As I am sure many of you have certainly not forgotten. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer caused quite an media brouhaha after she was photographed welcoming the President to her state by jabbing her finger in his face.
At the time many of us here on the Immoral Minority, and other liberal leaning blogs and news outlets were justifiably horrified at her behavior. However many thought that her actions would improve her Right Wing credentials with the fringe. Which it did.
However if you are like me you may have wondered how the majority of Americans felt about that exchange, given the deep partisan split that separates the Left and the Right in this country.
Well now we know.
Courtesy of the Arizona Republic:
In the days after Gov. Jan Brewer pointed her finger at President Barack Obama, her office received more than 12,000 letters and e-mails from people across the nation. Most of the communications condemned the governor, according to her office.
The Arizona Republic filed a public-records request and obtained 100 letters randomly selected by the Governor's Office after it received them in the wake of the Jan. 25 encounter on an airport tarmac.
The letters were written by housewives, veterans, middle-school students from New Orleans and even a former gubernatorial counselor who now lives in Peoria. The letters were e-mailed, handwritten and composed on old-fashioned typewriters.
Each of the e-mails was read by Constituent Services staff. Brewer spokesman Matthew Benson could not say if the governor actually read any of the letters.
Many of the writers were disgusted with the governor, calling her "trashy" and "tasteless." Others offered etiquette tips on how to behave when welcoming a head of state.
"If you approached me like you did the president I would have taken great comfort by poking you in the nose," wrote Eleanor Tafolla from Cathedral City, Calif. "You might want to work on you (sic) prissy attitude you project. Whoa lady you did not deserve a talk with the president or anyone else for that matter."
Some questioned whether Brewer would have pointed her finger at a White president and behaved as though she were in the Old South.
Deborah Gross of Michigan wrote, "Your racism and crude behavior is typical of the GOP. Karma will not be kind to you and your fellow regressive, racist Republican friends."
Still others said they would never again visit Arizona or support the state while Brewer is governor.
"The stamp I use to mail this message will be the last cent I ever spend on anything related to the state of Arizona," Linda Bowers of Ohio wrote. "I suppose a populace that would elect the likes of you deserves the contempt and disbelief with which the rest of the nation views you and your state."
Of course, as you can imagine, there were some who supported her wholeheartedly. Some even wished she had been even MORE inapprorpatie and even LESS professional.
One writer lamented it was "too bad you couldn't have slapped him instead."
Agnes Brunetti of Shenandoah, Iowa, wrote that she was "so very proud" of the governor for "standing up to that narcissist, egotistical, smug, puffed up President!!"
However like I said that kind of response was not the majority opinion, and in the end it was clear that Americans do not like it when anybody disrespects their President, whether they agree wit hall of his policies or not.
Which I think might be a good lesson for certain Republican candidates as they vie for the job of facing off with Obama in the upcoming 2012 election.
Compare the photo of Jan Brewer and President Obama with that of NM Gov. Susana Martinez, also a Republican. http://blogs.krqe.com/2012/03/22/governor-martinez-greets-president-obama/
ReplyDeleteNow that's how someone with manners does it!
Hey G,
DeleteWould you do a profile on Martinez? I looked her up on Wiki but I would love your "spin" on her record. Especially as a contrast to Palin, since she is being talked about as a possible VP selection. Could be interesting considering she has a J.D. etc. THANKS!
@02:02 PM
DeleteLOL, I followed your link and left a comment from Norm. It was a snide remark but not nasty by any means. I hope it gets published.
Trashy, crude, disrespectful, classless, thuggish, lowlife, ugly inside and out.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! At first I thought you were describing Palin.
DeleteCome to think of it, your unerring adjectives succinctly describe both Brewer and Palin. Excellent job Anon @ 2:05pm !!!
You guys are just soooo deliciously naughty.
DeleteSarah Palin cannot afford another failure. She sure helped Viagra-man with her support.
Deletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/rush-limbaugh-advertisers-kohler_n_1379980.html?ref=media
Sarah Palin cannot afford another failure. Leno ? ? ? ?
Do the have the Stand Your Ground Law in Arizona? If so, the President should have decked her.
