I am continuously astonished by how bad Republicans can be. It’s not just that I disagree with their policies, but that they themselves paint their policies in such a ludicrously stupid manner. Take, for example, this incident at a candidate forum in Idaho.
- They discuss discrimination in Idaho. The Republican, Dan Foreman, claims there isn’t any. I’ve gotten used to Republican denial, so that doesn’t shock me.
2. The Democratic candidate, a native American woman, politely “highlighted our weak hate crime laws and mentioned the presence of the Aryan Nations in northern Idaho as undeniable evidence of this reality.” Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, we all knew there was a gradient of bigotry that ascended from the coast to the potato brains of Idaho (partly to avoid confronting the reality of racism in Seattle), so this was already making Foreman look foolish.
3. The Republican then tells the Nez Perce woman to “go back where you came from.” Unbelievable. It’s like a bad joke on a bottom-of-the-barrel sitcom.
Trish Carter-Goodheart has written about the incident.
Last night, I entered what should have been a respectful and constructive public candidate forum. Instead, I was met with hateful, racist remarks from State Senator Dan Foreman, who screamed at me to “go back where you came from.” The question on the floor was about a state bill addressing discrimination. One of the candidates responded, claiming that “discrimination doesn’t exist in Idaho.” When it was my turn to speak, I calmly pointed out that just because someone hasn’t personally experienced discrimination doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Racism and discrimination are real issues here in Idaho, as anyone familiar with our state’s history knows. I highlighted our weak hate crime laws and mentioned the presence of the Aryan Nations in northern Idaho as undeniable evidence of this reality. That’s when Sen. Foreman lost all control. His words to me: “I’m so sick and tired of this liberal b*lish*t! Why don’t you go back to where you came from?!” I stayed. I stayed because I wanted to show our community that I can, and will, handle difficult, unpleasant situations. After the forum, several members of the crowd came up to me and offered their support, apologizing for Sen. Foreman’s behavior. But it’s not the people in the crowd who need to apologize. I need to thank the women who stood with me against this hate: Representative Lori McCann, Kathy Dawes, and Moscow City Councilwoman Julia Parker. You had my back when it mattered, and I appreciate your strength and solidarity. What happened last night was a reminder of why this election matters. I am a proud member of the Nez Perce tribe, fighting to represent the land my family has lived on for generations. People like Dan Foreman do not represent our diverse community, and I will continue to stand against the hatred and racism they spread. Our state deserves better. Our community deserves better. We deserve better.
The last time I was in Idaho, my talk was attended by a bunch of people from Doug Wilson’s church (but not Wilson himself). Doug Wilson was an Idaho preacher who got a boost in popularity because Christopher Hitchens toured with him for a while, something I don’t forgive Hitchens for. Doug Wilson co-wrote a notorious pamphlet titled Southern Slavery
, where he said
Slavery as it existed in the South … was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence,the excerpts read in part.There has never been a multiracial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world. …
Slave life was to them [slaves] a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care.
But oh no, racism and discrimination don’t exist in Idaho.
Republicans. Because nothing disproves the existence of racism as good as “go back where you came from”.
*as well as
If Republicans don’t like indigenous people, maybe they should go back to Europe…
Thinking about an old article where the author just didn’t understand know how to handle the existence of American “mongrels,” mixed from so many European origins. Think it’d be darkly funny if they were introduced to a group of Europeans who used that kind of language to argue why their particular country shouldn’t take in these “mongrels.”
“Indigenous people, including the Nez Perce tribe, have lived in the Columbia River Basin for thousands of years. Foreman was born in Lake Forest, Illinois.”
this (https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/politics-government/2024-10-03/dan-foreman-racism-idaho-nez-perce-candidate-kendrick) is also a nice writeup, with a great though not unexpected kicker
“Indigenous people, including the Nez Perce tribe, have lived in the Columbia River Basin for thousands of years. Foreman was born in Lake Forest, Illinois.”
