Tag Archive for senator

Senator Mark Kelly

While the nation waits with baited breath for the final votes for President of the United States to be tallied, there is one race that became official about which we couldn’t be happier.

Former astronaut and naval pilot, Democrat Mark Kelly defeated incumbent Republican Martha McSally for Senator. This gives Arizona two Democratic Senators now, thus turning the state blue on the national level, (Arizona Democrats already are pretty much guaranteed of keeping five of nine congressional seats). We’ve lived here a long time and we never thought we’d see this event. The last time it happened was 1952.

Congratulations to Mark Kelly! We have no doubt you’ll be as successful in this endeavor as you were as an astronaut, engineer, pilot and author.

Congratulations to engineer, naval pilot, astronaut, author and now Democratic Senator from Arizona, Mark Kelly.
Congratulations to engineer, naval pilot, astronaut, author and now Democratic Senator from Arizona, Mark Kelly.

Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Republican

Given the record of the GOP’s lust for power these past 40 years, is it really any surprise that Moscow Mitch ‘Turtle Boy’ McConnell would hypocritically announce that he would vote immediately on a replacement for deceased Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg before her memorial service. If you have the memory of gnat, then let us remind you that in 2016 after Anton Scalia died in February, McConnell and the Senate Republicans declared to all that since it was an election year, it was in the best interest of the nation to let the winner of the upcoming election fill the vacancy. President Obama nominated Merrick Garland but Moscow Mitch refused to even hold confirmation hearings like the authoritarian, fascist jackass he is. And of course, the supposedly morally superior Republican crybabies fell right in line and obstructed Obama until Trump stole the electoral college (thanks to help from Russia – remember, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote) and filled the empty seat with right-winger Neil Gorsuch.

So what did the Republican Senators say in comparison to what they’re saying this year? Some of the more noteworthy hypocritical quotes from 2016 include:

“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.” Mitch McConnell, Feb. 13. 2016

“I strongly support giving the American people a voice in choosing the next Supreme Court nominee by electing a new president. I hope all Americans understand how important their vote is when it comes to picking a new Supreme Court justice. The American people should choose wisely this November.” Lindsey Graham, March 16, 2016

“In the midst of a critical election, the American people deserve to have a say in this important decision that will impact the course of our country for years to come.” Joni Ernst, March 16, 2016

“I don’t think we should be moving forward on a nominee in the last year of this president’s term. I would say that if this was a Republlcian president.” Marco Rubio, March 17, 2016


“In a few short months, we will have a new president and new senators who can consider the next justice with the full faith of the people. Why would we cut off the national debate on the next justice? Why would we squelch the voice of the populace? Why would we deny the voters a chance to weigh in on the make-up of the Supreme Court?” Tom Cotton, March 16, 2016

The hypocrisy is blatant and in your face, but the Republicans don’t care. There are piles of unattended bills from the House that need to be brought to a vote including further coronavirus relief, but that will have to wait because the Republicans have changed their minds and have decided that it is imperative now that the Supreme Court seat must be filled as soon as possible, RBG’s final wishes be damned. What’s strange is that 62% of the country seems to agree with the 2016 Republicans and thinks that the new Supreme Court Justice should be named by the winner of the upcoming election.

Here’s a list of all the hypocritical Senators from 2016 who are up for election in 2020 who conveniently changed their minds and should be voted the hell out of office.

  • Dan Sullivan, Alaska
  • Tom Cotton, Arkansas
  • Cory Gardner, Colorado
  • David Perdue, Georgia
  • Joni Ernst, Iowa
  • Mitch McConnell, Kentucky
  • Steve Daines, Montana
  • Thom Tillis, North Carolina
  • Jim Imhofe, Oklahoma
  • Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
  • Mike Rounds, South Dakota
  • John Cornyn, Texas
  • Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia

Here it is in a nutshell, folks: Republicans are nothing but blatant goddamn hypocrites and they’ve been proving it every day of the Trump administration, especially during Trump’s impeachment! Everybody should take a look at the list of senators up for re-election this year and vote their smarmy lying asses out of office! They’re nothing but sanctimonious, duplicitous frauds who should never be let near the corridors of power in the United States again! Of course, if they move to Russia, we’re sure ol’ Vlad Putin will have a place for them.

Editor’s Note: In our original photo-toon we had a picture of Sonny Perdue, not David Perdue. This has been corrected.

Here are some of the goddamn Republican hypocrites who in 2016 proclaimed loudly that the people voting in November should decide who should be on the Supreme Court but now in 2020 want to rush through a pick just days before the election.
Here are some of the goddamn Republican hypocrites who in 2016 proclaimed loudly that the people voting in November should decide who should be on the Supreme Court but now in 2020 want to rush through a pick just days before the election.

