Sarah Palin graduates from the tent revival circuit to the rodeo circuit. Oh and she attacks Paul Ryan. Uh oh!

This from old Ridden Hard and Put up Wet's Facebook page:

It was an honor to participate today in a luncheon for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund at the Southpoint in Vegas. The JCCF, sponsored by Justin Boots, helps pay medical bills for injured professional rodeo athletes and their families. It’s a great cause honoring our cowboy tradition and those who participate in America’s original “extreme sport.” 

Vegas? She's in Vegas?

I am a little confused as to why Palin would support a charity, since as we all know she never does anything which is not in some way beneficial to herself. I mean sure these are people who abuse animals for a living so she may identify with them in that way, but how does this help her to sell more of her crappy books and get free stuff?

P.S. That’s Michael Gaughan and his family in the photo. They’re the owners of the Southpoint Casino, which sponsored the event today. I mention Michael in “Good Tidings and Great Joy.”

Ooooh, now I get it. She shows up for a charity function and gets a free night in a hotel and the opportunity to pimp her book. Palin does NOTHING for charitable reasons.

Here's a rather odd coincidence. MY father was a professional rodeo cowboy when I was a boy. That is until he was forced to quit after having his legs shattered by a bull.

In fact your favorite Alaska blogger also participated in a little bull riding. (I was young, my father and I were trying to bond, and there may have been some girls involved.) I sucked at it of course, and besides I like animals too much to participate in a sport that is so incredibly abusive to them.

Palin may also have misjudged her audience with this one.

Here is the top comment on her Facebook page as of this posting:

For once, I must respectfully disagree with you. Why pay for injuries sustained while torturing animals? We can eat em, ride em, enjoy them in every way, but torture them, no way!!!!

It is one thing to attack the President at every opportunity or abandon her family while pursuing fame and fortune, but hurting animals? Nope that may be the one thing that both liberals and conservatives can agree is indefensible.

And she may have also miscalculated with this angry ghostwritten attack on the conservative golden boy Paul Ryan: 

No one can argue with the fact that Paul Ryan’s compromise budget bill raises taxes and increases spending. Show me one Republican who got elected on that platform. Spare America the Orwellian word games. If the government is taking money out of your pocket to fund its growing Big Brother operations, it’s a tax. Whether money is taken from you via your phone bill, your airline ticket, or your income, it’s a tax. If politicians can’t be honest about this, it’s time to go home. 

The TEA Party’s very acronym stands for “Taxed Enough Already.” We sent these politicians to Congress in an historic landslide election in 2010 with a mandate to stop the runaway spending train bankrupting our nation, not to wave to it from the station or – heaven forbid – increase its speed. 

Not at all surprising that Palin has decided to throw her lot in with the obstructionists and Tea Party saboteurs who do not understand how government works, and who work overtime to prove that it does not.

However this is the beginning of the civil war that will determine the future of the Republican party and somehow I doubt that Palin is going to end up on the side with the victors.

More popcorn anyone?

Obama mask-wearing rodeo clown becomes latest Right Wing icon. Okay seriously who did not see this coming?

Courtesy of New York Magazine: 

After a rodeo clown in Missouri donned an Obama mask for a routine whose core concept was that a bull ought to trample the president, the Missouri State Fair banned the clown for life for his "unconscionable stunt," saying it was "inappropriate and not in keeping with the Fair's standards." In doing so, it created a great victim for some conservative, theatrical types to rally around. Welcome to the latest in the you-didn't-build-that-empty-chair-upside-down-American-flag train of right-wing memery: the Obama rodeo clown as a hero for liberty. 

Unsurprisingly, Glenn Beck is at the forefront of this, declaring on his radio show Wednesday, "today I officially declare myself a rodeo clown. Today I officially declare that we are all rodeo clowns." On Twitter, calls have been circulating for a boycott of the Missouri State Fair. A Facebook page supporting one of the clowns, Tuffy Gessling, has 38,436 likes. Gessling, who said he never intended anything racist by the stunt, is one of three people who participated in it, but he didn't wear the actual mask, NPR reports. 

