Quote of the Day Year
"I didn't realize Howard County residents were that stupid." -- Brian Harlin, Republican Party Chairman for Howard County.
In fairness, he is the outgoing chair, if that means anything (not really).
It’s one thing when anonymous commenters call their neighbors stupid. It’s altogether different when a party leader does it, especially in an article about how the GOP plans to retake Howard County in four years because the Democrats are “incompetent.”
You can bet Republicans will be watching the Democrats like a stalker watches his prey. Really! Diligence, not just politics, requires such attention.
But you can also bet that this won’t be the last time you see Harlin’s stupid “stupid” quote, either.
Also worthy of note from the story is this bit:
"I'm very confident in the incompetence of the Democrats," said Brian Harlin, outgoing Republican Party chairman, who expects taxes and spending to rise during the next four years. "If Democrats in this county do what I think they're going to do, we'll be OK."So, he’s very confident that the Democrats will screw things up, but that’s a good thing, because that means Republicans will win in four years. And we all know the ultimate end is not a great county to live in, but electoral success.
Priorities and prudent word selection are clearly not required to become a GOP chairman in this county.
14 comments:
Yep, imprudent choice of words. Hoping for the best myself. Cautiously optimistic - more on the cautious side.
Where do you think we will hear Brian's quote again?
As a Republican, I agree that Harlin's choice of words was poor. On the other hand, he's the outgoing leader of the local party and will be relatively insignificant and not long remembered unless he makes a future run for local office.
By means of comparison... one could fill an entire blog documenting the ill-informed and "stupid" quotes from the current head of the DNC, Howard "The Scream" Dean.
By means of comparison... one could fill an entire blog documenting the ill-informed and "stupid" quotes from the current head of the DNC, Howard "The Scream" Dean.
yes, lets bring out that tired old script...
A politician gets carried away in a display of emotion in a public setting and will be mocked the rest of his career as Howard "The Scream" Dean. And then we can all go back to complaining about how dull and lifeless politicians are -- how they are always "on script" (an exception will be made, of course, if you fake a texas accent)
The truth is, you could fill many blogs with the "stupid" things pols say.
While we are being partisan, however, i would say the republicans have a nearly pathological problem with thinking the public is "stupid". They say they were never "stay the course". They say again and again that Iraq was allied with al qaeda. They tell us that a vote for democrats means the terrorists win. And then there is every single thing Rumsfeld ever said.
With each of these statements they are saying "we think the average american is too stupid to see past our deception"
"Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." -- Orwell
Our greatest gift from God is life. Our greatest gift back is what we do with that life.
When the Dems. predicted negativity in Iraq and the incompetence of the GOP, they were "doom & gloom" or they did not respect the office holders or they were unwilling to work with the GOP for the Country.
Fast forward to 2006.
The voters spoke and the LOSERS are mad and calling names.
If they really cared about the County, they would at least wait until the Dems took office and at least TRY to work on solutions for the County.
It did not take long for the party that claims, during an election year, in a heavily Democratic State & County that party doesn't matter, to say that it really does.
I hope the Dems remember the hypocrisy.
Unfortunately hypocrisy on all sides is often forgotten at the most important times.
As for the scream. I saw that live and was surprised that so much was made of it the next day.
I agree with Chris.
"The truth is, you could fill many blogs with the "stupid" things pols say."
Chris, then you veared off course, or so I thought, until I read your quote. Well put.
Oh yes...
Who said this as incoming chairmand of the DNC?
“I hate Republicans and everything they stand for,”
It may be to the Democracts advantage in 2 years to remind voters of Brian's remark, but more important the Democrats should remember that it was a Republican President's incompetance that gave the Democrats this victory. The Democrats next win,in 2 years, will be because they will display competance by giving true value for the citizen's vote.
Tom Berkhouse,
ok....so originally i wrote that you were the "biggest something unkind in blog land". I decided against it, however, because i feel it is important to maintain some sense of civil dialogue. I think most people who read this blog would agree that you lack a sense of decency and respect for your fellow citizens. Sure, there are a lot of differing opinions out here, but that is no reason to be insulting toward one another. I wonder if this is how you act when you are face to face with people, and if so, if you have actually have friends that might think differently from you.
Shame on you for saying: " the media and Democrats continually side with the enemy in an effort to gain political/ electoral success...I guess the Democrats would rather get in bed with the terrorists to gain traction for an election cycle than support the "evil" President Bush." Just think about what you wrote. Think about it again. you may not believe it, but democrats and their loved ones have spilled their blood to defend our country -- and you are accusing them of treason. a difference in strategy does not equal being in bed with the terrorists.
oh man....
my computer crashed as i was writing a really long post addressing your points Tom. AGHHH! It was thought out, had documention, looked at both sides, used HTML tags....and wasn't insulting. Anyway, i'll try to sum it up....