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!!!

GOP Putin On The Ritz

We’ve been appalled by antics of the Trump administration for the last three and a half years and guess what folks. . . the hits keep a comin’. Recently it was learned that Russia had placed bounties on the heads of American soldiers in Afghanistan. This shouldn’t be that surprising considering the United States did pretty much the same thing against the Soviet soldiers with the mujahideen freedom fighters (which included Osama Bin Laden) back during the Soviet Union’s military adventure in Afghanistan back in the 1980s. The U.S. has pretty much overstayed our welcome in the place where empires go to die so the bounties by the Taliban should not be a shock.

But what is disconcerting is that Trump has struggled to speak out against Putin on the matter and won’t even begin to talk about possible sanctions. We all know about Trump’s man crush on the Russian President but by not addressing this obviously disturbing piece of news, he’s adding fuel to the fire that he’s somehow being controlled by Russia’s leader. The Mueller report concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and is already at it in the 2020 election. Not only that, Russia is hacking COVID-19 vaccine data. And yet Trump and the Republican party stays silent on the matter. Moscow Mitch ‘Turtle Boy’ McConnell and the GOP Senate has even blocked any kind of bill for election security. Due to the malfeasance of the Trump administration in handling the coronavirus pandemic, the news of the bounties has already been relegated to the back burner. Even veterans have voiced their concerns, but in typical Trumpian fashion, our CEO/Dictator and petulant man child does nothing.

That’s because the Republican party has clearly become the party for white nationalists and lovers of authoritarianism and fascism, . . . you know . . . Putin-style ‘democracy’. We remember a photo back when Obama was President and he was giving Putin the evil eye, like he was saying, “Cut the bullshit, Vlad!” Pretty badass, right? Of course, the Republicans were rooting for the white guy in the photo because:

  • They’re the ones who are un-American
  • They’re racist as hell
  • They’re THE PROBLEM

Solve the problem on November 3rd and vote out every Republican sycophant from federal level all the way down to state level. When you let a foreign power like Russia have influence over our country, that’s unacceptable, untenable and un-American.

With their strange attraction to Russian President Vladimir Putin, modern day Republicans and supporters of Donald Trump seem to have misplaced their priorities, their common sense and their loyalty to America.
With their strange attraction to Russian President Vladimir Putin, modern day Republicans and supporters of Donald Trump seem to have misplaced their priorities, their common sense and their loyalty to America.

GOP Living In The Twilight Zone

The coronavirus situation is getting worse in the U.S. and America’s Impeached CEO/Dictator Donald Trump and his sycophantic Republican cronies have resorted to the tried and true GOP method of dealing with problems: deny, distract and gaslight. Remember when Mick Mulvaney tried to convince the public that quid pro quos were good and that people would just have to ‘get over it’? Fun times! Then Donald Trump got impeached. Hey GOP: that went well didn’t it. Arizona’s Governor Doug Ducey (pronounced douchey) did the same thing last month and Arizona is now 7th in the nation in number of cases and added more cases per capita than any country on the planet in the past week. So much winning!

So, in typical conservative Republican fashion, they’re sticking to their guns with pathological liar Trump proclaiming to all this past week that Americans will just have to get over it and learn to live with the possibility of getting the virus and . . .yada, yada, yada . . . maybe DIE! And now Trump is bullying the CDC to relax guidelines in order to send our children back to schools this fall in the midst of a pandemic which has killed over 130,000 people already (that’s over 43 9/11s, folks). With this kind of leadership who needs enemies. Oh, that’s right. . . Trump is okay with enemies killing our troops.

The cowardly, obsequious Senate Republicans are in quite a pickle and stand to lose the Executive Branch, House and even the Senate by continuing to prop up Trump. It reminds us of the classic Twilight Zone episode called Its a Good Life, in which a spoiled, petulant little boy (played by Billy Mumy) with extraordinary powers terrorizes everyone in the community and no one stands up to him for fear of being ‘sent to the cornfield’. They just repeat over and over how great he is and that everything he does is ‘real good’, while the terror goes on and on and on. Sound familiar? In 2020, Republicans are living in their own self-manufactured Twilight Zone. Like this video from the Lincoln Project says, may they all suffer the deserved consequences for their fecklessness in letting democracy die in America.

In 2020, with Donald Trump as their dear Leader, the Republicans are living in the Twilight Zone.
In 2020, with Donald Trump as their dear Leader, the Republicans are living in the Twilight Zone.