ReplyDeleteGov Burntface is hella lucky that the First Lady wasn't there. But then I'm sure Leatherface would have thought twice before poking that chicken finger in the President's face because Michelle don't play that shit!
DeleteThe “Good News Club”: How the Religious Right is Taking Indoctrination into Public Schools
ReplyDeleteGoing door to door, risking that each knock will be met with rejection, right wing evangelical Christians have gotten frustrated with the slow pace of recruitment to their beliefs. They needed a new tactic to fill their pews and the easiest targets for indoctrination are young children who don’t yet have the capacity to question whether they are being manipulated. So, the best place to find impressionable minds is in schools. There are thousands of parochial schools across the country where parents send their children to have an education that blends religion with reading, writing, and arithmetic. But this wasn’t good enough for the Christian Right; they needed to cast a much wider net. This is how the “Good News Club” came into being.
Ostensibly, an after-school club, the organization, sponsored by the international ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship, is actually a foothold into the public schools to begin a base of evangelizing Christian beliefs, particularly fundamentalist beliefs, to youth. What are the beliefs that the “Good News Clubs” want children to adopt? According the author of “The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children,” Katherine Stewart, they endorse the Bible as a literal and infallible word of God, teach that conversion to their own version of Christianity is the only path to salvation, while other types of Christians are not actually Christian, and they heavily emphasize the role of Satan in everyday life. One anecdote shared by Katherine Stewart in her book is instructive of how the “Good News Clubs,” treat children of other faiths. A Catholic boy had a brother die, and he told a leader at a club that his brother was an angel in heaven. This women stated, “I had to tell him that no, his brother was not an angel in heaven…I could see the look in this boy’s eyes. He was just devastated.” This was because he wasn’t “saved.”
http://www.politicususa.com/the-good-news-club/
Don't really know what religious indoctrination has to do with Brewers bad behavior, but I will agree that the tactics and beliefs of these so called christians is truly disgusting Likely it will be may more generations until this scourge on the human race disappears from the earth.
DeleteWasn't this what Vashti McCollum went to court over??
DeleteIs Brewer EVEN a christian? She smokes and drinks...
Deletewhat church does she belong to?
Oh, that'd be Catholic.
DeleteJan Brewer, Orly Taitz, Sarah Palin -- Boy, creepy Chuck Heath DOES get around! Possible these three "women" have the same DNA?
ReplyDeleteLet's show our awesome President that sane people have his back with a November Democratic Landslide!!!
Oily Titz is America's ugliest drag queen.
DeleteBrewer's a drunk, it's documented. Google it!
ReplyDeleteI am glad to read this post....I totally agree with Linda from Ohio, it speaks to the voters of this state. After the 2012 election I for one thought there is no way they would re-elect McCain, that was unreal, let alone to actually elect Brewer. She was just the next in line when Janet went to Homeland, but then this state actually elected her too. There ya go....tons of information about these 2 rejects were public for months and months and still they were elected. I for one would never consider even stepping foot in the state let alone living there. She is really an ugly person...inside and out.
ReplyDeleteI live in NM and while I do not agree with Gov Susana Martinez's policies nor did I vote for her, I was nevertheless very impressed with the warm reception she gave our President. That's how it's done, you Brewer horror.
ReplyDeleteNow we know why Bristol wanted that awful chin. She sees Brewer as a strong stand up woman and that is beauty to her.
ReplyDeletenote picture at top of post.
Funny, I always see Mitt Romney as "narcissist, egotistical, smug, puffed up". I guess I'm biased.
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin on hot mic: Obama will 'weaken' U.S.
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin is warning that President Barack Obama is out to “weaken” the United States if he’s reelected in November, as she sounded off on her Facebook page Monday about a hot mic moment between the Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that quickly went viral.
“Whoever chooses to merely dismiss the significance of today’s exchange between our President and Russia’s President should have their intelligence and patriotism questioned,” the former Alaska governor wrote. “Let this exchange be a warning to voters: President Obama will have ‘more flexibility’ to weaken us if he’s re-elected in November.”