WMDs: heres what the CIA says:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/Comp_Report_Key_Findings.pdf#page=13
It mentions the roughly 500 munitions containing ''degraded'' mustard or sarin gas, all manufactured before the 1991 gulf war and found scattered through Iraq since 2003. Most officials i recall believe that this did not amount to finding WMDs, except of course Rick Santorum.
Russia, France, Germany:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/MiddleEast/wm217.cfm
There is only mention of three Russian FIRMS who violated the sanctions. I could not find any reports of the actual governments selling weapons parts to Iraq since 1991.
Genocide: The U.N has not recognized the Anfal Campaign against the Kurds as genocide, nor did the US did not use the Anfal campaign as a reason to go to war. The reasons used to sell the war were 1. to avenge the attacks of Sept 11 (Iraq/al Qaeda link) and 2. to prevent future attacks (WMDs). The WMDs turned out to be faulty intelligence. The administration has contiuned to mislead on the Iraq/al Qaeda link.
Bush said in August that Saddam had "had relations with Zarqawi". Rice said in September that "There were ties between Iraq and al Qaeda."
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found no friendly relations between the two. There were even reports saddam tried to capture Zarqawi while he was in Iraq. Things arent always black and white, good vs evil. Sometimes it evil vs evil as in the case of Iraq and al Qaeda.
http://intelligence.senate.gov/phaseiiaccuracy.pdf
I feel that in general, it is tragic how much the rest of the world lets genocide happen...whether it is in germany, sudan, rwanda or iraq. Im not sure that the UN (with its peacekeeping forces) has the power to go into a country and stop it from happening. Would it be appropriate for the US to send our military to Sudan to stop the ongoing genocide?
"I do have many friends. What a childish attempt at an insult. I don't hate people who have a differing opinion than me. "
Sorry, i think you read it differently than i inteded. I wasnt implying you didnt have any friends (very childish, indeed) But when you are accusing any one who is a democrat of being "in bed with the terrorists", i cant see how you could possibly get along with that person. If i thought someone i knew rooted for the terrorists, i dont think i would be friends with that person.
"Did it escape your notice that the day after the election, there was a marked increase in violence in Iraq, and the Islamic extremists were cheering the results? That proves my point better than anything"
reciting republican talking points doesnt prove anything. for the record, i did miss that. The increase in violence in Iraq was widely noted during the month of October before the election. This fact was used by the administration to suggest it was a carefully planned out strategy to influence the election. I havent heard Tony Snow say anything about the increase in violence since the election having to do with a democratic victory. Do you have any sources for the claim that radical islamists were cheering the democrats victory?
"Go ask the POW's from Vietnam how they felt knowing that idiots like Jane Fonda were taking the side of the enemy. It's no different than what the Democratic leadership is doing now with the situation in Iraq."
What leaders of the Democratic party are taking sides with the enemy? that's quite an accusation.
"If the Democratic leaders want to discuss the issues in private with President Bush, that would be ok by me - I'm not saying that an opposing stance is not allowed. It's how it is presented that I object to.
yes, i never much liked the 1st amendment either. Joking aside, i think we may agree here a little. you dont like how dems presented opposition to the president (could you give something specific?), and i thought the republicans were in poor taste in how they express opposition to the dems (by saying a vote for them is a vote for the terrorsits).
I think we also agree on hating lies and hypocrisy (i dont know many people who LOVE lies and hypocrisy).
Tom, my Democratic sister is proudly fighting in Iraq for your right to be an ass. And I am proudly supporting her by funding the body armor she desparately needs, but that the Republican government has yet to provide her. We never should have entered Iraq. The reasons that revisionists like you list are all reasons that would have qualified other hotspots in the world.
That said, We're there now. We can't up and leave. We've made this mess and we need to clean it up. God help us to do it before too many more are killed and maimed.
You are so concerned about Sarin gas and you mention the Viet Nam war. Will you also stand up and support efforts to encourage the US to clean up the toxic mess that they left behind there? Agent Orange is still a major contaminate causing signficiant health issues including birth defects. Or is the irony of the US lack of interest in mitigating for that chemical war, lost on you?
tom:
its true we seem to agree on a lot. I think we share a common desire to (pardon the cliche) help make the world a better place. I think many politicians probably felt that way at some point in their lives but get seduced by the power. the desire to affect your community (both global and local) for the better is what makes people so passionate about issues like the war in iraq, genocide in darfur, and local growth in HC. While they are all important, it certainly helps to keep things in perspective that here in the US we are free to debate matters like growth, affordable housing, and the proper way to criticize the president.
Speaking of genocide, and since it’s thanksgiving week and all, we Americans have some genocidal skeletons in our closet. Not just our attempted genocide of the Native Americans. There is our bombing of Cambodia in the first half of the 70’s and our support of Indonesia in the East Timor atrocities.
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