Crazy In New Hampshire, by Mike Gold Brainiac On Banjo #328 | @MDWorld
June 3, 2013 Mike Gold 20 Comments
Wow.
When it comes to making truly asinine statements, nobody beats the Republican Party. If I were to want to report on all the truly stupid comments they have made lately, I would be at it full time. I mean 24/7, not even taking time out for meals and the occasional episode of Doctor Who. Women’s reproductive bits, rape, marriage equality, religious freedom, racial issues… these people would learn a lot if they simply hung out in the schoolyard with a bunch of 11-year olds.
I mean, if they could keep their pants on.
Here’s the latest. And, as Dee Dee Sharp said, it’s the greatest.
Strafford New Hampshire health program manager Sharon Omand e-mailed Barrington Republican State Congressman Martin Harty to ask him about why he had voted to cut money from mental health programs. The Senator told her that society would be better without disabled people, and he wishes he could ship them to Siberia.
“The world is too populated (and there are) too many defective people … the mentally ill, the retarded, people with physical disabilities and drug addictions – the defective people society would be better off without,” Harty said.
When asked for clarification by the Concord Monitor, State Congressman Harty confirmed his quotes. He stated the world population has increased dramatically and “it’s a very dangerous situation if it doubles again.”
He further explained nature has a way of “getting rid of stupid people,” and “(these days) we’re saving everyone who gets born.”
Holy crap. And Republicans called Obamacare “death panels.”
New-wave eugenics is not original to the Republican Party, although such straight-forward proclamations are few and far between. I gather this has something to do with the failed attempts by the National Socialist Party dating back eighty years… and this is understandable. The GOP doesn’t want to be associated with anything that has the word “socialist” in the title.
Well, Congressman Harty, it just so happens I agree with one of your statements. There are too many people. Way too many people. And something should be done about that.
The problem is, sir, you and I want to cut the cards differently.
Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking rock, blues and blather radio show on The Point, www.getthepointradio.com, every Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern, rebroadcast three times during the week – check the website above for times and streaming information. Gold also joins MDW’s Marc Alan Fishman, Martha Thomases and Michael Davis as a weekly columnist at www.comicmix.com where he pontificates on matters of four-color.
This weekend Gold will be joining the aforementioned Fishman and Thomases at the Heroes Convention http://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon/ in Charlotte NC June 7 through 9, loudly singing “Still Crazy After All These Years.”
Rick Oliver
June 3, 2013 - 2:20 pm
A mutual friend referred to this kind of policy as “retroactive abortion” — but of course the Republicans can’t call it that.
Rene
June 3, 2013 - 2:57 pm
Heh.
The GOP has been flirting with social darwinism for a while now. Are they finally coming out of the eugenics closet? Ironic, considering how much they hate darwinism when applied to actual biology.
Rene
June 3, 2013 - 2:59 pm
Then again, this GOP politician guy is 91-years old and apparently showing signs of mental confusion.
George Haberberger
June 3, 2013 - 4:00 pm
Please, as Rene said, this guy is 91 years old. He is a state representative who is never going to be influential in the party, local or national.
This story ran in the Huffington Post in early March – two months ago. Mike must be desperate for outrageous political faux pas that do not come from Democrats.
“New-wave eugenics is not original to the Republican Party,” That’s certainly true. Margaret Sanger had the same opinions.
Mike Gold
June 3, 2013 - 4:12 pm
Naw, George. This one is just fun. And I just came across it. I didn’t know you read Huffington Post. Man, you don’t want THAT getting around the Lodge.
Sanger was pro-sex, pro-women’s equality and pro-eugenics. Two out of three ain’t bad. But she’s hardly “new-wave eugenics.” It’s kinda hard to be “new-wave” ANYTHING when you were born in 1879. Oh, and she was kinda cute.
As for being 91, if you’re in office, you’re fair game. I don’t discriminate against age. Put the shoe on the other foot: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 80, and she’s got the job for life. So I ask you, in 11 years, assuming she’s still alive, will she still piss you off? It’s your right to be pissed off by our public officials — and it’s our national pastime.
As for ignoring Democrats, well, Blago’s in prison so that thrill is gone. Since I’m going to Heroes Con in Charlotte on Thursday and I have to write ahead, I was thinking of trashing Frank Lautenberg. But then the crooked fucker had to up and croak. Since I’m tight on deadline, I guess I’ll just have to write a eulogy for Michele Bachman.
Whitney
June 3, 2013 - 6:36 pm
Golden Boy (and maybe Jorge) –
I’m getting to the point where I almost dread reading this column. Incidents like this seem less and less like aberrations and more like social trending.
This guy is getting a paycheck as a politician.
If this guy IS NOT representative of his constituents, then he needs to be voted out of office for violating public trust. But my soapbox teeters: Everyone knows the dismal voter turnout numbers in L.A.’s recent mayoral election…
Maybe it is coming to the point when we should shift away from Dem/Rep conversations and instead start reviewing the characteristics and history of fascism.
Doug Abramson
June 4, 2013 - 8:58 pm
Whitney,
The LA mayoral turn out was because of two factors.
