Dumbest Republican quotes yet

[Liberty Belle]

California's Republican State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth has taken the cake for dumbest Republican quotes of late.

First, the Senator ardently defended his refusal to repeal tax loopholes for yacht owners amid a budget crisis that's forcing deep spending cuts to public colleges and social services:

“While it may sound like a good idea to you to try and poke fun at Republicans and say they’re just trying to defend rich yacht owners—and it may look good in the press to you—the fact of the matter is that this very shortsighted to the extreme. There’s a saying that there’s nothing more mobile than the rich and their money. I’m going to modify this and say there’s nothing more mobile than the rich and their toys. They’ll find a way around this, they’ll buy them out of state.”
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/02/failure_to_repe.html

Now, Hollingsworth has topped his own record for callousness to the needs of the people he is supposed to represent. Bear in mind that the worst wildfires in California history all started in Hollingsworth's district. Most recently, half a million people here had to flee and 1,700 families lost homes in October's fire. So when fellow San Diego State Senator, Democrat Christine Kehoe, introduced legislation to provide funds for firefighting in burned-out San Diego, what does Hollingsworth say?

“I think me and my Republican colleagues feel there’s already plenty of money within the government to address these issues and fight these fires,” said Hollingsworth. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/us/07fires.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

So now it's official, thanks to Hollingsworth: If you want fire protection, don't vote for any Republicans!

Show this to any burned-out Republicans you know, please!!!!!

[silverweb]

1. Okay, this is off topic, but it bugs the hell out of me.

Just when did it become acceptable to say "me and my Republican colleagues" or "me and you" instead of "my colleagues and I" or "you and I"? It sounds semiliterate and childish.

The trend seems to be fairly universal now and it irritates me to death. My old high school English teacher has to be spinning in her grave.

[Liberty Belle]

2. It's improper grammar. Not suprising giving Hollingsworth's low

education level; he never graduated college and his only real job before getting elected was as a lobbyists for big agriculture.

[silverweb]

6. It's not just him.

I hear this egregious violation everywhere now, as though it's become completely acceptable. This is not a college-level error, it's a childish error.

I have a theory about it. When I was in 4th-5th grade, learning basic grammar and how to diagram sentences, I remember my teacher giving us little rules to memorize that would help us. A prime example that comes to mind is, "i before e, except after c, or when sounded as a, as in neighbor or weigh." (Okay, that's spelling, not grammar, but you get the idea.)

The guideline for ordering pronouns was taught as a simple rule of courtesy: put others before yourself.

Ordinary politeness requires you to open a door and hold it for your companions to pass through first.

In the same manner, ordinary courteous speech requires to you reference others before yourself, i.e. you and I, you and me, my friends and I, etc.

My theory is that our society has become so narcissistic and self-centered, that flaunting ordinary courtesy has not only been permitted but encouraged. I think that dropping rigidly formal speech (such as using first names now instead of titles) was a good thing for the most part and made us feel more egalitarian.

However, dropping ordinary grammatical courtesy is an ominous sign, revealing a selfish, ignorant thuggishness just as rude as this:

[EOTE]

9. The pronoun placement isn't what was wrong with what he said.

It was that he used "me" instead of "I". What he said was the equivalent of him saying: "I think me feel there’s already plenty of money within the government to address these issues and fight these fires" Just take the "and my republican colleagues" out of the sentence and see if it still makes sense. I've never understood what's so difficult about that.

[silverweb]

10. Yes, "me" instead of "I" was wrong, too.

But the placement is what set me off more because it's a very familiar irritant.

If you took the phrase, "and my Republican colleagues," out of the sentence, it's obvious that "me" is incorrect but "I" is the proper pronoun.

However, since "my Republican colleagues," is still part of the sentence, that phrase should come first: "My Republican colleagues and I feel...." That phrase is a compound subject and the other should still precede the self, while the whole phrase precedes the verb.

[Wabbajack_]

3. Loosen up dog

language evolves, ain't that a fact. ;) ;-)

[silverweb]

7. This is a DEvolution.

See my post #6, above. ;)

[zbdent]

5. works for the "anti-intellectual", anti-teacher Republicans ...

[silverweb]

8. Don't forget "anti-courtesy" reTHUGs.

See my post #6, above.

[LeftCoast]

4. The CA budget is going to be an UGLY battle this year

Looks like the state Dems may play hardball this year.

For those not familiar with CA state politics, it is very difficult to raise taxes in the legislature because of various propositions that have been passed. This means that even though the repubs are in the minority they can basically filibuster the budget. It's just about the only power they ave at this point and they LOVE to use it. Most years the Dems have to give the repukes far more lee-way on the budget than they really should have. This year, because the hole is so deep there's no way to cut without doing serious damage to the state. That hasn't stopped them in the past, but the mood seems different this time around. Hope they stick to their guns!

[Liberty Belle]

11. The CA Dems seem determined to block this budget

even if they have to raise taxes.