The Dunces of March: The Month's Most Foolish Politicians and Pundits
Republican Javerts, the White House, the Media, and Useful Idiots on the Right and Left
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My search for unintelligent life in the American political class can’t really be called a search. All I need to do is open the Associated Press app and the stories of questionable behavior and comments by politicians and pundits jump off the screen. I’m not even going to bother this month with the current president and his predecessor because there’s so much more.
White House Whitewash?
As part of Women’s history month, the White House honored Yuri Kochiyama, an American civil rights and social activist who was sent to an internment camp with her family during World War II.
What the White House doesn’t tell you is that Kochiyama was a dedicated Maoist who supported the murderous Shining Path terrorists in Peru and advocated for urban guerilla warfare in the U.S.
Not bad enough for you? In 2003, she also said: "I consider Osama bin Laden as one of the people that I admire. To me, he is in the category of Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, Fidel Castro.”
To put it simply: The White House honored a woman who celebrated Osama bin Laden, who had just massacred thousands of Americans and pushed the U.S. into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that would kill many thousands more. She also celebrated Fidel Castro, who killed thousands of his subjects, imprisoned thousands of others, and forced hundreds of thousands into exile.
The White House either didn’t care about offending the victims of 9/11 and Cuban Americans, or it didn’t do its homework. Both are inexcusable.
THE DUNCE RATING
For celebrating a woman who celebrated violent communism and terrorists who attacked the U.S., the White House deserves:
We Hated What You Did to Our Nominees, so We’ll Do It to Yours
What happened to the respectful hearing that Republicans promised on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court? It quickly became the high road not taken. Instead, revenge for Democratic behavior at prior nomination hearings, especially Brett Kavanaugh’s, became the name of the game, with toxic partisanship, bitter attacks and bizarre questions:
Senator Lindsey Graham: “Could you fairly judge a Catholic?”
Senator Ted Cruz: “Do you agree with this book (a children’s book called “Antiracist Baby) … that babies are racist?”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn: “Do you believe child predators are misunderstood?”
THE DUNCE RATING
For choosing vengeance, polarization, and grandstanding over a chance to return the Senate to the days when it was the “world’s greatest deliberative body,” the GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee deserve:
Does She Really Think We’re Ignorant?
When Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on the syndicated radio show “Morning Hustle,” which is for adults, she was asked to explain the Ukraine crisis in layman’s terms. Harris must think “layman” means three-year-olds.
“So, Ukraine is a country in Europe,” Harris said. “It exists next to another country called Russia,” she continued. “Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that’s wrong, and it goes against everything that we stand for.”
Again, this was not Sesame Street. You can listen to Harris taking dumbing down to an astonishing level here.
THE DUNCE RATING
For talking down to Americans, Harris deserves:
Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Media (and Social Media)
I’m going to spare you a long discussion about Hunter Biden’s laptop and tell the story in Kamala Harris terms.
Just before the 2020 election, a laptop said to have been owned by Hunter Biden appeared.
The laptop had emails on it that possibly supported Biden family corruption.
Mainstream media outlets mostly ignored the story, at least to some extent because it could have hurt their preferred candidate. They referred to the story as a “non-scandal,” and former intelligence officials, some of whom were pundits on the left-leaning TV networks, said the story was “Russian disinformation.”
What a difference a couple of years make, when it comes to those headlines.
Twitter went as far as freezing the New York Post’s account for its reporting on the laptop, and Facebook reduced the distribution of the story.
Oops. Now, both The New York Times and The Washington Post have reporting that contradicts their initial stories and support at least some of the initial allegations. The DOJ is investigating Hunter Biden.
THE DUNCE RATING
For damaging trust in the media by letting bias cloud their judgment on a matter of national importance, the mainstream media, social media, and all sorts of TV anchors, correspondents, and pundits deserve:
Putin’s Useful Idiots on the Right
Merriam Webster defines “useful idiot” as “a naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda.” Historically, it has mainly been used to describe non-communists who helped communists.
It should now be used to describe pundits on the American right who have inexplicably become apologists for Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
I slammed Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham in my February “dunce” column, but this time it’s Candace Owens’ turn.