Palin was referring to an conversation between the two leaders in Seoul, South Korea, the audio of which was caught picked up by camera mics. In the brief back-and-forth, Obama told Medvedev that he needed incoming Russian President Vladimir Putin to give him “space” on the issue of missile defense. “This is my last election,” Obama was heard saying. “After my election, I have more flexibility.”
Accusing Obama of having “repeatedly conceded to foreign demands and backed down on missile defense,” Palin said in her statement Monday that the candid comments were just one more sign that four more years under the president would only weaken the country’s national security.
“We can’t know for certain what this newly revealed ‘flexibility’ means, but considering President Obama’s past actions, be sure it won’t involve a position of strength for America and our allies,” she wrote. “Russia has been thwarting us on one issue after another, including the rushed-through New START Treaty that many of us questioned after Obama insisted America ratify it first, then allow Russia to sit on it – unratified on their end – until it suited that foreign power’s needs.”
She added, “He has consistently taken a position of weakness and naïve trust in Putin’s Russia. … Now consider the state of our national defense under a President who whispers to a foreign power that he needs even ‘more flexibility’ to weaken us further.”
Mitt Romney — along with other critics of the president — quickly seized on the hot mic remarks, calling them “alarming and troubling.”
“This is no time for our president to be pulling his punches with the American people,” Romney said at a campaign stop in San Diego. “And not telling us what he’s intending to do with regards to our missile defense system, with regards to our military might and with regards to our commitment to Israel and with regard to our absolute conviction that Iran must have a nuclear weapon.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74495.html#ixzz1qGNAHXW4
Why won't Mitt Romney tell the public his plans???? Because in his words they wouldn't vote for him if he does.
DeleteWhat I hate most about Brewer and Palin, and many other GOPers, is how poorly they reflect on our country. It appears that we have a whole bunch of stupid voters - or not enough smart voters take the time to cast their vote - and these idiots are the result. No way I am claiming them! They went over to the Dark Side a long time ago and I wish they would just stay there and that we'd never need to see them or hear them again. What disrespectful, hateful people they are.
DeleteTaking the President's comment "out of context" is sooooooooooooo Palin.
DeleteShe's clueless on history and civics, yet she's a national security expert? And anyone not yelling "The sky is falling!" is a retarded traitor? Fuck Sarah and the horse she rode in on.
DeleteAs for Mitt "If I tell you what I'll do, I'll lose" Romney, he really expects the President to give away military secrets to the public?
The more these ass-hats talk, the more likely Obama will be re-elected. Still, I wish November would hurry up and get here so they can STFU.
When I read a Palin ghost post I am certain that means the actual person is in her fetal position. When she is well enough to do Hannity again they can get back to launching lies for Bristol that she can't live up to.
DeleteGood! I'd be happy to have both my intelligence and patriotism scrutinized. Bring it on! (Please be aware I have a degree in philosophy).
DeleteI don't think that Sarah realizes that it was her hero, Reagan, who started these nuclear disarmament talks. She is too busy polishing her Israeli pin and her Jewish star, raising the rhetoric about bombing Iran to think about such concepts as World Peace, Disarmament and getting along with other nations. Hell, if she can see Russia from her house, she would get it.
DeleteThere she goes again! She's got a serious itch her husband can't scratch.
DeleteShe's just jealous of the First Lady's radiant smile!
Must really chaff her celluite riddled rhino thighs. ;o)
That photo is what inspired Sarah to issue her demands that President Obama telephone her with an apology. Sarah didn't want to be upstaged by Jan Brewer, so she has been verbally sticking her finger in (at) Obama, hoping to get a reaction out of him. (He kept his cool with Brewer. He won't be calling Sarah).
ReplyDeleteBrewer is a loathsome creature who was enabled into a position of authority.
ReplyDeleteO/T Palin and in-depth analysis should not be used in the same sentence -- you'd think Greta would know better.
ReplyDeleteMonday on 'On the Record'
• The Supreme Court battle over 'Obamacare' begins! In-depth analysis with special guests: Sarah Palin, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi and more!
The only expertise that Sarah has is her participation in creating the Death Panels meme.
