McSally: YUCK!!!

The election is fast approaching and Joe Biden is maintaining his lead nationally over America’s Impeached CEO/Dictator and petulant man child Donald Trump. The odds of the Democrats keeping the House also looks very good right now and the Dems may even take back the Senate. Since we’re Arizonans here at the Bucket, we’re concerned about the Senate race here and it appears that Democratic candidate Mark Kelly has a commanding lead over Martha McSally.

We’ve posted before about Trump’s rubber stamp McSally. She ran for the Senate in 2018 and got trounced by Kyrsten Sinema, who became the first Democratic Senator since the 1990s. Then Arizona Governor Republican Doug Ducey (pronounced douchey) appointed her to serve in the late John McCain’s seat until the 2020 election. So, McSally got rejected but still got a Senate seat: par for the course in Republican America (see Donald Trump losing the popular vote in 2016 and George W. Bush losing the popular vote in 2000 and still ‘winning’). The majority of Arizonans, who are mostly Independents, clearly don’t like her and her attack ads against Mark Kelly are not only stupid but misleading and mostly false. But’s that not surprising. Look who’s her idol. . . the biggest pathological liar this country’s ever seen.

We think that the photo-toon below of Ms. McSilly kissing Trump’s ass . . . (oooops, that’s his face. . . easy to get confused). . . perfectly sums up our feelings on the soon to be ex-Senator from Arizona.

Martha McSally: YUCK!!!
Martha McSally: YUCK!!!

Reminder: America Is Anti-Fascist

It’s unbelievable that in the year 2020 the President of the United States actually is calling anti-fascists terrorists and says that people who serve in the military are suckers and those who serve and die are losers and yet, that’s where we are, folks. What’s even more gut wrenching is that in polling, 30-40 percent of Americans don’t care about the disgusting comments and support America’s Impeached CEO/Dictator and petulant man child Donald Trump anyway. Two years ago we commented on Trump whining about antifa. Here we are, just about seven weeks short of the election and Trump is ranting once more about how anti-fascists are going to be roaming the streets and nothing is going to be safe if Joe Biden is elected president. This despite 93% of BLM protests being peaceful in nature. When violence does erupt, it’s usually instigated by right wing assholes trying to foment chaos because that’s what right wing assholes have been doing since the the days of Nazism in Germany during the 1930s.

But DHS reports indicate that the clear number one lethal threat to security in the United States is white supremacist groups. Yet the corporate media doesn’t mention this hardly at all and the prejudiced propagandists over at Fox News insist that it’s antifa and BLM protesters who are the terrorists. We saw this bias on clear display when an unarmed black man Jacob Blake (who wasn’t even protesting at a protest) got gunned down while the right wing teenager Kyle Rittenhouse did a victory walk down the street after his shootings, unmolested by the police. The alt-right, QAnon, neo-Nazi whack jobs and their ilk are bullies and Donald Trump has given them the green light to crawl out of their sewers and start beating on any one who disagrees with their narrow minded, regressive ideology.

We don’t often repeat photo-toons from previous posts, but this particular one says it all. The men who landed on Omaha Beach were not suckers or losers and they fought against fascist, authoritarian strongmen like Hitler and Mussolini. America’s greatest warriors during World War II were anti-fascist. Never forget that!

Antifa activists are in good company with another group of prominent Americans: the brave, patriotic men and women who fought against the Nazis and Italian Fascists during World War II.
Antifa activists are in good company with another group of prominent Americans: the brave, patriotic men and women who fought against the Nazis and Italian Fascists during World War II.

All Hail Clueless Leader

The crap is spewing forth fast and furiously from the flak generator that is the Trump administration and its drooling lackeys at Fox News, a.k.a. the Republican Propaganda Network. And with every new report, America’s Impeached CEO/Dictator and petulant man child Donald Trump looks more and more like he should be the occupant of a rubber room instead of the Oval Office.

Our megalomaniac, clueless Leader has recently been touting how horrible life will be in Joe Biden’s America, regularly pointing to protests against racial injustice and police brutality that sometimes turn deadly as in the case of the Kenosha, Wisconsin shooting where a Trump supporting teenager crossed state lines to shoot people. But like the linked article above says, “Whatever might happen under Biden, this quite literally is happening under Trump”. Or in other words, Trump is projecting like he’s done during his whole clusterf*ck of a presidency.

Trump has even openly encouraged this chaos. Earlier this year he urged supporters to liberate their respective states over mask mandates. This past week, he rambled on and on about ‘dark shadows’ in an incoherent interview with a loud, annoying, blonde journalist (we refuse to mention this vile witch’s name) on Fox News. Videos have surfaced where Trump has proclaimed that protesters will use ‘bags of soup’ as weaponry against police. Trump has encouraged his followers to vote twice while campaigning in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, two swing states that are leaning toward Biden in the polls. But probably the most damning piece of Trump’s insanity is the revelation that he considers soldiers who were captured or killed in action ‘suckers’ and ‘losers’. We have no doubt this is true because, as the article in the Atlantic mentions, he showed the same disrespect for the late John McCain about being a POW, the late George H.W. Bush about being shot down in WWII and his own Chief of Staff John Kelly about his son serving and dying in Afghanistan.

