The Council Has Spoken!! This Week's Watcher's Council Results

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week's Watcher's Council match up.

Even taking into consideration the normal high level of quality in both the Council and Non-Council entries, this was a tough call with some exceptional pieces to choose from, and the close vote tallies reflect it.

Rhetoric by Democrats and their friends in the media accusing Republicans in general and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in particular of being racist, ignorant, mean spirited, corrupt and filled with hatred towards minorities, women and the poor has been endemic in this campaign.


This week's winner, Bookworm Room's Democrat gaffes, nastiness, and sheer ignorance - just a few highlights from the Democrat side of the aisle examines the behavior of a number of Democrats braying the loudest on this particular theme. Here's a slice:

Todd Akin’s ill-informed remarks opened the floodgates for the usual smears about the fact that all conservatives are ignorant, racist, sexist, theocratic, misogynistic tyrants. The one that got the greatest play amongst my liberal Facebook friends was Timothy Egan’s New York Times‘ column claiming that Akin isn’t the only Republican crackpot in Congress. He went for the usual suspects, namely those Congressmen who don’t believe in anthropogenic climate change (meaning that they acknowledge the change but deny mankind’s centrality) and those who do not believe that scientific evolution does away with God’s role in human creation. Oh, the horror!

It occurred to me that it would be easy to put together a list of Democrats currently or recently in government positions who have also said stupid things or hold beliefs that make ordinary people (not political ideologues, but ordinary people) writhe in discomfort. As I discovered when I surveyed my readers, it’s almost too easy. Although the gaffes don’t make the headlines and talk shows, they’re out there, and they show a Democrat party rife with ignorance, stupidity, and nastiness. I know that the Democrats are incapable of being embarrassed, but perhaps the swing voters out there might find this list interesting.

Before I begin, let me explain my parameters: I excluded all quotations from Leftist entertainment figures. Collecting examples of ignorance and nastiness from that group was like shooting fish in a barrel, and would have made this list unforgivably long. I also excluded foolish statements driven by ideology, since those statements would include just about every thing that every Democrat in politics has ever said (see, e.g., Nancy Pelosi). Instead, I went for sayings (or conduct) that were so stupid or mean-spirited that people unaware of politics and uninterested in ideology would still appreciate that the people saying or doing these things are pretty poor standard-bearers for their party. Organizationally, because there are such rich pickings on the Left, I’ve divided my examples by subject matter, rather than by person. Finally, this is hardly a comprehensive list. I simply chose highlights, most of them suggested by you, my readers.

So, fasten your seat belts, sit back, and enjoy the ride.

Ignorance/Gaffes/Crack-Pottery

Barack Obama calls a Navy corpsman a “Navy Corpse-man.”

Barack Obama thinks Austrian is a language.

Hank Johnson, currently representing Georgia’s 4th Congressional District, is worried that overpopulation could cause the island of Guam to tip over.

Barack Obama remembers an imaginary railway running between New York and Europe: “We used to have the best infrastructure in the world here in America. We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad.”

Without TOTUS nearby, Obama gets confused: “I had the great honor of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously.” Jared Monti was killed in 2006. Barack Obama’s awarded him a posthumous Medal of Honor on June 23, 2009.


In our non-Council category, the winner was essayist P. J. O'Rourke with Of Thee I Sigh: Baby Boomers Bust submitted by Joshuapundit. It's a trenchant examination of the what I can only describe as the Boomer generation's contribution to the national malaise. Do read it.


OK, here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 votes! Bookworm Room –Democrat gaffes, nastiness, and sheer ignorance - just a few highlights from the Democrat side of the aisle



• Second place with 2 1/3 votes – The Razor - The Democratic Party's War on Children



• Third place *t* with 2 votes – Simply Jews- Al Qaeda recruiting via the Internet - and I know why



• Third place *t* with 2 vote – The Independent Sentinel-Dems Using Every Trick In The Book To Distract From The Economy



• Third place *t* with 2 votes – The Noisy Room- The DNC Embraces Radical Islam



• Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes – Joshuapundit- Speaking Of Rape - Democrats Oppose Mandatory Sentences For Child Rapists



• Fifth place with 1 vote – The Right Planet-The Fascism of Sustainable Development



• Sixth place with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – Offensive Meat



• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right! –Homemade Video: 'Remember" (A Remake of John Lennon’s 'Imagine')



• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Gay Patriot –Why do some Americans who favor 'smaller government with fewer services' continue to back Democrats?

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 votes! – P.J. O'Rourke-Of Thee I Sigh: Baby Boomers Bust submitted by Joshuapundit



• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Raymond Ibrahim –Ramadan: Islam's 'Holy Month' of Christian Oppression submitted by The Watcher



• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Danger Room –Top U.S. General: We Don't Know Why Afghan Troops Are Killing Us submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD



• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -Yid With Lid -Why Does Obama Have Anti-Israel Activists On His List of Rabbi Supporters? submitted by The Independent Sentinel




• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - Alan Caruba/Family Security Matters -Destroying our military from within submitted by The Political Commentator



• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - Iowahawk –Stars Get In Your Eyes submitted by The Watcher



• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 vote -FrontpageMag.Com –A Disturbing Event: The American Conservative Union Embraces an Islamist submitted by The Right Planet



• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Jim Treacher/The Daily Caller –Obama pays tribute to Neil Armstrong, the only way he knows how submitted by The Glittering Eye



• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Sultan Knish –Countdown in Tehran and Jerusalem submitted by The Noisy Room



• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Contentious Centrist –On Hypocrites and Double Standards submitted by Simply Jews



• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Jennifer Rubin –Is the liberal echo chamber a trap? submitted by Gay Patriot



• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Big Jolly Politics –Harris County Democrats: no diversity, no tolerance submitted by Rhymes With Right



• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -PowerLine –The Outside Story of the Obama Campaign submitted by Bookworm Room
  



• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Taki's Magazine –No Brain, No Vote! submitted by The Razor.

See you next week! Don't forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week's Watcher's Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day and with short takes and weigh in...don't you dare miss it. And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.....'cause we're cool like that!