I need coffee, somehow I missed that you already linked the story
“Go back where you came from!”
“You mean over there, where members of my family have lived for centuries?”
A lot of white people move to Idaho because it is a racist, christofascist state.
Idaho is one of the fastest growing states in the USA.
You do know that Hitchens became a right wing crank in his later years, right? He was a major cheerleader for the invasion of Iraq, spewed misogyny at every opportunity, along with right-wing conspiracy theories. This is not news.
I grew up in Idaho. I am unsurprised by the racism, or that a senator would show his ass so plainly.
They discuss discrimination in Idaho. The Republican, Dan Foreman, claims there isn’t any.
He may be right, to the extent that the haters aren’t all that discriminatory about who they hate — it could be anyone for any or no reason (subject to change without notice). Seriously, what group of Americans HAVEN’T been subject to such stupid hatred and scapegoating at some time or other? I’m white, straight, cis and male, and I’ve never felt any good vibes from that lot, even when I was both a Christian and a Reagan Democrat.
@9: As a contemporary of Hitchens at Oxford (1967–70), I can testify that he was a dick back then. I may have agreed with some of his mid-career political views, but his basic character never varied.
These repulsive quotes of Doug Wilson are just so utterly stupid:
“Slavery as it existed in the South … was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence, the excerpts read in part. There has never been a multiracial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world.”
“Slave life was to them [slaves] a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care.”
Obviously Doug Wilson’s knowledge of slavery is minimal. I doubt he read such works has Frederick Douglass’ My Bondage and My Freedom, or say Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave. Although no doubt he would dismiss these works as coming from “ungrateful” ex-slaves.
Aside from personal testimony the nonsense of how wonderful life was and how well Slaves and their owners got along can be quickly shown to be utter garbage by such works has:
The Half Has Never Been Told, Edward E. Baptist, 2014; which shows just how exploitive the Slave Owners were of their “property”, and how unpleasant life really was for Slaves. For how hard life was actually for Slaves in America see also Reckoning with Slavery, Paul A. David, Herbert G. Gutman, Richard Sutch, Peter Temin, Gavin Wright, a collection of essays on Slavery and Slave life. published 1976.
Mouthing Neo-Confederate and Antebellum pro-slavery propaganda only makes you a fool Mr. Wilson.
@9 Cervantes
Christopher Hitchens was not right wing nor a crank. From Forbes magazine.
”In 2009 Hitchens was listed by Forbesmagazine as one of the “25 most influential liberals in the U.S. media”.[102]”
He lost a lot of liberal friends because of his support for the 2nd Iraq war.
He was also not a crank(see below). Because of extreme emotion his statements and positions were often extreme. I would say his positions were mixed. He was a brilliant debater and had that reputation at The Oxford Union.
Reactions to death
Former British prime minister Tony Blair and Hitchens at the Munk debate on religion, Toronto, November 2010
Former British prime minister Tony Blair said, “Christopher Hitchens was a complete one-off, an amazing mixture of writer, journalist, polemicist and unique character. He was fearless in the pursuit of truth and any cause in which he believed. And there was no belief he held that he did not advocate with passion, commitment and brilliance. He was an extraordinary, compelling and colourful human being whom it was a privilege to know.”[164][165]
Richard Dawkins said of Hitchens, “He was a polymath, a wit, immensely knowledgeable, and a valiant fighter against all tyrants, including imaginary supernatural ones.”[165] Dawkins later described Hitchens as “probably the best orator I’ve ever heard”, and called his death “an enormous loss”.[166]
aid tribute at the Christopher Hitchens Vanity Fair Memorial 2012.[170][171][172][173]
Three weeks before Hitchens’s death, George Eaton of the New Statesman wrote, “He is determined to ensure that he is not remembered simply as a ‘lefty who turned right’ or as a contrarian and provocateur. Throughout his career, he has retained a commitment to the Enlightenment values of reason, secularism, and pluralism. His targets—Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, God—are chosen not at random, but rather because they have offended one or more of these principles. The tragedy of Hitchens’s illness is that it came at a time when he enjoyed a larger audience than ever. The great polemicist is certain to be remembered, but, as he was increasingly aware, perhaps not as he would like.”[175] The Chronicle of Higher Education asked if Hitchens was the last public intellectual.[176]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens
chesapeake
None of your quotes actually refute the assertion that Hitchens was a right wing crank.