What’s even more disturbing is that the event where Trump muttered his repugnant remarks happened in 2018 and we’re just now hearing about it. People who knew about his statements sat on it for two years, doing nothing. Why was this information not reported immediately? Why was this information not mentioned when Trump was getting impeached? The whole Trump presidency and his vile supporters in government and the corporate media stink like a sewer in a fetid swamp. Trump is dangerously inept and just as inane are the Republicans who won’t stand up to him or cower in the shadows doing nothing. The American people need to restore democracy to America and vote Trumpty Dumpty and his sycophantic enablers out of office on November 3rd.

America's Impeached CEO/Dictator and petulant man child Donald Trump shows the electorate once again what a stable genius he is.
America’s Impeached CEO/Dictator and petulant man child Donald Trump shows the electorate once again what a stable genius he is.

Going Rogue!

Continuing with our ‘something completely different – get me the hell out of the nightmare year that is 2020’ photo-toon retrospective. . .

Remember when the craziest thing about the Republican party was Ms. Ubetcha, Sarah Palin? Fun times! The Queen of Wasilla certainly made quite a ruckus when she published her book Going Rogue. Oh right. . . late Senator John McCain also chose her as his Vice Presidential candidate in 2008, which resulted in the rise of the Teabaggers in 2010. Ooops!!! Yeah, we never forgave McCain for that one.

Here’s a photo-toon from our October 28, 2008 issue featuring a certain beloved cartoon character moose who has fallen victim to a certain rogue hunter.

The United States is now a more dangerous place for a certain beloved cartoon character moose.
The United States is now a more dangerous place for a certain beloved cartoon character moose.

Adventures In Flag Coloring

Most of the news this weekend dealt with the death of one of our senators here in Arizona, John McCain. A casual search on our site will show that we were not fans of his politics at all. But, he does deserve to be remembered for his many years of service to this country and this state. Plus, his farewell letter to the nation is first class. Condolences to the McCain family. Rest in Peace, Senator McCain.

Which brings us to America’s CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, who threw an absolute hissy fit about acknowledging McCain’s passing and even ordered the flags to be flown at full staff on Monday, which was soon after reversed. You know that he is fuming about McCain’s final request that Dubya and Obama give eulogies at his funeral and not the orange haired man child.

Speaking of children…Trump completely botched a photo-op this past weekend when he sat down with children to color the flag and started to color one of the stripes blue. Can you just picture Trumpty Dumpty  sitting in a little chair at a little table, his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he draws, peeking over at the other kids to see how they colored things in. In a rare journalistic coup for the Bucket, we obtained a copy of the flag that little Donald colored all by himself. Makes you proud to be an American, don’t it.

America's CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, recently showed off his artistic skill at a photo-op with children by coloring in the American flag the way he sees it.
America’s CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, recently showed off his artistic skill at a photo-op with children by coloring in the American flag the way he sees it.

Maverick Gibberish

As we mentioned last post, John McCain made a complete fool of himself in the testimony of James Comey. Since we’re Arizonans here at the Bucket, we feel it’s our responsibility to take him to task and ridicule him for the doddering fool he’s become. Honestly, how this befuddled old man won another term as Senator is beyond us.

First of all, McCain presented himself, after Trump got elected, to be the voice of reason in the GOP. After all, Trump said during the campaign that he liked soldiers that didn’t get captured, a hard slap in the face to the former POW. So McCain was none too happy about Trump becoming President where he himself failed in 2008.  But McCain is a stalwart authoritarian conservative. He and fellow ‘moderate’ Lindsay Graham, are pulling the good cop-bad cop routine on the American press and public and unfortunately people are buying their bullshit. Remember, he did this to great effect back in 2004; so much so that people actually speculated that John Kerry might choose him as a running mate. He’s also convinced many people that he’s a ‘maverick’ despite his stodgy, conservative stance on just about everything. So he’s an expert at manipulating the media, just like many of the Republicans are.

McCain has said to the press that he is very worried about Trump’s possible ties to Russia. And then when is comes time to shine at James Comey’s hearing, he acts like the goofy old prospector we like to portray him as in our photo-toons. Then he turns around and says Obama was a better leader than Trump and then two days later denies he said it, which makes him look even more confused. The only thing John McCain has convinced us of is that he’s nothing but a partisan tool, but then again we realized that back in 2004. Can we trust John McCain to put country before party? In a simple, prospector-esque word: NOPE! 

During last week's Senate testimony hearing, Arizona’s Senior Senator and crusty old coot, John McCain, babbles incoherently in old prospector gibberish while James Comey replies in 1950s boy scout gibberish.
During last week’s Senate testimony hearing, Arizona’s Senior Senator and crusty old coot, John McCain, babbles incoherently in old prospector gibberish while James Comey replies in 1950s boy scout gibberish.

