Tag: politics

AZ’s Senior Obstructionist

Continuing our review of lame AZ public figures and issues…

The Supreme Court obstructionism continues and both of Arizona’s Senators are joining their crybaby Republican colleagues in blatantly avoiding their constitutional duty. We’ve ribbed repeatedly Arizona’s Senior Obstructionist, John McCain(here, here and here for starters). Yes, our ‘maverick’ Senator, who famously reached across the aisle to champion Campaign Finance Reform, only to vote against an amendment which would overturn the Supreme Court’s atrocious Citizens United ruling, which gives the well funded corporate elites of this country carte blanche to control elections, recently was quoted as saying ““I believe that we should wait until after the next election and let the American people pick the next president, and we should consider who the next president of the United States nominates.” This contrasts greatly to the old John McCain, who used to solidly support the Senate voting on Supreme Court nominations. What’s more, in 1993 and 1994, McCain voted to approve President Clinton’s Supreme Court appointments of Breyer and Ginsberg by saying “under our Constitution, it is the president’s call to make.” In addition, McCain, like several other Republicans, wholeheartedly approved Merrick Garland’s appointment to the Washington D.C appeals court as chief judge in 1997.

So what’s up with Mr. Maverick? We here at the Bucket think that Senator McCain’s best days are clearly far, far behind him. He’s up for reelection this year(he’s facing a stiff challenge from Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick and fellow Republican Kelli Ward) and this issue may decide if he retains his position. He’s seems to be acting more like a crotchety, old curmudgeon than a distinguished senator.  His dislike of Obama has unhinged him so much that he won’t even perform his constitutional duty. We’ve commented before here that many Republicans have said that if the current President was Republican, they’d approve the nomination. It’s clearly the Republicans who are playing politics. Ol’ Man McCain needs to join Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Helen Purcell and ride off into the Arizona sunset.

Crusty, old codger and Senator, John McCain, demonstrates his 'maverick' style by explaining why he supports obstructionism over solid, bipartisan statesmanship much to the delight of his plutocratic overlord.
Crusty, old codger and Senator, John McCain, demonstrates his ‘maverick’ style by explaining why he supports obstructionism over solid, bipartisan statesmanship much to the delight of his plutocratic overlord.

AZ’s Austerity Democracy

The fallout form Arizona’s election fiasco on March 22nd is still unfolding. Maricopa County Recorder, Helen Purcell, was widely and deservedly vilified for her initial response, where she actually blamed the voters.  Purcell backtracked a few days later and took full responsibility, but the damage was done. Purcell, explained that the number of polling places was cut from 200 to 60(almost 70% reduction… let us repeat that…70 FRIGGING PERCENT REDUCTION!!!) in order to save money. But the truth is that conservative Republicans have a stranglehold on this state and since they’ve gerrymandered the state legislature districts so drastically, there is virtually no way to get them out of power. They’ve clearly passed legislation and cut election funding in order to suppress voters. The office of Maricopa County Recorder is supposed to be a non-partisan position but Ms. Purcell is a staunch Republican and she has been in office since 1988. In several years, she’s run unopposed which has led to the same complacency and smug demagoguery that Joe ‘Just Call Me God’ Arpaio possesses. Let’s just say she’s a good soldier for Republican causes.

Now the federal government is investigating the voter suppression and even Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and the DNC is suing Maricopa County for voting rights violations. Will Maricopa County increase the number of polling places for the elections later on this year? We’re not holding our breath here. Arizona Republicans want to remain in power come Trump or the apocalypse. Given their anti-federal government viewpoint, this will only strengthen their resolve. You see, austerity democracy works great…for corporate America backed conservative Republicans. The game is definitely rigged here in Arizona for Republicans and they’re not going to change anything any time soon.

Getting back to Ms. Purcell…we do think that she should get on the back of Sheriff Joe’s horse and ride off into the sunset. We’d expect this kind of voting rights violation in a banana republic. But this latest debacle is inexcusable in America and especially in our home state of Arizona. Ms. Purcell needs to resign!

