do you know when a senior member of Republican leadership has no ideas? Well, if you’re talking about Rep. Elise Stefani (R-NY), it’s when she begins referring to her Democratic adversaries as the “usual pedo grifters.”
When Rep. Stefanik has the chutzpah to accuse Democrats of being the “usual pedo grifters so out of touch with the American people,” you should understand one thing. Though they accuse the Biden Administration of being the ones without a plan to address the “nationwide baby formula crisis,” the only plan Republicans have is to attack, attack, attack. Oh, and to occasionally throw in cheap personal insults and specious, meaningless accusations.
First of all, government doesn’t produce baby formula. That’s a function of the private sector- the same private sector that Republicans believe is the solution to all of America’s problems. Second, while the Biden Administration is jumping in to do what it can to help solve the problem, JOE BIDEN ISN’T RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BABY FORMULA SHORTAGE IN AMERICA.
If Rep. Stefanik were any sort of leader, she’d be offering to work with the Biden Administration to help resolve this crisis. Instead, she’s using it to score some cheap political points. She give a damn about parents running short of baby formula; her only concern is how she can use this crisis for political advantage.
Sadly, Rep. Stefanik’s baby formula rhetorical embarrassment isn’t even the lowest she’s sunk recently. No, that would be her echoing the same “White Replacement Theory” advocated by Tucker Carlson and the shooter who killed ten people at a grocery store in Boston on May 14th.
The Buffalo shooter repeatedly referenced the theory in an online manifesto he posted online before his mass shooting.
Right-wing Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) was denounced by her local newspaper for touting the racist “great replacement theory” just months before an accused mass killer used it to justify a racist massacre in Stefanik’s state.
“How low, Ms. Stefanik?” the editorial in the Albany Times Union asked in September.
Stefanik, a Donald Trump disciple who’s now the third-ranking House Republican, was condemned by the newspaper for a Facebook campaign ad campaign that promoted the racist conspiracy that whites are being replaced by people of color through immigration or, eventually, violence. Other right-wing figures, including Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, also have pitched the racist falsehood.
Rep. Stefanik’s hometown newspaper called out her racist tactics, stating, “[T]he idea of America as a melting pot is not some idealistic fiction of the left; it is part of the foundation of this nation’s greatness.”
It’s hurtful enough for a rank-and-file Republican to campaign while openly employing racist rhetoric. Sadly, we’ve become used to that, but for a member of the party leadership to trot out White Replacement Theory is sickening and unworthy of a political party that believes it deserves to be in the majority in Congress.
And, as might be imagined when a Republican is caught with their hand in the cookie jar, the response is to blame those who caught them, not their inability to resist temptation:
Stefanik’s senior adviser Alex deGrasse told the Times Union Sunday that the lawmaker has never supported replacement theory — or racism. He told The Washington Post that the claims against Stefanik are a “new disgusting low for the left ... and the sycophant stenographers in the media.”
That reminds me of the story of the Texas oilman whose wife caught him in bed with his mistress. He protested his innocence, claiming, “Honey, who ya gonna believe? Me? Or your lying eyes??”
Stefanik's non-apology apologia reeked of insincerity, and so did her statement on the shooting in Buffalo.
In response to reports of the racist mass shooting in Buffalo that left 10 dead and three injured, New York Representative Elise Stefanik issued a pro forma statement saying she was “very saddened to hear the tragic news.”
Even more than most political prattling, Stefanik’s remarks gave off the rank odor of bad faith. The alleged shooter wrote a manifesto justifying his slaughter because of his fear of a “great replacement” of white people due to mass immigration by the undocumented. Stefanik herself has flirted with this rhetoric. In an ad released last September, Stefanik warned that Democrats were going to use a path to citizenship for the undocumented to create a “permanent election insurrection.” The Washington Post noted that “the language in the ads echoes that of far-right commentators, including Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, who have advanced a ‘replacement theory’ that says liberals are seeking to replace White citizens with non-White immigrants who are inclined to support the Democratic Party.”
It’s the sort of thing you do when you and your party have no ideas to counteract what’s being done by the current Administration. At some point, the GOP has to stop screaming “NO!!” and begin presenting realistic alternatives. After all, 2022 is a midterm election year. Do Republicans expect to win by telling America how bad Democrats are, even as they’re declining to offer alternatives?
Apparently so.
Like Ohio Republican J.D. Vance, Rep. Stefanik is the most prominent example of the GOP’s opportunistic extremists. They have no real moral or ideological core, but they excel at latching onto hot-button issues and riding the wave until the next one comes along. More about fanaticism and expediency, both Rep. Stefanik and Vance have hitched their stars to Donald Trump’s wagon. Thus, their popularity will last only as long as they remain in Mango Mussolini’s good graces.
2022 is no longer a campaign of competing ideas. For the GOP, the ship sailed prior to the 2008 Presidential election. Since then, Republicans have relied on character assassination and cheap personal insults. They’re a helluva lot less work, and you never have to put down your mark. You can remain a political shape-shifter if you never commit to a position.
The advantage for the GOP is that name-calling and cheap insults appeal to that portion of their base that reflexively hates Democrats. All you have to do is “keep ‘em scared and stupid.” These folks don’t care about policy and are actively put off by discussions of policies and government programs.
Of course, Rep. Stefanik offered up the pro format “thoughts and prayers” statement typical of Republicans in the wake of mass shootings:
And then, rather than take responsibility for her role in spreading the “White Replacement Theory” rhetoric, she went on the attack, doubling down on the ugly, hateful language she’s been eagerly spreading.
Why accept responsibility when you can blame Democrats, the media, the Tri-Lateral Commission, the LGBTQ community, the Cosa Nostra, and the Green Bay Packers?
No bottom to their vileness? Well, White supremacists are going to White supremacist, knowhutimean? It’s not like Stefanik will stray from the strategy that’s gotten her this far, not when her patron saint, Mango Mussolini, calls the shots.
Like many Trump Republicans, Elise Stefanik has devolved into a moral black hole and a truly miserable, awful excuse for an American and a Congressperson. That she’s willing to double down on White supremacism and “White Replacement Theory” in the wake of a mass murder in a Black area of Buffalo is genuinely pathetic.
She’s become the worst sort of White supremacist.
This is the portion of the base that Rep. Stefanik is counting on appealing to, which is sad because she’s far too smart to be conducting herself in such an ignorant, racist manner. For someone who’s long claimed to be among the “most bipartisan” of Republicans, she’s certainly changed her colors to remain in her patron’s good graces.
Everything Donald Trump touches turns to shit, but Rep. Stefanik did this to herself. She could have become someone who had a reputation as a bridge-builder. Instead, she’s building her brand by burning them down.
Stay classy, eh?
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