Political stupidity is nothing new these days. It is, in fact, rather firmly embedded in the rapidly evolving GOP, and examples are manifest. Sarah Palin, Louie Gohmert, Steve King, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Darrell Issa, . . . the beat goes on in never-ending fashion. But I frankly can’t recall anyone saying anything as definably dimwitted as the words of the “leader” of the conservative so-called “Think” Tank — the Heritage Foundation’s Jim DeMint — who manages to make even Sarah Palin look like a historical and constitutional scholar by comparison. Check this out:
“Well the reason that the slaves were eventually freed was the Constitution, it was like the conscience of the American people. Unfortunately there were some court decisions like Dred Scott and others that defined some people as property, but the Constitution kept calling us back to ‘all men are created equal and we have inalienable rights’ in the minds of God. But a lot of the move to free the slaves came from the people, it did not come from the federal government. It came from a growing movement among the people, particularly people of faith, that this was wrong. People like Wilberforce who persisted for years because of his faith and because of his love for people. So no liberal is going to win a debate that big government freed the slaves. In fact, it was Abraham Lincoln, the very first Republican, who took this on as a cause and a lot of it was based on a love in his heart that comes from God.”
I particularly liked his quote from the Constitution, the “all men are created equal” part. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d have thought, for whatever reason, that a career politician might be able to differentiate between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Too daunting a task, perhaps. Or maybe they simply believe they’re one in the same? And then there’s all that ‘analysis’ on the part of DeMint in which he attempts an error-filled “explanation” of the demise of slavery. I always assumed that DeMint was about as shallow and hollow as Wingnuts get, but he’s managed to outdo even himself.
Anyway, I found the DeMint quote in an April 9th Think Progress article by Ian Millhiser entitled Head Of Top Conservative Think Tank Makes Spectacularly Uninformed Statement About Slavery. Millhiser does a great job picking out and detailing each and every factual/historical error in DeMint’s statement, and it is truly fascinating to see just how MANY foolish errors can be embedded in a mere 167 words.
My bottom line is that I do herein and hereby award to Jim DeMint, head of the Heritage Foundation and former Republican Senator from the Great State of South Carolina, my clearly un-coveted Dumbest Shit of the Week award. I assume he’ll accept it with all the grace embedded in my presentation!
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TheZoo 