Nevada Republican Rep. Joe Heck agreed with a wingnut talk show host that it's "nauseating" that Gabby Giffords is a "prop" for the movement to regulate guns and suggested that she's a mental deficient being used as a pawn. The Las Vegas Sun is reporting that Heck is "pushing back" against the idea that he agreed with the radio boob, which I guess means that when he specifically said, "I agree," he was lying or something.
Meanwhile, a Missouri Republican wants to make it a felony for legislators in that state to propose gun regulations. This is one of those really insane things that get a lot of attention -- but that you don't really have to worry about. This would be so unconstitutional that (even if the bill managed to be passed in the first place) it would never survive a court challenge. In fact, it might literally be laughed out of court. "This story may appear to be some kind of parody, making the Republican protagonist out to be a foolish caricature who couldn't exist in reality," writes Steve Benen, "but as best as I can tell, this is real."
Orange County, California witnesses yet another killing spree by gunfire. Just another day in America.
Republicans simply cannot stop saying amazingly stupid and sexist things about women.
Of course, this means that the one time a Democrat says something just as batty, the wingnut blogs are ecstatic.
With Republicans trying to blame President Obama for the very existence of the sequestration trigger, Michael Tomasky helpfully puts that claim in the proper context: "So fine, the White House proposed it. It did so only after months of Republicans publicly demanding huge spending cuts and refusing to consider any revenues and acting as if they were prepared to send the nation into default over spending. In other words, this was the administration’s idea in much the way that it’s a parent’s 'idea' to pay ransom to a person who has taken his child hostage. There was a gun to the White House’s head, which was the possibility of the country going into default."
The team of Simpson-Bowles is back with a (really bad) deficit reduction plan.
Finally, it's very possible that our now nearly-nonexistent campaign finance regulations could get even looser.
[cartoon via Cagle Post]
