Monday, June 20, 2022

Beyond The Candidate


Weep not for Representative Dan Crenshaw, Republican from Texas, although as HuffPost reports

Far-right activists at the Texas GOP Convention hurled criticisms toward Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) one day after a Republican senator faced boos during his speech.

Activists, including some who were recording, approached Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who lost his right eye to a bomb while deployed to Afghanistan, with remarks such as “eyepatch McCain” and “globalist RINO [Republican In Name Only],” 

Other remarks made toward the lawmaker included claims that Crenshaw is a “traitor” and calls that he be “hung for treason.”

A witness told Mediaite some of the activists “got physical with multiple people, including hitting them with cameras.”

Some of the remarks echoed the words of Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who called Crenshaw “eye patch McCain” after the lawmaker said sending help to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion wasn’t a factor in the U.S. baby formula shortage.



This was reprehensible behavior from "far-right" activists toward a far-right legislator. However, Dan Crenshaw will survive, either continuing as a congressman or in some lucrative capacity following a career in the House of Representatives.  Huffington Post continues

Alex Stein, one of the activists who approached Crenshaw and posted video of it on Twitter, and others were taken out of the building and a number of arrests were made at the convention, an anonymous source at the convention told Mediaite. Witnesses told Mediaite some of those involved were wearing Proud Boys gear.

On a positive note, some of the reactionary radicals were arrested, presumably, and hopefully, to be prosecuted.  But there being a First Amendment, which boundaries are being constantly tested by the Republican Party, this guy won't be arrested:

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This is an ad from MO-Sen candidate Eric Greitens about hunting human beings, played up completely in earnest.

“The RINO feeds on corruption and is marked by the stripes of cowardice…There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit, and it doesn’t expire until we save our country.”

Eric Greitens is not the Republican "base" nor the Republican street. He is not your next-door neighbor, a mere "activist," relatively inconsequential as most of us are. He is a disgraced politician who was somewhat of a longshot in his primary race and now evidently leads the pack.  He wants to be a member of an exclusive club- the USA Senate- and of an even more exclusive club, the roughly 50 members of his party's caucus there. The Republican nominee, whomever it may be, will be a strong favorite to win in solidly conservative Missouri.

Greitens aspires to be a leader of men and women and was not dragged kicking and screaming by GOP voters to threaten violence against his political enemies. It is what he believes or pretends to believe, and it may not matter which. Victory could be interpreted that Republican officials may target their enemies for death without penalty. Greitens will have been given license to respond accordingly, with or without a firearm. 

There are radicals, extremists, even would-be murderers, everywhere.  The first two descriptions apply to most GOP senators but the third, largely not. That appears to be changing and sarcasm helps explain why:

 

 

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