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5/20: Lee Siu Hin-How stupid pro-war U.S. politician hawks are for war in Ukraine and NATO expansion and say stupid quotes every day
How stupid pro-war U.S. politician hawks are for war in Ukraine and NATO expansion and say stupid quotes every day
Lee Siu Hin May 20th, 2022
Rep. Lisa McClain: A freshman Republican member of Congress, McClain made a series of false claims in a short speech at former President Donald Trump's rally outside Detroit on April 3, 2022 – notably including an assertion that Trump, who has endorsed her for re-election, was the president who caught Osama bin Laden. Rattling off what she claimed were Trump’s accomplishments, McClain said, "Caught Osama bin Laden and Soleimani, al-Baghdadi."
But that was simply not true. Bin Laden, the leader of a terrorist group, was killed in Pakistan in a 2011 raid ordered by then-President Barack Obama. (CNN April 4, 2022) Iranian military leader Soleimani was assassinated by order of Trump in 2020 in Iraq, an action that was widely condemned by the international community and McClain shouldn’t brag about it.
It’s an embarrassing moment for McClain, but she’s not the only one; in fact, most U.S. politicians, regardless of whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, are frequently making dumb mistakes, making false statements, or having a big mouth moment when they shoot themselves in the foot.
During the latest Russia-Ukraine conflict, most U.S. politicians support the proxy war against Russia, although their logic and rhetoric are poorly stated; in my opinion, most of them don’t know what they’re talking about. Here are some of their recent hilarious quotes on different issues, made up on the spot for their political convenience, that turn out to be embarrassingly false.
Big Mouths U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s “big mouth”: On April 1, 2022, Rep. Cawthorn doubled down about the cocaine and orgies he claims happen among members of Congress, though his comments have stirred a backlash among senior members of the GOP. “Corruption and unethical activities exist in Washington,” the freshman Republican from North Carolina tweeted. “It’s an indisputable fact. If you don’t think that’s true, you’ve not witnessed the Swamp.” Cawthorn landed in hot water with his party leaders after appearing on the podcast, Warrior Poet Society, and alleging that members of Congress in their 60s and 70s have invited him to orgies and have done lines of cocaine in front of him.
Cawthorn’s comments rattled Washington and led House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to call him into a meeting in his office. Other Republican members of Congress tried to distance themselves from the 26-year-old freshman. In a statement on Twitter later, Cawthorn wrote that he debated how to address the podcast’s comments and their fallout. He blamed the media and the left, saying they are “terrified” of Republicans taking back the House and seeing McCarthy become Speaker.
While he‘s completely correct about exposing the Washington, DC, corruption, he shoots himself in the foot (and in those of his teammates) and this is no doubt a too stupid act of political suicide. (Source: News Observer April 2, 2022) No surprise just few weeks later on May 17th, 2022 he loses his re-election bid in the Republican primary for a House seat, after a deluge of scandals.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: This Republican representative from Georgia, famous for frequently making false statements, on February 19, 2022, in a talk at a rally said, "Ukraine was the No. 1 donor to Hillary Clinton when she was running for president.” These comments were captured by Right Side Broadcasting Network, a right-wing website known for streaming Trump’s events. That’s not the truth. Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign did not report any donations from Ukraine or Ukrainian nationals – a move that would have broken the law. Asked for evidence to support Greene’s claim, the congresswoman’s spokesperson did not cite any campaign donations. Greene loves to make up and hype her lies in order to attack political opponents and excite her far-right base for her own political gain. (Source: PolitiFact)
Rep. Tom Tiffany from Wisconsin: On February 18, 2022, in Twitter: The Biden administration has been "recklessly releasing potentially dangerous Afghans into our communities." Citing the Feb. 15, 2022, Defense Department Inspector General’s report that found shortcomings in Afghan vetting efforts conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the report did not describe the Afghans as potentially dangerous. Tiffany exploited the report falsely for his racist agenda against immigrants, a typical “fear monger” card used against Democrats in political campaigns. (Source: PolitiFact)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: She’s always proud of her poor working class heritage and democratic socialist political background, but frequently makes mistaken claims of basic working class facts. On July 13, 2018, in an interview on PBS's "Firing Line," she said, "Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their family." However, no serious economists and government data could backup her claim; research shows many reasons why unemployment is low, but they do not include overwork as Ocasio-Cortez cited. The biggest factors include strong economic confidence and the long-running economic recovery during 2010s. (Source: PolitiFact)
Stupid Political Rants Senator Tom Cotton: From Arkansas Cotton is hailed as the worst bully in the Senate; his recent bile about Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson went viral. On April 6, 2022, he tweeted that “Judge Jackson will coddle criminals and terrorists, and she will twist or ignore the law to reach the result that she wants.” Social media immediately erupted with criticism of Sen. Cotton, who then exceeded his already over the top demagoguery (see the lie above) over the Supreme Court nominee with the suggestion that she is a Nazi sympathizer.
