It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about ministers, lawyers or politicians, people say things that are either stunningly tone deaf or stunningly brazen or just plain dumb. Here are some examples.
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“It’s important that he thinks you’re hot.”
–Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark, in his sermon at the First General Baptist Church in Malden, Mo., about how married women “let themselves go.” [March 9, 2021]
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“Because it puts us at a competitive disadvantage relative to Democrats. Politics is a zero-sum game.”
–Arizona Attorney Michael Carvin’s argument in support of Arizona’s voting restriction laws. [March 2, 2021]
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“I don’t think anybody does a better job than mothers in the home, and any bill that makes it easier or more convenient for mothers to come out of the home and let others raise their child, I don’t think that’s a good direction for us to be going.”
–Idaho State Rep. Charlie Shepherd, a Republican, testifying against a bill that would allow Idaho’s education board to use nearly $6 million in federal grants to extend early childhood education. [March 2, 2021]
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“I started working by bussing tables at the Star Family Restaurant for $1/hour and slowly moved up to cook – the big leagues for a kid like me– to earn $6/hour. Businesses in small towns survive on narrow margins. Mandating a $15 minimum wage would put many of them out of business.”
–Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., age 60, explaining why a $15 an hour minimum wage is a bad idea. [Feb. 24, 2021] Assuming he was earning $6 an hour at age 17 in 1978, $6 an hour adjusted to for inflation, according to Newsweek, would equal $24.07 an hour today.
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“We did not send him there to vote his conscience. We did not send him there to do the right thing or whatever he said he was doing. We sent him there to represent us.”
–Westmoreland County GOP chair Bill Bretz criticizing Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., for voting to convict Donald Trump. [Feb. 15, 2021]
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Jack D’Aurora writes for Considerthisbyjd.com
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Also published on Medium.
Well, you can add a lot of dumb or insensitive quotes from our own Ohio legislature. We certainly are not getting the best and brightest. Of course, they have been groomed for their positions by powerful interests and big money in our corrupt, unfair system. So, we can criticize the people who have elected them but the choices we have to pick from often are not good.
Jack – At first I was surprised you did not use Hillary’s quote “you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.” But it looks like you did not attempt for political balance in your comments?
Jack. I have to agree with Bruce. Your “politics” shows through in most of your Blog topics. I would guess there are just as many verbal “bloopers” by those on the “left” side of the political spectrum.
Enough said. All comments came from the male sex. We woman are used to this “Neanderthal Thinking”, to borrow from Joe Biden. You cannot fix stupid.
Jack , i would like to see a dozen of the lines you have found. I’m impressed by your research and accuracy. Thank you for what you do!
Great observations —
1. yes, men seem to always be the ones saying really stupid things
and
2. Yes, it is almost always Republicans or Conservatives as well.
I once told a psychologist “My mouth has always got me in trouble.” She asked what I meant, but I thought it was pretty self-explanatory.