aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Georgia’s Jack Kingston dishes dirt

Georgia’s Rep. Jack Kingston (R)—among the most conservative members of the House, he opposes embryonic stem cell research, wants the Ten Commandments displayed in Congressional Chambers, and thinks the 5 day work week is fine for you and me but not for he, his own patriotism does not extend so far as to permit him to vote for a House resolution praising the Georgia arch-rival Florida Gators (the vote was 414-1)— parroted the claim on Friday night’s Bill Maher show that Barack Obama refuses to say the pledge of allegiance to the American flag. [video]

This is one of a number of well-known email hoaxes circulating about Obama. Steve Benen:

Now, I’ve seen Kingston interviewed on several occasions, and one realizes that he’s either frighteningly dumb or he’s pretending to be frighteningly dumb. The difference may actually matter in a case like this - if one assumes the moronic things he says is part of an elaborate act, then one can safely assume he knows the truth but prefers to lie. If his imbecilic remarks are genuine, then Kingston is probably not a liar, but rather someone just barely sharp enough to tie his shoes in the morning.

Benen points to The Huffington Post’s Ryan Davis, who was in the studio for the Maher filming:

Let’s take a close look at Kingston’s nonsense.

-- Rambling on about Michelle Obama’s patriotism, Kingston either lied or is completely misinformed about her “pride” remark, “She could have jumped up and said ‘You know what, that’s not what I meant to say and I’m sorry if people are twisting it - this is politics,’ but she hasn’t said anything!” That’s totally untrue; both Sen.Obama and Michelle have responded to the comments. “I know I wouldn’t be here. Standing here. Barack and I, our stories wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for a fundamental belief in pride in this country and what it stands for,” she said on Feb 20th while campaigning in Rhode Island.

-- Kingston tells us that Obama refuses to say the Pledge Of Allegiance, citing the “famous picture” of Obama not saluting the flag. This rumor originated in an anonymous e-mail and has since been debunked repeatedly by the mainstream media. The truth is that the photo is actually of Obama singing the Star Spangled Banner. It’s sad to see any elected official still parroting the lies in that now-notorious chain e-mail.

-- The Congressman says Obama wants to “Bomb Pakistan” - which is a broad oversimplification of the truth. “Barack Obama has never said he would “attack Pakistan.” According to Obama’s website, he has said that he would attack “high-level terrorist targets” even within Pakistan, a policy which has been endorsed in the Washington Post by the Co-Chairmen of the 9/11 Commission, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton.

-- Attacking Obama’s legislative record, Kingston tells quite a few lies. “There is nothing out there that he’s done,” is an old lazy favorite. “Obama hasn’t reached across party lines” is a canard Republican Senators like Bond, Coburn, Hagel, and Lugar would disagree with since each of them have worked closely on bills with Senator Obama. Kingston says Obama didn’t oppose the Military Commissions Act, but he did oppose it. (Kingston talks lots about experience for a guy who spent his non-political life as an insurance salesman.)

Josh Marshall says, “pretty quickly now, it’ll make sense to keep a list of stuff like this.” He points out that some who should know better are eating this kind of nonsense up:

Does Obama have a patriotism problem?

The AP’s Nedra Pickler asks disgraced Republican dirty-trickster Roger Stone for his opinion.  Stone you’ll remember is the guy who got caught making threatening phone calls to New York Gov. Spitzer’s (D-NY) elderly father and last month set up an anti-Hillary group with the acronym C-U-N-T.

Surprisingly enough, Stone thinks the answer is yes.