Racists Pickin’ Cotton?

Lost amidst the recent headlines of America’s Impeached CEO/Dictator Donald Trump ignoring Russia’s bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan, the ever expanding number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and all the other Trumpf*ckery that is transpiring right now, is the apparent debut of the possible new standard bearer for the Republican party in the 2024 presidential election. The polls are so bad for Trump that some Republicans seem to be giving up hope and laying the groundwork for a successor to the authoritarian wing of the GOP. Some are even saying Trump will drop out. We don’t know about that but there’s one person who has stepped forward as the new white hope for Republicans: Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.

Cotton recently penned a much criticized opinion piece in the New York Times stating that the military must be used to crush any protesters with overwhelming force. Gee, Mr. Cotton. . . does that go for the boneheaded, assault rifle toting, anti-lockdown MÆGAMorons who don’t want to wear a mask because it doesn’t look manly? Of course not! Those guys are white! Now, we’re not saying Cotton is racist but he sure is using the same dog whistles as Trump and other GOP Senators from the South have been using . . . for decades.

In addition to his toxic tome in the Times, he also spouted similar racist logic recently when the House approved statehood for Washington D.C. In Cotton’s dissenting viewpoint: despite that “the District has more residents than both Wyoming and Vermont, he argued that its economy and political leanings disqualified it from full representation. Its citizens, he suggested, were incapable of governing themselves responsibly and, in any case, did not deserve a voice in Congress because they hold jobs he considered illegitimate“. When you consider the fact that the majority of D.C. is African-American and Democrat . . . yeah, that’s some pretty good racism right there. Then Cotton said Wyoming’s “well-rounded working class” was more worthy of statehood. As you already may have surmised, Wyoming is mostly white (around 80%) and very Republican. Yep, we’re thinking the possible new GOP standard bearer Tom Cotton will be a dad gum fine heir to the right-wing, authoritarian, fascist, Nazi and KKK loving, redneck empire, now called the Republican party.

Arkansas Senator and complete non-racist Tom Cotton explains with foolproof logic why anti-lockdown protesters are okay while all other protesters should be annihilated.
Arkansas Senator and complete non-racist Tom Cotton explains with foolproof logic why anti-lockdown protesters are okay while all other protesters should be annihilated.

The Gods of Greed

The coronavirus pandemic is still wreaking havoc on the human population across the planet with the death rate at close to 6% globally. The United States now leads the world in coronavirus cases by a large margin with over 500,000 cases and in deaths with over 21,000. Not only has COVID-19 exposed the incompetence of the Trump administration, but it’s revealed the true abhorrent nature of right wing propaganda media outlets like Fox News, a.k.a. the Republican Propaganda Network, and has destroyed the myth of a strong economy that American CEO/Dictator and petulant man child Donald Trump has touted since day one of his clusterf*ck of a presidency.

Trump has taken over the media since the coronavirus outbreak and on a daily basis shown that he is a truly horrible, tone deaf, uncaring heel. He openly has pushed for the use of hydroxychloroquine as a possible cure for COVID-19 despite medical evidence to the contrary. He has openly tried to gaslight the public in saying that he was always concerned about the coronavirus pandemic when he clearly mocked the media for touting its danger back in January and February, calling it ‘the next democratic hoax’ and stating that the virus will go away by April. (Editor’s note – we were skeptical back then, too – but at least we’ll admit we underestimated the original situation). In typical Trumpian fashion, he has blamed everyone but himself. His daily briefings are nothing more than political rallies where he crows about what a fantastic job he’s doing and that his ratings are higher than ever. He even brought out the My Pillow guy to prop him up. In Trump’s warped mind, over 21,000 (that’s seven 9/11s, folks) deaths in a two month span is a good thing and apparently we should congratulate him. Remember when he tweeted in 2014 calling for Obama to resign because of his handling of Ebola which resulted in two American deaths. No hypocrisy there, eh?

Fox News has also been doing its part in the gaslighting of America, too. When the pandemic first broke back in February, they openly called it a hoax and nothing to worry about. Twenty-one thousand American deaths later, they’re walking back their comments like Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk. Trump bootlicker extraordinaire Sean Hannity even had the gaul to say that Fox has always been concerned about the coronavirus, conveniently forgetting that there are video records showing the contrary. Fortunately, they’re getting sued for spreading lies and misinformation to the American public about coronavirus. Will justice be served and Fox be driven into the ground? We can only hope, but like John Oliver recently revealed on his excellent show, there are more bat shit insane right wing networks like OAN waiting in the wings to take Fox’s place.

