With one day left in the competition, Michele Bachmann (R-Insania) has just put herself over the top for Public Disgrace of the year 2010!
The award is given to the person who does the most to bring disgrace upon our fair nation and the voters who put him or her in a position of responsibility.
Other nominees included
Steve King
Sam Brownback
And perennial contender James Inhofe
Besides just being Michele Bachmann, which is disgraceful enough, our winner has produced a steady series of stupid, crazy and paranoid quotations the like of which we haven't seen from an elected official since Jim Bunning last went off his meds.
A few highlights include:
I want to thank Governor Palin for breaking the barrier by being a woman as a vice president on the ticket.
I had a great career as a federal tax attorney, and I don’t need government to be successful.
During the last 100 days we have seen an orgy. It would make any local smorgasbord embarrassed … The government spent its wad by April 26.
But now the topper. Michele explains how she became a Republican:
.
Until I was reading this snotty novel called 'Burr,' by Gore Vidal, and read how he mocked our Founding Fathers. And as a reasonable, decent, fair-minded person who happened to be a Democrat, I thought, 'You know what? What he's writing about, this mocking of people that I revere, and the country that I love, and that I would lay my life down to defend -- just like every one of you in this room would, and as many of you in this room have when you wore the uniform of this great country -- I knew that that was not representative of my country.
And at that point I put the book down and I laughed. I was riding a train. I looked out the window and I said, 'You know what? I think I must be a Republican. I don't think I'm a Democrat.'
I always love when people proclaim that they would gladly lay down their life for their country. Those people have almost never served in the military. I always want to say "hey, there's an Army recruitment Center just down the street, let's go get you signed up!" I always think of that when I hear the Gawdawful song "God Bless the USA."
There's a line that says "I'd gladly stand up next to them [those who died for our freedom] and defend her still today," and I just want to forcibly enlist Lee Greenwood and anyone who sings that song in the Marine Corps. It's like guy telling his wife, "I would die to protect you honey, oh shit! A mugger! Take her!" But I digress.
You seriously became a Republican because you thought Gore Vidal was a jerk? By that standard, shouldn't you have switched to another party when you found out that Mark Foley was hitting on teenage boys, or Duke Cunningham was taking bribes, or David Vitter likes kinky diaper-sex with hookers? Shouldn't you have said "Hey, I'm not a pederast, I'm not a hooker-fucker, I guess I'm not a Republican after all." I mean, if you're going to judge the entire Democratic party by a book written by a man who is not even a political office-holder, shouldn't you apply the same standard to the Republicans? Shouldn't you have looked at Ronald Reagen and said "I'm not a senile incompetent who runs shocking deficits while preaching fiscal responsibility. I don't swap arms for hostages while looking America in the eye and vowing 'we will not negotiate with terrorists.' I haven't sold chemical weapons to Sadam Hussein or armed a bunch of Muslim radicals led by Osama bin Laden," I must not be a Republican."
But no. A book about Aaron Burr gets you upset enough to change parties, but 8 years of the corrupt incompetent Bush administration? That just strengthens your party loyalty? Now that's crazy. And stupid. And that is why Minnesota's own Michele Bachmann is the winner of the Public Disgrace of the Year Award for 2010. Great job, Minnesota. You must be so proud.