But first, because no amount of security can save us from these chowder
heads. Here are "Countdown's" nominees for today's "Worst Persons of
the World."
The bronze to two-time "Worst" winner Mike Shaw, still the acting
chairman of the Republican party of Pima County, Arizona. He's the one
who authorized, then defended the plan to auction off a handgun to raise
money for the GOP "get out the vote" efforts in the same city where
Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and 19 others were shot with a handgun
eight months ago this Thursday. Shaw upped the ante. There were so
many gun nuts among Arizona's Republicans that he was able to sell
tickets for a second rifle. For a deer rifle. And as stupid as this is
on the surface, hats off to a remarkable bit of insight from Tucson
City Councilman Republican Steve Kozachik. He really hit the nail on
the head about what the Shaw man has just done here to his own people.
"When you have a slate of candidates who are already trying to generate
some name recognition in a city where they are out-registered by two to
one and you tie a Glock to their tail, you've pretty much shown that you
don't understand the dynamics of the area." A sincere thank you to Mr.
Kozachik, he's absolutely right. Shaw and the Republican Committee
have now given Democrats in Pima County the opportunity to point at that
their opponents and say, "That Republican is brought to you by handgun
blood money."
The runner-up, St. Sarah of Wasilla. Fraud. This was from her revival
meeting at the Indianola, Iowa, balloon festival grounds. The hot-air
imagery is fitting, her warm-up act was a comedian name Eric Golub. He,
like, everybody else connected with Palin first tried to portray the
half-governor as the only parent to ever have a special-needs child. He
commended her for her treatment of her son Trig and then he went South.
(AUDIO FROM VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC GOLUB: The left should worship Sarah Palin and adopt her as
one of their own because the leftist haters are an entire political
ideology of special-needs children.
OLBERMANN: Palin once demanded the resignation of the White
House Chief of Staff because he foolishly used the word "retarded." She
said nothing when Rush Limbaugh made similar remarks. And after this
clown in the hat equated a political ideology, any political ideology,
to special-needs kids, what did she do? Nothing. She said nothing. If
she had pushed him off of the stage for that remark, I might have
believed she cared about this issue of how insensitive language can hurt
challenged kids and adults. But that she didn't say anything then, or
since, confirms that she doesn't give a damn about those kids and that
she has used her own as a political prop. That woman used to be an
idiot. She has now downgraded herself to an idiotic joke.
But, our winner, Roger Ailes. His propaganda minions did a doozy over
the weekend, tried to make a prominent labor leader sound like, well,
like an Arizona Tea Party gun nut. They are accusing the president in
the words of one of them, of sanctioning violence against fellow
Americans because of what teamsters president James Hoffa said during a
Labor Day speech. This was started by the mediocre Fox White House
correspondent Ed Henry, who quoted merely seven words in the middle of
one of Hoffa's sentences, which were, "Let's take the son of bitches
out." He implied Hoffa was talking about Republicans and suggesting
violence against them. And even as Henry tried to walk back his rookie
mistake on Twitter, Fox then began to air this edited clip of Hoffa's
remarks.
(AUDIO FROM VIDEO CLIP)
HOFFA: This is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take
these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we
belong. Thank you very much.
OLBERMANN: As the right-wing reverb show went crazy, which is
not a big jump from its default setting, the dumbest person on
television, Gretchen Carlson, described that as "very furious language."
Carlson like the rest could not have been bothered to have their
delusion altered by the full context of Hoffa's remarks, which we
present now.
(AUDIO FROM VIDEO CLIP)
HOFFA: Everybody here has got a vote. If we go back and
keep the eye on the prize, let's take these son of a bitches out and
give America back to America where we belong. Thank you very much.
OLBERMANN: There's no confusion. There is no nuance here. You
"take these son of a bitches out and give America back to Americans" by
voting. That's what he said. Just because the mindset of the right ties
the phrase, "Take them out," to murder and violence, that does not mean
normal people do that. The dishonesty and unalloyed evil, of the
right, people like Roger Ailes multiplied by the stupidity of people
like Carlson and Dana Loesch and Andrew Breitbart and all the others has
left the democracy in peril. Ailes and Carlson and Loesch and all the
others owe James Hoffa and the country a profound apology followed by a
mass resignation. It won't happen, it will never happen, but ultimately
what matters is Hoffa is right. They are sons of bitches and the only
way to take them out is by voting them out. Roger Ailes, the worst
propagandist in the history of the electronic media in the world, and
today's "Worst Person in the World."