The true emptiness of our capitalistic society has also been exposed with this pandemic. People have been trying to make boatloads of money off the shortages of paper products from the panic buying last month in the very definition of disaster capitalism. The stock market has lost much of its gains of the Trump era despite billionaires pumping money into the voracious, insatiable maw of Wall Street. Pundits like tin foil hat king Glenn Beck have even put forth notions that people should sacrifice themselves in order to save the stock market. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has even suggested that people are going to die anyway, why not sacrifice yourself for the stockholders of America. And somehow, disgraced former Fox News propagandist and self-proclaimed history detective Bill O’Reilly has appeared back on the air and has been blathering the same kind of thing as Johnson saying that the deaths have been people who ‘were on their last legs anyway’. What a compassionate conservative christian!

That’s where we are, folks; our leaders and right wing media pundits are actually suggesting we lay down our lives for profit. For those christians out there, is this what Jesus would do? With the coronavirus pandemic, we now know that to the Republican party, certain people in America (a.k.a. the non 1%ers) just don’t matter and they should sacrifice themselves on the altar of capitalism in order to appease the Gods of Greed; the capitalistic overlords on Wall Street and plutocrats of corporate America.

The Gods of Greed: In order to save his precious stock market while simultaneously improving his all-important TV ratings, American CEO/Dictator and top notch medical professional Donald Trump and his horde of sycophantic Republican lackeys try to convince the American populace that granny and gramps must sacrifice themselves to the coronavirus pandemic on the altar of capitalism in order to save the lives of our greedy corporate overlords and the avaricious plutocratic gods on Wall Street. Rated R for Rapacious.
The Gods of Greed: In order to save his precious stock market while simultaneously improving his all-important TV ratings, American CEO/Dictator and top notch medical professional Donald Trump and his horde of sycophantic Republican lackeys try to convince the American populace that granny and gramps must sacrifice themselves to the coronavirus pandemic on the altar of capitalism in order to save the lives of our greedy corporate overlords and the avaricious plutocratic gods on Wall Street. Rated R for Rapacious.

Like Father, Like Son

Straight out of the Oh, Da Irony file, comes this tidbit and just in time for April Fools Day. It seems crusty ol’ contrarian curmudgeon Ron Paul has emerged from the his old prospector’s pit to give his two cents worth about the coronavirus and, surprise surprise, he’s agin’ it. We roundly mocked Paul during Con-a-thon 2012 and rightfully so. His views are and have always been all over the place.

Cue the entrance of his son, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who also was taking the coronavirus pandemic very lightly until, drum roll please, he tested positive for coronavirus even though he’s asymptomatic. But that didn’t stop ol’ Randy boy, no sir. After he got tested, he made the rounds at the gym and pool among other places before he got the results, thus possibly infecting many other individuals.

What makes this father and son pair’s actions even more astounding is that they’re both physicians. They should know better! Well, we think we know why they turned to politics. If they were still practicing medicine, their patients would probably be dead.

Crusty, contrarian curmudgeon, Ron Paul, reckons that coronavirus is just a hoax, to which his son, contrarian Senator Rand Paul fully agrees, despite testing positive for the virus.
Crusty, contrarian curmudgeon Ron Paul reckons that coronavirus is just a hoax, to which his son, contrarian Senator Rand Paul fully agrees, despite testing positive for the virus.

GOP Ventriloquist Theater

America’s Impeached CEO/Dictator Donald Trump’s revenge vendetta is still going strong following his sham acquittal during his impeachment ‘trial’ in the Senate. Now, our orange haired, megalomaniac man child in the White House is using mafioso tactics using the Department of Justice as his muscle to enforce whatever the Don wants.

Chief among the controversial, authoritarian tactics is the brow beating of prosecutors to get his pal and major conehead Roger Stone a reduced sentence for seven counts of lying to Congress and witness tampering. The original prosecutors suggested a seven to nine year sentence, but thanks to Trump’s rage tweeting and Attorney General Bill Barr’s intervention, Stone got just a forty month sentence. Trump’s also pardoned several high profile, white collar criminals such as former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, junk bond king Michael Milken, tax cheat and Rudy Giuliani pal Bernie Kerik and Medicare fraudster Judith Negron.

What’s even more dubious is the political theater performed by the Trump administration trotting out Bill Barr to act like a put upon Attorney General who has, gosh darn it, just about had enough, to which master ventriloquist Trumpty Dumpty dismissed the criticism stating that he has a ‘legal right’ to meddle in DOJ cases. This ventriloquist act reminds us of the crap Cheney did with Dubya back during the Bush administration (you know Cheney was pulling the strings during the Bush administration). This lame ass performance is fooling only sycophantic Republican senators like Lisa Murkowski, Lamar Alexander and Susan Collins, who are convinced that Trump has learned his lesson and will be a good boy from now on. Alexander is not running for re-election and Murkowski’s seat isn’t up until 2022. But we’re hoping that the good citizens of Maine have learned their lesson and will choose to send the oft ‘concerned’ and addled Collins to a retirement home come this November.