DeleteI caught part of Bachmann's schtick. She was still complaining about the size of the bill, and going on and on about how much money it was costing, and how the bill is "still being written."
DeleteSarah's Rant is more of the same NONSENSE that she spews everyday. I am outraged that SARAH PALIN DOES NOT ADDRESS HER PIMP DADDY HUSBAND TODD'S PROSTITUTION RING AND HIS HOMOSEXUAL DATES. She knows all about his escapades, and probably acquired
ReplyDeletethose SORES on her Lips from his SEXUAL CONTACTS. Sarah Palin is OBSESSED with PRESIDENT OBAMA and it is Obvious. She is a LOSER at every thing that she attempts.
Oh my.
DeleteGIVE IT TO HER
Jan Brewer or the "crypt keeper" does not represent all of us that live in the beautiful state of Arizona. It is so sad and disappointing that her behavior always manages to give us a worse reputation to those who live elsewhere. She is a pathetic representation of state government and I for one am deeply disgusted by her rudeness to the President. I think she asked scarah for tips on getting her book sales up, hence the bony finger in the President's face.
ReplyDeleteIf things don't immediately change for the better, should Romney lie his way into office, there's going to be hell to pay.
ReplyDeleteMeantime, I cannot imagine just what Rush Limbaugh, and all the screaming hate mongers on Fox channel, will even TALK about. Maybe just stare into the camera and seethe.
Hopefully the American people are not THAT stupid, and we won't have to consider this possibility.
This is totally off topic but it would be great if I could get some feedback on this idea...I'm watching MSNBC about the health care mandate. Well, what if we told Rill Americans they can opt out of S.S., Medicare, Medicaid, Health Care and anything that they think is an Entitlement or Too much government. So if you have a heart attack or get into a car accident, call a relative because your not enrolled so your on your own. If you didn't save your own money for retirement there won't be any S.S. for you, go live with family or depend on your church. If you don't have the means to pay for health care when your diagnosed with cancer or elderly, ask your church!
ReplyDeleteThat is just what the GOP wants to happen...exactly that, except for those rich enough to BUY health care from the vendor of their choice.
DeleteAh Brewski. What a clown bag...she must just received her official flying monkey merit badge and STILL looks like a living Halloween mask..
ReplyDeleteAs one of her followers, Ms. Brunetti from Iowa, '.... She should have slapped him...'. That would have been great.... The Secret Service would have perp-walked her out of the airport in shackles
Was Ms. Brunetti the class act that told Sanctimonious to think he was shooting at the President the other day? Maybe the Secret Service would like to do some background checking on this fine American citizen.
DeleteOn the other hand, we now have proof positive that our president is too much a gentleman to inform such a "lady" exactly where she should insert that finger. Which makes him a far better man that I...
ReplyDeleteJan Brewer is a real classless act of a woman, talking trash to the POTUS like that. I will avoid all things Arizona, thank-you Gov.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping Arizona voters send her back to the trailer park whence she came. Disgraceful b!tch.
Just as there are millions of liberals living in red states with jerry rigged legislative districts, Arizonans, too, feel the shame and frustration of Brewer's rudeness. We are down here struggling against right wing bullying every day. Please don't make us suffer too much. We liberal Arizonans are trying to make a living AND vote the crazies out! I agree with others who feel that Brewer is really imitating Phalin. We need to support each other not punish each other for the epidemic of Republican thuggery.
ReplyDeleteWe feel your pain. But WTF, isn't Arizona the old folk's retirement home State? Why are soooo many of them stupid? Is there something in the water supply (I assume you are on bottled water) that makes them rabid, hate-mongering, racist-baiting, 2nd Amendment fanatics????
DeleteI feel for ya. I used to live in Arizona too. I still remember my first election there and we were trying to pick the lesser of two evils for Governor and still wound up with a piece of work named Evan Mecham.
DeleteM from MD
I'd like to point a finger in HER face
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that Charlie Haiden will have a word or two for Mrs. Brunetti. Shame on her!
ReplyDeleteLet's all write Agnes Brunetti of Shenandoah, Iowa with a nice face slap.