The real attention-getter for this burgeoning movement is Rep. Steve Stockman, a conservative congressman from a new district in Texas, who invited the still-unidentified clown to perform at a rodeo in his state. Though he didn't specifically offer the clown a gig. "Liberals want to bronco bust dissent. But Texans value speech, even if its speech they don’t agree with," Stockman said in a statement. "I’m sure any rodeo in Texas would be proud to have performers."

Just like "Joe the Plumber," Clint Eastwood's empty chair, and Sarah Palin's Big Gulp, these people will celebrate ANYTHING that the more intelligent among us find objectionable or ripe for ridicule.

Gee I cannot imagine WHY these people do not want to have their points of view discussed in a debate on a channel that Americans might actually see?

P.S. Here was Stephen Colbert's take on the mask wearing rodeo clown story. 

Rodeo clown who donned Obama mask has gained a legion of new supporters. Sadly predictable.

Courtesy of Riverfront Times:  

Tuffy Gessling, the rodeo clown who put on an Obama mask at the Missouri State Fair and delivered a performance that has sparked a national outcry, has developed a large following of online defenders from all over the country. As of last night, Gessling has added about 500 new Facebook friends on his personal page, a number that is steadily growing as his story continues to go viral. 

"Keep your head up. God's got this!" says one new fan. "Hey man I stand behind you 100% brother keep doin what you do. If I was putting on a rodeo or bullriding I'd hire you in a bit for my gigs," says another. 

"God bless you Tuffy Gessling you never disappoint. I support you 100%," says a third. "Awesome at what u do. I'll stand up for ya. Screw the government," says a fourth.

 I would like to think that most of these people who are rushing to support this guy are simply rodeo fans or people who like clowns, however to do that would be to ignore everything we have learned about a certain segment of the population since the election of Barack Obama.

Missouri rodeo features clown with Obama mask. Spectator describes crowd reaction: "It was feeling like some kind of Klan rally you’d see on TV."

Courtesy of the Washington Post: 

A clown wearing a President Barack Obama mask appeared at a Missouri State Fair rodeo this weekend and the announcer asked the enthusiastic spectators if they wanted to see “Obama run down by a bull.” 

The antics led the state’s second highest-ranking official, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, to denounce the performance in a tweet Sunday. He said it was “disrespectful” to the president. 

“We are better than this,” the Republican tweeted. 

State Fair officials said the show in Sedalia was “inappropriate” and “does not reflect the opinions or standards” of the fair. “We strive to be a family friendly event and regret that Saturday’s rodeo badly missed that mark,” they said in a statement Sunday. 

Perry Beam, who was among the spectators, said “everybody screamed” and “just went wild” as the announcer talked about having the bull run down the clown with the Obama mask. 

“It was at that point I began to feel a sense of fear. It was that level of enthusiasm,” Beam, a 48-year-old musician from Higginsville, said Sunday, referring to the reaction from the crowd that filled the fair’s grandstand. 

He said another clown ran up to the one wearing the Obama mask, pretended to tickle him and played with the lips on the mask. About 15 minutes into the performance, the masked clown had to leave after a bull got too close, Beam said. 

Beam was at the rodeo with his wife and a student they were hosting from Taiwan. He said they were having a good time until the end of the rodeo. 

“It was the usual until the very end at bull riding,” he said. “As they were bringing the bulls into the chute and prepping them ... they bring out what looks like a dummy. The announcer says ‘Here’s our Obama dummy, or our dummy of Obama. 

“They mentioned the president’s name, I don’t know, 100 times. It was sickening,” Beam said. “It was feeling like some kind of Klan rally you’d see on TV.”

This, this is who now makes up the base of the Republican party.

By the way it should be noted that if Mr. Beam had NOT placed this picture on his Facebook page and described what had taken place that those of us who were not there would have NO idea that this kind of thing was going on.

But then again perhaps we have always known that this kind f thing has been going on, but just didn't want to believe it.

Personally I disagree with what the Lt. Governor and the State Fair officials had to say. Considering the description of the crowd response it seems to me that their state is not "better than this."

Is it any wonder that blocking everything that the President tries to do all but ensures the reelection of numerous southern Republicans back at home?