Many rose to explain how awful and wrong Cotton was. The following Twitter thread demolishes Cotton, particularly for his grotesque mischaracterization of former Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson. As Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal, he insisted that a right to counsel and due process of law — once hallmarks of the American system — would apply even to Nazis accused of the most barbarous acts, but that doesn’t mean he’s a Nazi sympathizer. (Source: Arkansas Times April 6, 2022)
Senator Marco Rubio: This Florida Senator known for his opportunistic, strong conservative, anti-communist, anti-socialist Cuban government stand always indulges in bold political rhetoric without any substance. About the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, he tweeted: “Stupid policies driven by the crazy left have left America vulnerable to blackmail from Russia, China and Iran.” (Twitter April 26, 2022)
To jump into the current abortion debate, he tweet a strange statement: “If we have ‘pregnant people’ then how can Roe be about ‘a woman’s right to choose?’” (Twitter May 5, 2022) Maybe he wants to link homophobia with anti-abortion in order to appeal to the right-wing base, yet he doesn’t seem to understand Roe v. Wade doesn’t include the LGBTQ issue.
Childish Outbursts President Joe Biden: Biden has a long record of swearing on hot microphones and verbally insulting reporters when they bother him with “tough” questions. Such example was on January 20, 2022, when Fox News White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich shouted a question to Biden as reporters were leaving the South Court Auditorium where, according to White House press pool reports, the president was meeting with his Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. “Why are you waiting on Putin to make the first move (on Ukraine), sir?” Heinrich asked. The president's response, captured on audio, was: “What a stupid question.” (Source: Washington Examiner January 20, 2022)
Then again few days later on January 24, 2022, he called Peter Doocy, another Fox News White House reporter, “a stupid son of a bitch” on a live microphone, after Doocy asked Biden whether inflation was a political liability for him.
The verbal slip took place during a White House event on the Biden administration efforts to combat inflation. After the president complained that all the press questions were about the military buildup around Ukraine, Doocy shouted: “Will you take questions about inflation? Do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms?”
Thinking his microphone was turned off, Biden responded sarcastically: “No, that’s a great asset. More inflation.” He added, “What a stupid son of a bitch.” (Source: CNBC January 24, 2022)
Like Trump, Biden is also famous though to a lesser degree for making many false claims; on March 1, 2022, in his State of the Union address: “I’ve been in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan over 40 times.” It’s false statement, Biden hasn’t traveled to either country as president or in the last few years, according to his public schedule and news archives. He has repeatedly exaggerated his trips to Iraq and Afghanistan; he made a similar statement in 2019 ahead of the election campaign; Biden’s presidential campaign later clarified that he had visited the countries a combined 21 times. He possibly wanted to show he’s in control and is taking a strong hand in Middle East policy compared to former presidents Trump and Bush. (Source: PolitiFact)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York: She made a basic political error in her knowledge of the American political system on November 18, 2018, in a live streamed event when she said: "If we work our butts off to make sure that we take back all three chambers of Congress — Uh, rather, all three chambers of government: the presidency, the Senate, and the House." Correct answer: the three branches of government: executive, legislative, judicial.