ReplyDeleteJan, what a lovely profile you have. How DARE you scold POTUS!!!!!!!!!!! You're a clown and he has always treated YOU with respect.
ReplyDeleteThink of Arizona as divided. The north, where the capitol is, and then the rest of the state, including mostly liberal Tucson (where I am).
ReplyDeleteArizona has always been a mostly white, libertarian state. The wealthy ranchers and those who worship the military run the state. They are not interested in education, health care for the needy, or anything that might result in taxing their capital gains, inheritance, or corporate profits.
In the last five years, I've witnessed a migration of idiots into Tucson from Phoenix and are seriously attempting to chase away Hispanics and all progressives. Construction was a very big deal here, too, and all radios on site were tuned to right wing radio-a great way to indoctrinate the uneducated to rally against their own interests.
When a state gets rid of all day kindergarten, health care services, and starts profiling anyone with brown skin, it drives away progressive businesses too. Those in control also de-fund art programs and cultural amenities because, dagnabit, we don't need no stinkin' cultural frou frou. All they think about is sports--not that there's anything wrong with that...But there is no balance.
There is something else that has turned our state upside down. The Clean Elections law. What was meant to be a very good thing (I do believe it is), has been perverted to the Rethugs' advantage. This is why anyone with a radical right wing cause can get public money to run for office, as a puppet of wealthy extremists.
Many of us progressives are so disgusted by the insanity, that it is hard to get any good people to run for office. The nastiness is too much. Think Palin here.
Example: My husband and I were involved in forming a neighborhood association. We were on the board as volunteers for seven years. At first, we formed neighborhood watches, had potlucks, July 4th picnics, and had wonderful meetings in which the city would help us clean up the 'hood and learn about crime prevention.
But, in the end, the tea party folks began to emerge and destroyed all congeniality. What happened to my husband and me? We were called spies for the city government. Our home was vandalized several times. My husband was called a Nazi. My life was threatened twice, and my sanity was publicly questioned. One man said that neighborhood associations (not HOAs) were unconstitutional and should be illegal. He convinced others that we and the other board members should be driven out and the association be disbanded. After we left, he nominated himself to be association president, and won. He said he would try to keep the police out of the neighborhood.
We could not believe that all our hard work to build friendly alliances with our neighbors, to have a working relationship with the city, and community services would be so vilified. We had even gotten funding for, and had built, a neighborhood park.
Many good and kind neighbors sold their homes and moved away, so shocked at the meanness that occurred. I'm sure they never, ever want to be involved in community organizing again.
The bullies have won here in Arizona. And, they have won elsewhere. You know this.
Our country will be lost to them if you aren't willing to risk more than expressing your disgust at this robbery.
I'm not asking anyone to endanger themselves or their families. I'm suggesting that you use your very best intelligence, your cleverest tactics to undercut these bullies in your own towns and states. This has been coming for a long time.
We are all responsible for it.
P. S. I still do my part in the 'hood, and I am hated for it. However, as long as I live here, I will not let my neighborhood become a 'meth lab'or a crime ridden, dump.
Thanks for your post.
DeleteI have a dear friend who was raised in Arizona, educated on the east coast, then moved back to Phoenix. She used to say the same exact thing your post conveys. I'm not one who stereotypes a whole state for bad politicians, etc. because I'm a liberal who lived in a very red area of Pennsylvania, and I fought the good fight. We moved to a more "bluer" area, and the problems are fewer, yet I feel guilty because others don't have the same privelege/luck to be able to move.
Change begins in our own back yards,
Thanks again, for a most eloquent post!
O/T: some full on crazy netted out of the Sea:
ReplyDeletehttp://theulstermanreport.com/2012/03/26/wall-street-insider-why-i-do-this/
at first, I thought it was from the Wall Street Journal. It is not, thank goodness; but my oh my, the implications for crazy! I just wonder what they are talking about...why do they fear Pres. Obama so much?
Warm hugs to you, Anita. Your avocation now is to make sure you maintain your blue-ness. That is a noble and challenging task. Arizona is a spectacular land and I do think of moving sometimes, but the LAND! Plus, there are many people like Gabby still here.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4k_InRXP-g
ReplyDelete