Hitchens was witty, charming, and a brilliant rhetorician. All traits which set my alarm bells off.
Hitchens, like a lot of the “new atheists” that became famous at the time suffered from, near as I can tell, the delusion that the problem with religion was purely the belief in god, and not the belief in all the insane, stupid, regressive, hateful, self serving, bullshit, that god is used, by conservatives, to promote and excuse. Those things, once the veneer of shiny newness wore off, rapidly became glaringly obvious. They might be a whole of a heck lot smarter than Trump, but they all, to one degree or another, share some of the same narcissism and willingness to switch sides, then spew denial, when it turns out their “allies” doesn’t like them. For Trump it was, “The democrats turn out not to like rich pricks, so, to save my ass from all the litigants after me I will run as a Republican, which claiming I am so loved, the most loved person that was ever loved…!”. For the “new atheists” it was utter and complete denial, continuing even today, that most other atheists don’t actually like bigotry, hate, racism, imperialism, unearned privilege, or any of the other things they wanted to “keep” from what was, in a lot of cases, religion’s influence on our culture.
None of them “changed sides”, the majority of less self serving atheists, and the general public, like with the orange Cheeto, just allowed themselves to be conned into thinking these people where on “our side”, because we likes some of their rhetoric, and we didn’t look deeper. Thankfully, unlike with Trump and his followers, we paid the F attention to their backsliding, and selfish goals, and didn’t immediate start making excuses for it. Though, I suppose it helps that they Hitchens/et al didn’t have a political party, whose donors own 9/10 of all new outlets, willing to spews their own excuses, unchallenged, or actually make up excuses themselves, and their personal propaganda source. But, one has to wonder what the result might have been if atheism was “popular”, most of those networks did support it in some manner, and Shermer’s, “No one serious reads your Skeptic Magazine BS, and takes its odd tendency to promote certain types of conspiracy/pseudoscience next to more sensible topic, seriously now.”, publication has been as mainstream like the New York Times…
Was he intentionally lying, or was he just stupid? It’s hard to tell.
Both?
Lying and below average intellect and poor character into the bargain in Senator Dan Foreman’s case?
/Obligatory?
“Haha, he put her back in her place!”
And they will vote for him.
That’s all xenophobes need.
“Stupid” and “lying” are categories for people who think about what they say, he just has an innate understanding of his audience.
Doug Wilson was an Idaho preacher who got a boost in popularity because Christopher Hitchens toured with him for a while…
The only time I saw Hitchens live was when he did a debate tour with Dinesh D’Souza. Each gave a canned performance, with absolutely no sign that either had listened to or formulated rebuttals to anything the other had said in their previous dialog. My respect for the one dropped to approximately the level I had held for the other (for whom my estimation did not rise).
C.H. really could write well, and greatly pissed off Chris Hedges, which should count for something.
The Doug Wilson quote was good for a laugh. He’s actually right, at least as far as aspirations go. Too bad he’s mixed up two very different things.
See, that description isn’t about historical slavery in the southern US. It has jack all to do with it. Nothing whatsoever in common.
What it clearly is about is a slave fetish. These people are so dishonest or ignorant that they’ll parade around a modern sexual fetish and claim it’s a depiction of historical reality.
How delusional do you have to be as a christian preacher to not only admit your sexual fetishes but shout them from the rooftops and try to convert other people to them? And then you go back inside the church and preach that sex is bad unless the church marries you so you can do some more pimping for Jesus? Sounds like he needs an intervention.