Occasional blogging, mostly of the long-form variety.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

For Only $2,300, You Can Sponsor a Needy Congressperson



Two things. This is not a parody. And Too Much Information!

Conservatives generally aren't good at comedy, but they often excel at unintentional self-parody. Who exactly is Marilyn Musgrave, you ask? Well, in Rolling Stone's 2006 exposé, "Inside the Worst Congress Ever," Musgrave came in at #10 of their 10 worst congressmen. Here's their profile of "The Christian Soldier":

Musgrave has made regulating the bedroom behavior of her fellow Americans the focus of her entire career. An evangelical Christian who married her Bible-camp sweetheart, Musgrave does not believe in the separation of church and state. She entered politics in 1990, running for her local school board on a crusade to end sex education as part of the curriculum. By the time her tenure was over, the schools taught "abstinence only" -- and offending passages in health textbooks had been blacked out. During her eight years in the Colorado legislature, Musgrave continued her moralizing, overcoming two vetoes by the governor to pass a state ban on gay marriage.

Once in Congress, Musgrave introduced a constitutional amendment to outlaw gay marriage -- which she calls "the most important issue that we face today" -- nearly a year before a Massachusetts court approved civil unions. "She doesn't like the idea of one gay person," says Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts. "So obviously the idea of two of us hanging out makes her very unhappy." For her opposition to gay marriage -- as well as her push to legalize concealed weapons -- Musgrave received an endorsement from the KKK in May.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi doesn't consider Musgrave's move to rewrite the nation's founding document a laughing matter. "She is trying to taint the Constitution," Pelosi says. "That is a violation of the oath of office." But Frank notes one thing he admires about Musgrave: "If you're going to have someone who's a hater, it's best that she's not very bright. I appeared with her in a couple of forums to debate her bill, but she's totally incapable of even explaining what it says."


This video comes via the Wonkette crew, who also provide the following snark:

Congresswoman’s Ad Highlights Childhood As 19th Century British Street Urchin

C’mon people, stop bitching and moaning and threatening to move to socialist Europe under the false assumption that a lame Sarah Palin/Convention bounce has somehow sealed Barack Obama’s terrible fate. Wah wah wah. Things could be so much worse for Barry! Because if John McCain was set on picking a random lady with a narrative, he could’ve gone with Colorado Rep. Marilyn Musgrave instead. Her narrative, as shown in this re-election ad, is far more compelling than Palin’s. Musgrave grew up in Industrial England as a slave hobo, eating Oliver Twist’s leftover porridge and getting beaten up by her drunk father and crying. And then she became a Congresswoman! FOR FIVE AND A HALF YEARS.


Apparently, like the McCain-Palin campaign, Musgrave's going for the pity vote.

(Cross-posted at The Blue Herald)

2 comments:

debg said...

This is a GREAT post. I was telling another historian about your assessment just today, because we both study women in history and we're both fascinated by this presidential race. By the way, there's a new blog in town that deserves some publicity: http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com

Batocchio said...

Thanks for the link and for stopping by, debg! I suspect your comment was meant for "Thy Father's Permission," yes?

There have been some really good pieces on Palin by liberal women, unsurprisingly.

Let me know when you start blogging!