News Roundup for 2/3/10

Probably just as stupid as he is crazy

-Headline of the day-
"Rep. Hunter: Repealing 'Don't Ask' Will Hurt Military."

It's often said that there's a fine line between genius and madness and, while this may or may not be true, it's more often the case that it's hard to tell an idiot from a lunatic. Is the guy walking down the street with a birdcage on his head a nut -- or is he just too stupid to know the difference between a birdcage and his hat? Who knows?

Demonstrating that determining the answer to the "crazy or stupid" question is often more difficult than you'd think is Republican Representative Duncan "Yoyo" Hunter jr. -- son of former Rep. Duncan Hunter sr. In an interview with NPR's Melissa Block, Duncan manages not only to completely misunderstand what the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy even is, but also drifts off into crazyland.


BLOCK: You are not in favor of a repeal of dont ask, dont tell. Why not?

Rep. HUNTER: No, because I think that its bad for the cohesiveness and the unity of the military units, especially those that are in close combat, that are in close quarters in country right now. Its not the time to do it. I think its - the military is not civilian life. And I think the folks who have been in the military that have been in these very close situations with each other, there has to be a special bond there. And I think that bond is broken if you open up the military to transgenders, to hermaphrodites, to gays and lesbians.

BLOCK: Transgenders and hermaphrodites.

Rep. HUNTER: Yeah, thats going to be part of this whole thing. Its not just gays and lesbians. Its a whole gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual community. If you're going to let anybody no matter what preference - what sexual preference they have that means the military is going to probably let everybody in. Its going to be like civilian life and the I think that that would be detrimental for the military.


OK. This is just a rich vein of that crazy/stupid alloy. First, DADT doesn't keep gays from joining the military. It keeps gays already in the military from coming out and saying they're gay. Maybe Yoyo thinks that you're not gay until you say so, I don't know, but any way you look at it, he's wrong. Unless someone walks into a recruiter's office yelling, "LOOKIT ME! LOOKIT HOW GAY I AM!" they're in. DADT isn't about keeping gays out.

Second, what the hell does Duncan Hunter even think a hermaphrodite is? Does he think that being born with a reproductive disorder is some kind of "immoral lifestyle choice?"

So the question remains; is Yoyo Hunter a lunatic or a mental invalid?

It's a trick question; he's probably both. (National Public Radio)


-OMFG...-
If you want an idea just how stupid the Republican primaries are going to get this year, check out Carly Fiorina's web ad against Republican opponent Tom Campbell in California. It's so unhinged and self-parodying, I had to doublecheck and make sure this was real.

It is.

WTF? This thing's not going well from the gitgo, but it really jumps the rails about 2:26 in. For the record Carly, terrifying attack ads shouldn't make you laugh at them. Next time, don't buy your ad's wardrobe at a carpet remnant store. (YouTube, via Wonkette)


-Bonus HotD-
"Rush Limbaugh: 'I love the women’s movement -- especially when walking behind it.'"

You ever get the feeling that Rush Limbaugh's just a horse's ass? I don't mean that figuratively, I mean literally the rear end of a horse with a necktie around it.

I know I do. (Think Progress, with video)