The Week in Conservative Crazy

As I’ve argued on this blog before, conservative crazy is not as crazy as it might seem, serving deeper ideological and political purposes by galvanizing a base of rabid followers, keeping many from focusing on the issues that actually affect their lives and creating an us-them narrative that allows their attacks on the middle class and poor to go on largely unabated. They already have developed economic policies that many in the upper and middle class support, but the bonus of the radical wing brings in a larger demographic that is particularly effective in the South and more conservative states like Arizona. But it is worth looking at the most vitriolic and absurd of these attacks on occasion, to see what is happening in the coocoosphere.

At the NRA annual conference, conservative firebrand Ted Nugent claimed that Minority Leader Harry Reid was a “lying prick” and that if the opportunity arose he would “shoot him.” (Salon) One “journalist” then asked him “How and why did the NRA ever endorse Harry Reid to serve as the front man of Osama Obama?” Nugent responded to this question about the minion of “Osama Obama” by calling this “possibly the most important question we could confront here because it is so confusing and, on the surface, so diabolical.” Glad to see the fourth estate is keeping on top of the key issues of our time.

Talking of guns, even with all the recent gun violence, by troubled loners and the police, the Texas legislature is about to make it a lot easier to openly carry a weapon around (The Guardian). The Texas House voted 96-35 to provisionally approve a bill that would allow “open carry” in Austin on Friday night. It will allow firearms owners in Texas who have concealed handgun permits – some 850,000 people – to openly carry their weapons in public in a hip or shoulder holster. Who said the wild west was dead?

Moving on to the war on the poor, the always-beneficent Paul Ryan claimed that deprived kids should go hungry to guarantee to them that their parents cared, back at the CPAC meeting last month. He told the following story: “... a young boy from a very poor family, and every day at school he would get a free lunch from a government program. He told Eloise he didn’t want a free lunch. He wanted his own lunch, one in a brown paper bag, just like the other kids. He wanted one, he said, because he knew a kid with a brown paper bag had someone who cared for him. This is what the left does not understand.” Ryan went on to claim that: “the left is offering people a full stomach and an empty soul." (Daily Kos) “Let them eat … nothing,” appears to be the new GOP response to growing hunger and poverty!

Earlier this week, the affable Real Estate mogul and talking hair piece Donald Trump shared a fan’s tweet that said, “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes you think she can satisfy America?” Trump went over the deep end several years ago, but the fact he is running for President again excites me, if only to hear more of his brilliant insight into American politics today and keep me updated on all the latest rightwing conspiracy theories.

Finally, a New Jersey deli owner was forced to shut down his deli a month after posing a sign outside his store that said, “Celebrate Your White Heritage in March, White History Month." The owner, Boggess told the Hunderdon County Democrat, “No matter what you are -- Muslim, Jewish, black, white, gay, straight -- you should be proud of what you are. I shouldn't have to feel bad about being white." After closing, Boggess took to GoFundMe.com to raise money: “"It was only supposed to be a white thing but people read more into it than that," Boggess wrote on his GoFundMe page about his sign. "I did get tons of supporting letters from all across the USA. Which was very comforting during such a stressful time. Then the bottom dropped out and customers were no longer coming into my deli, and now I am forced to close down my Deli and lose my American dream. I have become heavily in debt and getting shut off notices from everywhere for both business and home," Burgess continued in his note. "I don't think I deserve this just because I wanted to be proud of being white and be able to celebrate my heritage like everyone else does." As of early Friday morning, Boggess had raised $215. (TPM) Maybe there are even limits for conservatives … though I’m not sure I would bet on that just yet.