America's Impeached CEO/Dictator and petulant man child, Donald Trump, shows off his new ventriloquist act with dummy Attorney General Bill Barr, as 'concerned' Senator Susan Collins looks on, satisfied that little Donald has learned his lesson about abusing power and destroying democracy.
America’s Impeached CEO/Dictator and petulant man child, Donald Trump, shows off his new ventriloquist act with dummy Attorney General Bill Barr, as ‘concerned’ Senator Susan Collins looks on, satisfied that little Donald has learned his lesson about abusing power and destroying democracy.

GOP: Trump Über Alles

We knew before the impeachment process began that the Republicans would acquit America’s CEO/Dictator Donald Trump of any wrongdoing (with Spiff Romney being the lone Republican to vote to convict – note: we’ve given Romney a lot of crap over the years but he got it right this time; Good job!) but it doesn’t make it any easier to take it. To their credit, the Democrats, led by Adam Schiff, did an exceptional job of proving Trump’s guilt in the quid pro quo bullying of Ukraine for dirt on Joe Biden in exchange for foreign aid. Which makes it infuriating to watch the self-proclaimed ‘morally superior’ GOP make a complete sham out of the proceedings. The charlatans didn’t even want witnesses called! Polls indicated that 75 percent of Americans thought witnesses should be called. What’s a trial without witnesses! Well, apparently it’s completely normal in Trumpland, where the Kansas City Chiefs play their games in Kansas City, Kansas instead of Kansas City, Missouri and Donald Trump is a master meteorologist.

The fact is that Republicans even admitted that Trump is guilty and they’re still voting to acquit him. Lamar Alexander said Trump did the quid pro quo but it’s not impeachable. Linda Murkowski said pretty much the same thing, saying what Trump did was “shameful and wrong”, but that she couldn’t vote to convict. So basically, in the warped mind of a conservative, lying about sex is impeachable and asking for foreign aid on a political rival is a-okay. Just put little baby Donald in time-out and he won’t do it again. But Trump is already reported plotting revenge on all the people who wronged him.

Chief Justice John Roberts did nothing to dispel his perception of being a partisan hack. Remember Roberts fully approved of the Citizens United verdict that gave unlimited power to corporate America to contribute to campaigns. And despite his voting for Obamacare, we knew he was still a true conservative Republican. He could have intervened and insisted on witnesses, but he didn’t. He seemingly has no qualms on presiding over a travesty of justice. Great example there, Chief Justice Roberts!

The GOP keeps whining that the Democrats are trying for a coup, which is a complete projection of what the Republicans have done since the 2016 election which they stole thanks to Russian election interference and suspension of the rule of law for selecting a Supreme Court justice (Merrick Garland) in the Senate by Moscow Mitch McConnell, a.k.a. Turtle Boy. Even Karl Rove admitted during Dubya’s fiasco of a presidency that he was determined to have the same kind of Republican hegemony that existed between 1865 and 1932 when Mark Hanna was the chief political operative and only two Democrats served as president during that span (Grover Cleveland – two non-consecutive terms, 1885-1889, 1893-1897; Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921). Now with thisclusterf*ck of a trial, the Republicans have pretty much deemed that Trump can do whatever the hell he wants to do and not suffer any kind of consequences and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. This despite the fact that since 1988, Republicans have only won the popular vote in presidential elections once. We agree with the many people who are saying that just like the 2016 election, the megalomaniac Trump will never accept the results of the 2020 election if he loses and America will have yet another constitutional crisis involving Trump and the Republicans.

So, in true right wing, conservative Republican, authoritarian fashion, life in the United States can now be summed up by the mantra, Trump über alles. Enjoy your fascism, America – oh… and Heil Trump!

With their sham impeachment trial, Senate Republicans have officially declared that America's CEO/Dictator and petulant man child, Donald Trump, is above the law and that democracy and rule of law no longer exist in the United States. In other words, Trump über alles, or in other other words, Heil Trump!
With their sham impeachment trial, Senate Republicans have officially declared that America’s CEO/Dictator and petulant man child, Donald Trump, is above the law and that democracy and rule of law no longer exist in the United States. In other words, Trump über alles, or in other other words, Heil Trump!