Arizona Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell proclaims that democracy is expensive and voters need to quit whining much to the delight of plutocrats everywhere.
Arizona Maricopa County Recorder, Helen Purcell, proclaims that democracy is expensive and voters need to quit whining, much to the delight of plutocrats everywhere.

Top AZ Wingnuts Endorse Trump

We’ve commented before about the dismal politicians in our home state of Arizona(here, here, here, and here for starters). And unfortunately, they keep on delivering the crazy much to the embarrassment of reasonable and sane Arizonans.

There’s the primary election fiasco on March 22nd (we’ve got a photo-toon coming on this one.) Then there’s the obstructionism of Arizona’s senators on Obama’s Supreme Court nominee (we’ve got a couple photo-toons coming on this one, too.) But this post deals with the endorsements of Donald Trump by former governor Jan ‘Skeletor’ Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe ‘Just Call Me God’ Arpaio.

Jan Brewer has never impressed us here at the Bucket. Just take a look at her awful performance in the 2010 gubernatorial debates and you’ll get an idea of her incompetence. She’s like an older, blonder Sarah Palin.

As for Arpaio, he’s been in office so long (since 1992), he thinks he’s not only the law, but that he’s above the law. Now we don’t think Arpaio is all bad. He strongly punishes animal abusers, which is a good thing. And like we’ve said before, the pink underwear and the Tent City thing was a hoot — in the nineties. Arpaio’s schtick has worn thin over the last fifteen years. Now with his support of birtherism, SB 1070 (racial profiling) and being sued for abuse of power and racial profiling by federal prosecutors(which has cost the taxpayers of Maricopa County a whopping $142 million), we think it’s time for Sheriff Joe to ride off into the sunset in true old Western fashion.

We guess it’s no wonder that Arpaio and Brewer endorsed Trump. Look at where the rally for Trump was held prior to the March 22nd primary. Fountain Hills, along with Paradise Valley and North Scottsdale (or Snottsdale as we call it here in these parts), is one of the most exclusive communities in the state and Arpaio lives there. And that pretty much sums up the Republicans motto: exclude everyone except if you’ve got money, you’re christian, you’re white and you accept that because of your fortuitous financial status, you should be able to rule everyone’s life. It’s also not surprising that some protesters got arrested for trying to disrupt the rally. Get used to it America. If Donald Trump becomes President there will be no protesting or free speech. It’s going to be Trump’s way or pink underwear in Sheriff Joe’s Tent City.

Arizona authoritarian demagogues, former Governor Jan 'Skeletor' Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe 'Just Call Me God' Arpaio announce their support for national, authoritarian demagogue Donald Trump for President, who clarifies who is the bigger God in true Donald Trump fashion.
Arizona authoritarian demagogues, former Governor Jan ‘Skeletor’ Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe ‘Just Call Me God’ Arpaio announce their support for national, authoritarian demagogue Donald Trump for President, who clarifies who is the bigger God in true Donald Trump fashion.

 

Booby Hatch

Happy April Fools Day! Speaking of fools…

Nothing demonstrates the foolishness of the GOP’s obstructionism of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland more than Utah Senator Orrin ‘Booby’ Hatch’s response. This man said in 2010(in the opening that went to Elena Kagan) that he would be a “consensus nominee” and that there was “no question” he would be confirmed.  Even before President Obama revealed his choice recently, Hatch said “The president told me several times he’s going to name a moderate [to fill the court vacancy], but I don’t believe him. [Obama] could easily name Merrick Garland, who is a fine man. He probably won’t do that because this appointment is about the election. So I’m pretty sure he’ll name someone the [liberal Democratic base] wants.”

Well, President Obama named Garland as his nominee and now Hatch is backpedaling making all kinds of lame-ass excuses for obstructing the nomination. Here’s another weak one. Has this man no sense of decency? Former justice Sandra Day O’Connor has said that the Senate needs “get on with it” and moderate Maine Senator has also said as much. She said she even reread the Constitution just to make sure.

Surely this will reflect badly on the Republicans come election time, right? Well, one look at the Republican frontrunner will tell you; it’s not an April Fools Day prank. The Republicans have lost their frigging minds.