While it’s just a small mistake emphasized by the right-wing, she should have just bitten the bullet and moved on to focus on fighting bigger issues. Instead, she chose to react to these small issues in an extremely personal way with an outburst attacking right wingers pointing at her. She was quick to respond, writing: "Maybe instead of Republicans drooling over every minute of footage of me in slow-mo, waiting to chop up word slips that I correct in real-[time],” Instead they should examine deeper issues of racism or sexism. Sometimes her approach might work to win public support, but sometimes it doesn’t, like this time – it just shows her acting childishly. (Source: Newsweek November 22, 2018)
Stupid Statements against Each Other Both Democrats and Republicans frequently and falsely use similar issues of community concern to lie, twist and hype rhetoric to attack their opponents.
1) Peggy Hubbard vs. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) on abortion: Peggy Hubbard, an Illinois Republican who ran for U.S. Senate in 2020, in a May 3, 2022, Facebook post said: “Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, referred to Black women as weeds that needed to be plucked from their garden, and was a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan and a Democrat.” But historically Sanger never made that statement about Black women. According to historians and fact-checkers, and she was not a supporter of the KKK or a Democrat. She was a member of the Socialist Party, and during 1920s and 1930s Sanger made some deeply disturbing statements in support of eugenics. When asked via email if Hubbard could provide evidence to support her claim, she replied without detail, "Yes! Google!" (Source: PolitiFact)
While both AOC and Hubbard are women of color, during the recent partisan fights over abortion rights, they exploited the same issue making opposing false claims following their different party backgrounds. Hubbard plays the “fear monger” card to excite her base in a racist, anti-abortion and anti-Democratic campaign; Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, on the other hand, plays the “women’s rights” card to exploit her base in the anti-Republican campaign and the fight against an abortion ban.
On April 29, 2022, AOC tweeted: "In Texas, Republicans passed a law allowing rapists to sue their victims for getting an abortion." However, Texas law SB 8 targets abortion providers, not patients, and there’s a specific provision in the law that prohibits a rapist from suing. (Source: PolitiFact)
2) The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee vs. Don Huffines on China: Both parties use racist “tough on China” rhetoric claiming that their opponent was too cozy with China and had sold out to the nation.
In a TV ad on January 7, 2022, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee falsely attacked Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson over outsourcing to China: Senator Johnson has been “rewarding companies that outsource to China.” But it was false. The attack cites only Johnson’s vote for the GOP 2017 tax cut law, which contained many provisions including broad based income tax cuts for individuals, as well reductions in rates corporations pay on some foreign earnings; a vote for a law with many provisions does not indicate support for each provision. Experts say there is no clear evidence that the law, which has no provisions specifically on China, led U.S. companies to move jobs to China.
It’s the same type of attack that Democrats failed in making during Johnson’s second Senate campaign in 2016. (Source: PolitiFact)
On the other hand, in the 2022 primary for Texas governor, Republican gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines made a misleading claim that Greg Abbott, his Republican rival for governor, had invested tax money in China. On February 12, 2022, in Facebook and Instagram ads, he claimed: “Under Greg Abbott’s leadership, Texas is putting taxpayer dollars into Chinese companies.” But it’s mostly false; the governor is not directly investing Texas tax dollars in Chinese companies. He’s shooting himself in the foot with this stupid campaign strategy of falsely claiming that Abbott has been investing state tax money into Chinese companies since Abbott is known for his strong anti-China policies and for spreading the “China virus” hoax.