1. The city charter mandates that the election be held in the spring of off years. Syncing city elections with the state/Federal elections in even numbered years would save the city money and boost turn out. (While its sad, city only elections just are not enough to motivate people to show up at their polling place. Especially if…)
2. Everybody who ran for the job was an idiot. The entire slate of candidates was uninspiring. If I lived in the city, I don’t know who I would have voted for. I never thought that I’d miss Villaraigosa.
Mike Gold
June 5, 2013 - 6:40 am
Worse still, Whitney. People elect these jerks. They decide to leave their house, get in their car (usually) and drive to the poll, and say “I chose you, clown!”
George Haberberger
June 5, 2013 - 9:05 am
“I didn’t know you read Huffington Post. Man, you don’t want THAT getting around the Lodge.”
Oh God! Please don’t tell Chatsworth Osborne Jr. or Thurston Howell III.
No, I don’t belong to a lodge or a stereotype.
Seriously, I check the HuffPost occasionally but in this case I just searched for the guy’s name because I hadn’t heard about him. The Huffington Post stories came up, but they were from March 10th.
Checking again I see that he resigned on March 15th. This is from the Concord Monitor, not the Huffington Post, which doesn’t have a story about his resignation, at least on the first page of the Bing search. (Hmmm.)
“I am pleased Mr. Harty acknowledged his comments were not appropriate for a legislator and I am satisfied with his decision to resign,’ said Republican State Committee Chairman Jack Kimball. ‘He failed to represent the sentiments of his constituents and the core values and principles of the Republican Party.”
So he was gone 10 weeks before Mike even posted this column.
“Sanger was pro-sex, pro-women’s equality and pro-eugenics.Two out of three ain’t bad.”
Well, she was pro-sex except for the “inferior races” and she was pro-women’s equality except for the women of “inferior races.” Seem like her pro-eugenic stance negates the other two.
Mike Gold
June 5, 2013 - 9:11 am
OK, so Sanger didn’t fuck inferior races. I’ve grown more discriminating as well, usually checking on my potential partner’s use of Xanax and lithium. But Maggie was still kinda cute.
This is the second time Chatsworth Osborne Jr. came up this month — the first time I used it in reference to an executive in the comics business. Sadly, George, those of us who actually get that joke are timing out.And Steve Franken died almost a year ago. Oddly, Warren Beatty is still with us.
Mike Gold
June 5, 2013 - 9:14 am
Holy crap, George! Chatsworth Osborne Jr. was Senator Al Franken’s cousin!
Rene
June 5, 2013 - 9:24 am
Huh, it seems this all happened two years ago? Wikipedia says 2011. Also, the nutjob resigned.
Mike, I didn’t like Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980s, and I didn’t like them better when they got older. However, if the first time I hear of someone saying some offensive stuff is when they’re 91-years old, I wouldn’t take it seriously.
Now, yeah, I can see how the modern Republican Party could be a natural place for advocates of eugenics, with their infatuation with Objectivism, with extreme self-reliance, with some deformed Christianity that is merciless in its separation of chosen ones and infidels…
But this one old guy isn’t a reliable voice for the GOP.
George Haberberger
June 5, 2013 - 10:05 am
Oh my God! I didn’t notice the year on those stories! Rene is right. This all happened in 2011.
Harty might not even be alive anymore.
Mike, I know both Republicans and Democrats have said plenty of outrageous things since 2011. Let the past go. As Lily Tomlin said, “No matter how cynical you get, it’s impossible to keep up.”
Mike Gold
June 5, 2013 - 1:53 pm
Well, Lily’s certainly right.
However… the issue isn’t his age. There are plenty of 91 year olds with full control of their mental faculties. And plenty more who are not. They’re not federal judges, they run for election and they run for reelection. The electorate should be able to judge if a person of advanced years has what it takes to remain in the job. If he was loony tunes and he hid that from the voters (or his handlers hid that from the voters), then he was in office due to an act of fraud.
This isn’t a partisan observation. Clearly, the guy was past it and should not have been in office. Being 91 isn’t an excuse; his vote in the state congress counts just as much as the next guy’s.
MOTU
June 6, 2013 - 7:22 am
“He further explained nature has a way of “getting rid of stupid people,” and “(these days) we’re saving everyone who gets born.”
THIS is the rebranding of the GOP? Take talk all that rebranding shit and over the last week-they have blamed RAPE on hormones & porn called the First Lady ‘uppity’ and they have the fucking nerve to call other’s STUPID?
Neil C.
June 6, 2013 - 12:09 pm
Don’t worry, they’ll defend it somehow, MOTU. It’s the media’s fault. Actually admitting fault is equal to having your balls cut off.
Rene
June 6, 2013 - 1:42 pm
Never retreat, never explain, never apologize. Wasn’t that a part of Karl Rove’s strategy?
George Haberberger
June 7, 2013 - 7:14 am
“Never retreat, never explain, never apologize.”
Sounds a bit more like Eric Holder these days.
Neil C.
June 7, 2013 - 2:34 pm
*sigh*
Neil C.
June 7, 2013 - 3:40 pm
Rene,
Don’t forget reflect, then project!