<img src="http://upload.democraticunderground.com/top10/09/373.jpg" border="0"><br /><br /><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b>The Top 10 Conservative Idiots, No. 373</b></font><br /><br />September 21, 2009<br /><i>The Amazing Racism Edition</i><br /><br />This week we conclusively prove that racism is a thing of the past in 21st Century America as Teabaggers (2,3) invade Washington DC, Roy Blunt (6) tells a funny story about a monkey, and Rush Limbaugh (7) goes pro-segregation. Don't forget the <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/key.html" target="_blank">key</a>!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/number/01.gif" border="0" alt="" title=""><br /><br /><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b>Joe Wilson</b></font> <img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/icons/obama-hating.gif" border="0" alt="Obama hating" title="Obama hating"> <img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/icons/hypocrisy.gif" border="0" alt="hypocrisy" title="hypocrisy"><br /><br />Ladies and gentlemen, meet Rep. "Hero" Joe Wilson (R-SC), the New Face Of The Republican Party.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/09/373_wilson1.jpg" border="0"></center><br />Hero Joe used to work for segregationist Strom Thurmond. In 2003, after it was revealed that Thurmond had conceived an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond#Daughter" target="_blank">illegitimate daughter with his black maid</a> sometime in the 1930s, Joe attacked the daughter and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Wilson_%28U.S._politician%29#Criticism_of_Stro m_Thurmond.27s_daughter" target="_blank">accused</a> her of smearing the senator's good name, despite the fact that she was nice enough to wait until after his death to bring it up. Hero Joe is also a <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/obama-heckler-joe-wilson-member-neo" target="_blank">member</a> of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization dedicated to the memory of secessionists who tried and failed to destroy the United States of America in the mid-19th Century. In 2000, Hero Joe was <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/09/rep-joe-wilson-said-the-confederate-heritage-is-very-honorable-in-1999.html" target="_blank">one of just seven members</a> of the South Carolina Senate to vote to keep the Confederate flag flying atop the state house. "The Confederate heritage is very honorable," he <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/503579.stm" target="_blank">told</a> the BBC in 1999.<br /><br />So why is Hero Joe the New Face Of The Republican Party? Simple - two weeks ago, in a fit of impotent rage, he screamed "YOU LIE" at President Obama during a nationally televised address to Congress.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/09/373_wilson2.jpg" border="0"></center><br />Look at those bulging eyes! Hero Joe subsequently apologized to the President - or at least, he apologized to Rahm Emanuel by phone and "at the request of GOP leaders" <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26985.html" target="_blank">according to</a> Politico - and the President graciously <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-09-09-obamareax_N.htm?csp=34" target="_blank">accepted</a> his weak-ass apology. But he refused to apologize to the House of Representatives for violating its rules of conduct, which earned him an <a href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20090916_House_rebukes_Wilson_for_heckling.html" target="_blank">official rebuke</a> from the House.<br /><br />Despite all that, believe me when I say that Hero Joe is contrite. He's very, very contrite. So contrite that he was recently spotted <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2009/09/14/video-joe-wilson-autographing-photos-of-his-outburst-now/comment-page-1/" target="_blank">autographing photographs of himself screaming at the President</a>.<br /><br />Of course, while signing autographs might be fun, it's not very profitable. For that you <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/11/rep-wilsons-outburst-boosts-opponents-fundraising/" target="_blank">need</a>...<br /><br /><div class="excerpt">Rep. Joe Wilson released a combative fundraising video on Thursday asking supporters for donations, saying his outburst during President Obama's health care address was "wrong," but that he "will not be muzzled."<br /><br />"The supporters of the government takeover of health care and the liberals who want to give health care to illegals are using my opposition as an excuse to distract from the critical questions being raised about this poorly conceived plan," Wilson said in the video. "I will not be muzzled. I will speak up loudly against this risky plan."</div><br />Oh yes, I forgot to mention that Wilson's bizarre outburst was prompted by President Obama's (<a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/09/joe-wilson/joe-wilson-south-carolina-said-obama-lied-he-didnt/" target="_blank">true</a>) claim that health care reform will not insure illegal immigrants. Never mind the fact that in 2003, Hero Joe voted for the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act, which, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/11/joe-wilson-voted-to-provi_n_284034.html" target="_blank">according to</a> the Huffington Post, authorized "$250 million annually between 2003 and 2008 for government reimbursements to hospitals who provide treatment for uninsured illegal immigrants."