On March 1, 2022, Huffines lost the Republican primary, receiving only 12% of the vote against Abbott, who won the primary by a large margin. (Source: PolitiFact, Wikipedia)
3) Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene spread stupid baseless lies against GOP colleagues in her own Republican party: On April 4, 2022, in a tweet she said that Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitt Romney “are pro-pedophile.” this is a very serious charge against them. However, it’s a false claim. All three lawmakers have clear track records of moving against child exploitation, whether online or in person. Greene twists logic and facts in pedophilia charges against GOP senators – her claim is beyond preposterous and ugly in nature. (Source: PolitiFact)
It’s Embarrassing, But… It’s important to note that during my research, I found examples of heavy U.S. corporate censorship and manipulation of online search algorithms, creating an illusion to steer us into thinking in one direction rather than another, thus making us believe only Republicans are “stupid” and Democrats are “smart” and honest.
In doing a keyword search “stupid statements Republican said,” we had plenty of online hits, but when we searched “stupid statements Democrats said,” we found almost nothing.
Also when we searched “stupid statements congressmen said to support Ukraine,” there were almost no findings online; media and search engine giants deliberately hid any negative online articles and reports critical of any Congressional members (Republican or Democrats) who’re supporting current U.S. funding the Ukrainian western proxy war.
Anti-war politicians (regardless of their political motives) will be labeled as “pro-Putin” Republicans; we found many negative search results against them.
In my opinion, it’s part of the U.S./western-made imperialist pro-war Russiaphobia cognitive warfare: the only politically correct position is to be against Russia (and China), nothing else.
From Trump to AOC, ALL politicians say many stupid things and made many erroneous statements against each other in public. But on the issue of Russia? Everyone becomes “correct.”
The Democratic liberals and Republican right wing are spending more time fighting each other to prove that they’re dumb and dumber, while politicians from both parties are mostly very dumb, blinded by their elite ignorance. They just choose to fight each other every day like kindergarten school children not giving a damn about human needs in their district; they are not willing to work together to find common ground on which to build a better world. Instead they’ll be remarkably quick to find unity to work together to pass any hyper war funding for the military industrial complex. It is like their brain had a hidden switch that can be flipped by Dr. No remotely.
Maybe they’re not dumb; they’re just serving the interests of the military-industrial complex so they’re just bad.
About Lee Siu Hin Lee Siu Hin, a Chinese-American immigrant activist from Los Angeles, CA, is the founder and national coordinator of the China-U.S. Solidarity Network (CUSN) and the National Immigrant Solidarity Network (NISN). He is a long-time community, labor, antiwar and immigrant rights activist for grassroots struggle. He's also a long-time Pacifica Radio KPFK Los Angeles unpaid reporter and producer and war correspondent who has worked in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.
NISN, a grassroots-based national immigrant activist network; and CUSN, a network of academia and community activists in both countries committed to building a China-U.S. grassroots activist dialogue.
Lee holds a Masters of Public Administration (MPA) and a Masters of Engineering (Aerospace) from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, loated in Pomona, CA.
He is currently working on community medical big data technology and a COVID-19 AI medical analytic platform for the inner-city community and the global south.
His latest book “Capitalism on a Ventilator” co-published with Sara Flounders in September, 2020; Chinese edition will be coming later in 2021.
National Immigrant Solidarity Network http://www. ActionLA Network http://www.ActionLA.org Activist Video Service http://www. China-U.S. Solidarity Network http://www. China Delegation Project http://www.
e-mail: ActivistWeb@gmail.com Lee Siu Hin: 8/19/2021: Chinese and U.S. Activists Say NO to the Biden's Virus Origin Investigation! To read the full report: https://www.
The book “Capitalism on a Ventilator”, a book comparing COVID responses by capitalist and socialist governments, co-published by Lee Siu Hin and Sara Flounders, can be found online at these locations:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/
https://world-view-forum.
https://www.amazon.com/
-- National Immigrant Solidarity Network http://www.
On-line Donation: https://afgj. Send check pay to: NISN/AFGJ National Immigrant Solidarity Network P.O. Box 751 South Pasadena, CA 91031-0751 |