These apologists are taking positions that directly contradict that of most Americans. A new Pew Research Center survey shows an overwhelming majority of Americans have confidence in Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky (72%-26%). But not Owens, who called him a “bad character” in a tweet:
Despite no evidence existing that Americans have in any way taken out their anger against individual Russians and mistreated them, Owens also tweeted that “Russian lives matter,” contrasting it to what she called the government’s “global ‘Black lives matter,’ hysteria.”
Just as outrageously, she added, "Those calling for Russian students, opera singers, etc. to be banned are the kind of scum who would have demanded the Japanese internment."
So, I guess Owens would prefer that the U.S. not sanction Putin allies over Ukraine, allow them to hold on to their many ill-gotten gains, and not put pressure on a Russian government that the U.S. State Department says is committing war crimes.
Of course, the Russian Embassy in Washington knows a useful idiot when it sees one, so it retweeted Owens comments.
THE DUNCE RATING
For her pro-Putin, anti-American comments, Owens deserves:
Putin’s Useful Idiots on the Left
The Democratic Socialists of America rarely fail to disappoint. The group condemned the Russian invasion, but then blamed NATO for it.
The DSA also urged the United States “to withdraw from NATO and to end the imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict.”
Huh? Isn’t Russia the country that’s bent on imperialist expansionism? (If you’d like to read more on that, here’s a piece I wrote a few weeks ago.) And how exactly is NATO guilty of expansionism when other countries are begging to join? Please.
The DSA also issued a statement saying, “NATO is a mechanism for U.S.-led Western imperialist domination, fueling expansionism, militarization, and devastating interventions.”
Without NATO, the Cold War may never have ended, and Putin would likely have overrun Ukraine, despite the bravery of the country’s citizens.
The DSA also showed its disconnect from most Americans who view NATO favorably (55%-25%), according to a Pew Research Center poll two years ago. At that’s at a time when NATO was one of former President Trump’s favorite targets, so NATO might have been at its nadir of popularity. I suspect that with the Ukraine crisis, NATO may be at a new zenith.
THE DUNCE RATING
For irrationally opposing NATO and legitimate American foreign policy, the DSA deserves:
What’s Good for the Goose May Not Be Good for the Gander
I couldn’t agree more with the hosts of “The View” when they criticized Tucker Carlson and Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for being Putin apologists.
However, with their characteristic hyperbole, the hosts went overboard. Here’s my old friend Ana Navarro: “I think DOJ, in the same way that it is setting up a task force to investigate Russian oligarchs, should look into people who are Russian propagandists and shilling for Putin.”
Not to be left behind, Whoopi Goldberg responded that “They used to arrest people for doing stuff like this.”
I guess “The View’s” version of the First Amendment provides freedom of speech only to those you agree with.
As my regular readers know and my most recent column shows, I believe in being tough on Putin and calling out his dimwitted or misguided supporters. But members of the media calling for them to be censored? Come on.
THE DUNCE RATING
For failing to see the irony in that they are paid to spout opinions freely but want to shut down others from expressing their opinions, “The View” hosts deserve:
Dishonorable Mentions
I Don’t Care if I’m Married to a Supreme Court Justice. It turns out Virginia Thomas, wife of Clarence, took her ardent support of former President Trump to new levels during the 1/6 attack on the Capitol. Newly released texts show her pleading with then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to continue efforts to overturn the election: "Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!! ... You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America's constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History." And there’s more.
The Clapping! The Faces! The Adoration! I already wrote a column about the dunces at the State of the Union, but I have to go back to the well to point out the adoring faces and frantic clapping of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during Biden’s speech, occasionally at bizarre moments, even looking ecstatic and rubbing her hands in glee when Biden spoke of American troops breathing in toxic smoke from burn pits. This article and this video from The Late Late Show with James Corden (about four minute in) tell the story.
Violence Is OK for Movie Stars? To all those pundits who chose wokeness over rationality and defended Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock: Violence is not the answer. I’m not justifying Rock’s joke, but even Smith himself has called his action “shocking, painful, and inexcusable.” Enough said.
Look for “The Dunces of April” around May 1. I’ve got lots of candidates already.
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Cover photo: Sen. Ted Cruz holds up a book on antiracism as he questions U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Washington, DC. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s pick to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court, would become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court if confirmed. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)