Arizona’s Crusty Old Obstructionist

We’ve commented before about so called ‘maverick’ Arizona Senator John McCain’s about face on Senate confirmation of Supreme Court nominations. Well, he recently confirmed what everyone knew; that the Republicans will continue their pattern of obstructionism if Hillary Clinton becomes President. To hell with his constitutional duty; the Republican Party comes first in America. This pretty much cements our opinion here at the Bucket that Senator McCain is well past his prime and needs to retire. Fortunately, his Democrat opponent, Ann Kirkpatrick, is hitting hard with her ads against McCain, commenting about his support of right wing wackos from Sarah Palin to Donald Trump. Will it be enough to defeat him? We’re not holding our breath. Unfortunately, most polls indicate McCain winning handily. So it appears we’ll have at least six more years of Republican partisanship with our crusty, old, obstructionist prospector senator, John McCain.

Crusty old coot John McCain promises to be agin' all of Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court Justice picks even if she picks him.
Many sane Arizonans are fed up with crusty old coot and Republican Senator John McCain’s obstructionist shenanigans and vigorously encourage his retirement from politics.

The Sun Is Setting On John McCain

Arizona’s Senior Senator John McCain keeps losing more and more respect by the day. Recently, he made headlines by boldly claiming that President Obama was ‘directly responsible’ for the Orlando shootings. In trying to clarify his fallacious statement he completely forgot that it was George W. Bush who created the power vacuum in the Middle East by invading Iraq, which allowed not only Al-Qaeda to thrive but also allowed the ISIS movement to be born.

Then McCain turned the ‘crazy’ knob to eleven and endorsed Donald Trump. If you remember, last year Trump questioned McCain’s war hero credentials and criticized McCain for getting captured. Now, almost a year later, McCain is going to endorse the man who insulted him. This (and his stubborn refusal to vote on a new Supreme Court justice) is apparently why support for his Democratic opponent, Ann Kirkpatrick has surged in recent polls, and even has her ahead in one. Our advice to Senator McCain(like he’s asking us): you’ve had a good run, but it’s time to retire to one of your seven or eight or twenty houses you own and start shooing kids off your lawn and away from your precious gold. We have no doubt you’ll be great at it.

Senator and crusty old coot, John McCain, blames Obama for the Orlando shooting and promptly endorses Donald Trump for President.
Arizona’s Senior Senator and crusty old coot, John McCain, demonstrates why he should retire from politics and start a successful new career of keeping kids off his lawn and away from his gold.

 

AZ’s Junior Obstructionist

Continuing our review of lame AZ public figures and issues…

We’ve commented before about Arizona’s junior Senator Jeff Flake (here and here). He truly is a conundrum. On the surface, this congenial, young man with the ultra-brite smile seems like he grew up with Wally and the Beav. He even sells himself as Mr. Bipartisan. But like most con artists, it’s just for show. He’s more Eddie Haskell than Wally. Mr. Flake is joining his Republican zombie cohorts, led by Mitch ‘The Turtle’ McConnell, in obstructing President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court. And why does Mr. Bipartisan say he’s doing this. A friend of the Bucket, who complained to the Senator about his obstructionism, shared with us this email response from Mr. Flake.

“Justice Scalia was untiring in his defense of the Constitution. His intellect, candor, and wit will be sorely missed. As we mourn the tragic loss of Justice Scalia and celebrate his life’s work, much is being said and written about whether the Supreme Court vacancy created by his death should be filled this year. One would have to go back more than a century to find a scenario where a president’s nominee for the Supreme Court was confirmed by the opposition party in the United States Senate when the vacancy occurred during an election year. I am not about to break new ground in the Senate, particularly when any nominee could so drastically shift the balance of the court.

There you have it folks. Mr. Bipartisan isn’t going to break new ground (or be a maverick!) because he’s going to dig in his heels like his fellow Republican crybabies and defy the Constitution. He’s clearly choosing partisan politics over doing what is best for the people and this country.

We used to be feel bad for Mr. Flake. Often times, he has seemed like he is trying to legitimately reach across the aisle. He supported the end of the ban on relations with Cuba. And to his credit, he has agreed to meet with Merrick Garland.  But again, it’s just for show.  He just created his reality show to sell the public that he was reasonable, maybe to boost his credentials for a possible future run at the Presidency. But make no mistake; he’s true to his religious, anti-science base as evidence by his criticizing federal spending on science. Just when you think he’s going to make a break from the zombies as with gun control legislation a few years ago, he turns and runs back toward the narrow minded zombie hordes. Life sitting on a fence is never easy. We’re hoping that with the rise of head zombie, Donald Trump, maybe Flake will finally embrace sanity and leave the Republican party. But then again…

Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, a.k.a. Mr. Bipartisan, proudly announces that he will join his Republican zombie cohorts, led by Mitch 'The Turtle' McConnell, to boldly obstruct President Obama's Supreme Court nomination for partisan reasons.
Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, a.k.a. Mr. Bipartisan, proudly announces that he will join his Republican zombie cohorts, led by Mitch ‘The Turtle’ McConnell, to boldly obstruct President Obama’s Supreme Court nomination for partisan reasons.

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.