Utah Senator Orrin 'Booby' Hatch courageously weasels his way out of his earlier endorsement of Merrick Garland as the new Supreme Court justice nominee by boldly creating lame-ass excuses and other feeble distractions.
Utah Senator Orrin ‘Booby’ Hatch courageously weasels his way out of his earlier endorsement of Merrick Garland as the new Supreme Court justice nominee by boldly creating lame-ass excuses and other feeble distractions.

 

The Con Of The Craven Cowards

We’re still trying to figure out the complete con being orchestrated by the Republican ‘establishment’ and their cohorts in crime, the corporate media. Their so called ‘astonishment’ of the rise of Donald Trump seems pretty disingenuous. So does their desire to stop Trump, especially when so many GOP candidates(like Rubio, Cruz and Kasich), who have stated how absolutely horrible he is, would in fact support him if he got the nomination. Now if some of the GOP ‘establishment’ came out endorsing Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton (who is basically a moderate Republican anyway), then maybe we’d believe them and they would earn our respect.

But in the mean time, GOP stalwarts like Lindsey Graham and 2012 Republican nominee Spiff Romney, have come forward and shown what craven cowards they are. Graham famously said back in January, after he left the race, that choosing between Trump and Cruz was like being shot or poisoned. And yet,Graham recently endorsed Ted Cruz. Spiff Romney, who recently came out strongly against Trump, also basically endorsed Cruz. Yep; nothing says integrity like saying how awful a person is and then turning around and supporting them.

Lindsey Graham and Spiff Romney choose the poison that is Ted Cruz to be the GOP nominee.
Former candidate, Lindsey Graham, and 2012 GOP nominee, Spiff Romney, have boldly demonstrated their integrity by endorsing the man they called Republican poison, Ted Cruz.

Trump’s Wage Slave America

We used to think it was funny that Donald Trump was the frontrunner when this charade called Con-a-thon 2016 started last summer. We figured that all his gaffes, miscues and hateful comments would surely lead to his demise before the first primaries and one of the more seasoned ‘establishment’ GOP candidates, like Bush, Walker or Rubio, would take the lead. But Trump is clearly on track to becoming the Republican nominee and it’s becoming more scary than humorous. As a matter of fact the Economic Intelligence Unit(EIU) ranked the prospect of a Trump presidency as one of the biggest threats to global economic stability, right up there with radical jihadists.

The most perplexing thing: the supporters of Donald Trump. These are people who should be supporting the man who would really help them, socialist Bernie Sanders. But as we’ve commented here before, many lower and middle class Americans view themselves as ‘temporarily embarrassed millionaires’ , not the exploited backbone of the nation that they truly are. Americans are overworked and underpaid but yet somehow, some of them think that Donald Trump, who is a master at manipulating people and the media, will make their lives better because of the trickle down myth which the Republicans have successfully trumpeted ever since the days of St. Ronald Reagan; Donald Trump is rich, so his riches will trickle down and he’ll make us all rich. It didn’t work in the eighties under Reagan, the aughts under Dubya and it won’t work in the future under Trump.

We’ve been hoping that the people who support Trump would have woken up by now, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, with the outbreak of violence at anybody who speaks against Trump, they seem more adamant than ever to place America into the hands of an authoritarian megalomaniac with a lust for power and a hatred for dissent. The true future for Trump supporters will more likely be as low wage slaves at his resorts and casinos.

Supporters for Donald Trump like him because he bosses people around, makes up the truth and hates the same people they hate.
Supporters for Donald Trump express their obsequious desire to be future wage slaves for the authoritarian megalomaniac.

Feckless Frauds

Well folks, the sham that is Con-a-thon 2016 drags on and it looks like the Republicans are choosing fascism over democracy, as Donald Trump racks up the delegates and the violent thugs. The con that is being pulled on the public not only by the Republican party but the complicit corporate media is mind boggling. The media is reporting that the Republicans are pulling out all the stops trying to stop the orange monster. Even 2012 GOP nominee, Mtt ‘Spiff’ Romney spoke out against the Donald, calling him a fraud. Yes, the Republicans are so concerned that Trump will be the nominee and in typical Republican fashion are blaming President Obama for the rise of Trump. That’s right; in the narrow conservative Republican’s viewpoint, it’s never the fault of a Republican.