<br /><br />So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen - the New Face Of The Republican Party. A white, southern, hypocritical neo-Confederate who is prone to making a fool of himself in public, attempts to profit from misconduct, and refuses to take personal responsibility for his actions.<br /><br />Why do I get the feeling that the New Face Of The Republican Party isn't that different to the Old Face Of The Republican Party?<br /><br /><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/number/02.gif" border="0" alt="" title=""><br /><br /><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b>Teabaggers</b></font> <img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/icons/spin.gif" border="0" alt="excessive spin" title="excessive spin"><br /><br />Last week the Teabaggers' great National Teabagathon took place in Washington DC. Crowd size estimates range from 30,000 by the <a href="http://twitter.com/DavidShuster/status/3941683695" target="_blank">DC Park Police</a> to up to 2 million by the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1YBqpk69s0" target="_blank">Fox Propaganda Network</a> and some <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/200909120014" target="_blank">mentally unstable conservative bloggers</a>.<br /><br />So desperate were the wingnuts to prove that their event was the greatest thing since sliced liberal, they tried to <a href="http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/09/the_other_912_rally.php" target="_blank">claim</a> that the thousands of people at the other end of the mall celebrating Black Family Reunion were part of the teabag rally (not unlike how the Freepers <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/855500/posts" target="_blank">once claimed</a> that 50,000 people attended their "support the troops" rally in Los Angeles because the rally happened to coincide with the L.A. marathon). Once that was pointed out, the teabaggers stooped to simply using <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/14/912-tea-party-photo-false_n_286082.html" target="_blank">photographs of different events</a> to claim that the crowd numbered in the millions.<br /><br />But I think the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. Because you see, I was in DC that day, and I have conclusive photographic proof that...<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/09/373_mall2.jpg" border="0"></center><br />...there was nobody there at all! What a scam!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/number/03.gif" border="0" alt="" title=""><br /><br /><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b>Teabaggers (Part Two)</b></font> <img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/icons/obama-hating.gif" border="0" alt="Obama hating" title="Obama hating"> <img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/icons/racism.gif" border="0" alt="racism" title="racism"><br /><br />What were all those teabaggers doing in DC anyway? It can't have been to protest excessive government spending. If it was, they surely would have marched to protest George W. Bush's unfunded $1.3 trillion tax cuts for the rich. Or they would at least have marched to protest the war in Iraq, now estimated to cost $3 trillion. (Funnily enough, when I marched in DC to protest the war in Iraq the only teabaggers I saw were standing on the other side of the barricades calling everyone un-American.)<br /><br />So why were they really there? Let me think for a moment.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/09/373_racist1.jpg" border="0"></center><br />Hmm...<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/09/373_racist2.jpg" border="0"></center><br />I wonder...<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/09/373_racist3.jpg" border="0"></center><br />What could it be?<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/09/373_racist4.jpg" border="0"></center><br />Oh, it's on the tip of my tongue...<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/09/373_racist5.jpg" border="0"></center><br />You know, I just can't quite put my finger on it.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/number/04.gif" border="0" alt="" title=""><br /><br /><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b>Kevin Brady</b></font> <img src="http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/icons/dumb.gif" border="0" alt="dumb" title="dumb"><br /><br />To be clear, it wasn't all smooth sailing at the 9/12 Teabagathon. <a href="http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/stimulus-package/gop-rep-who-suggested-d-c-metro-hurt-912-turnout-voted-against-metro-funding/" target="_blank">According to</a> The Plum Line:<br /><br /><div class="excerpt">Soon after the 9/12 march, (GOP Rep. Kevin) Brady released a letter he sent to D.C. Metro griping that it had failed to transport tea partiers to the protest. Brady said they "were frustrated and disappointed that our nation's capitol" failed to "provide a basic level of transit for them."<br /><br />Brady's office complained about a train shortage. "METRO did not prepare for Tea Party March!" he tweeted. "People couldn't get on, missed start of march. I will demand answers."</div><br />Now that is just shameful. Wait, what's this?<br /><br /><div class="excerpt">But earlier this year, Brady voted against the stimulus package. It provided millions upon millions of dollars for all manner of improvements to ... the D.C. Metro.</div><br />Whining that government-funded transportation did an inadequate job getting you to your anti-government protest is dumb enough, but whining about government-funded transportation <i>after you personally voted against funding it</i>? I don't think there is even a name for that level of stupid.<br /><br />