But the thing is that while the ‘establishment’ and the remaining GOP candidates are attacking Trump, they’re also saying that they’ll support him if he becomes the GOP nominee. So the attacks on Trump being performed by Rubio, Kasich and Cruz are nothing but absolute, meaningless bullshit. Because no matter what they say, these feckless frauds are going to support this authoritarian megalomaniac for President anyway; just like everyone in the GOP ‘establishment’. Like P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Despite GOP candidates Cruz, Kasich and Marcobot 2016 attacking Donald Trump, they will fecklessly support him if he gets the Republican nomination.
Discerning GOP candidates Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio, a.k.a. Marcobot 2016, boldly criticize frontrunner Donald Trump as an orange monster but will courageously support him if he gets the Republican nomination.

GOP: It’s All About The Size Of The Hand…And The Penis

The GOP hit a new all-time low last week; and that’s saying something because they’ve been nothing but abysmal ever since the travesty that is Con-a-thon 2016 started last summer (Geez has it been that long already!). Yes, middle school students running for student body president are officially more mature than the grown-up Republicans running for President. It started when Marco Rubio, a.k.a. Marcobot 2016, intimated that frontrunner, megalomaniac Donald Trump, might be less of a man because he had small hands. Well Trump, being a manly man, wasn’t going to let that comment slide and suggested in the next Republican debate that he was all that and more. Really???!!!! The Republicans are comparing dick sizes????!!!! IN A  PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE????!!!!! No folks, this isn’t an episode of the Jerry Springer show or a bunch of drunks in a local tavern. These are supposedly legitimate adults who want to run this country, the most powerful in the world,…and they’re talking about the size of their penises.

We’re wondering what the last great Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, would have said about today’s pathetic GOP.

GOP frontrunner, Donald Trump, assures the ghost of Ike that despite having small hands, his penis is huge.
The ghost of the last great Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, warns Americans of the two greatest dangers to their liberty: an unchecked military-industrial complex and a man with a small penis.

Bedtime For Ben

A simple post today…evangelical and Teabagger darling, Dr. Ben Carson, suspended his presidential campaign last week, in the farce that is Con-a-thon 2016, to pursue his true passion…napping. Pleasant dreams, Dr. Carson. It was very interesting to …. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Ben Carson quits his presidential campaign to pursue his true passion...napping.
Ben Carson’s campaign summary – zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

GOP & KKK’s White Knight

Super Tuesday has come and gone and the Trump Express keeps rolling on, much to the chagrin of every sane, responsible American. Trump won seven states in Tuesday’s primaries and is positioned strongly to get the Republican nomination in the colossal clusterf*ck that is Con-a-thon 2016.

Endorsements keep coming in as well for the Donald. Among the endorsements this past week, was one from former Louisiana Representative David Duke, who also used to be a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. In an interview on CNN, Trump passed up a chance to disavow Duke, saying that he didn’t know Duke. The thing is that Trump does know who is Duke is and he manipulated the media in typical Trump (and conservative) fashion – deny, blame others and blow his own horn.

In the joke that was Con-a-thon 2012, we posted an article about a possible brokered convention where a ‘white knight’ candidate would come rushing in to save the GOP.  Well, that ‘white knight’ is here in Con-a-thon 2016 for the Republicans and the KKK alike and his name is Donald Trump. Don’t let the media reports fool you; if Trump keeps winning and shows that he’s “the people’s choice”, then you better believe that the so-called ‘establishment’ will endorse him. Power is power and the moneyed elite will love having one of their own at the controls in Washington. Face it; Donald Trump is the face of the modern Republican party. Welcome to Hell, America!

Master of the Con, Donald Trump masterfully denies knowledge of the KKK while inviting them to his penthouse.
GOP frontrunner and Master of the Con, Donald Trump, deftly deflects knowledge of the Ku Klux Klan while simultaneously keeping open lines of communication with the white supremacist group.