The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for February, 2022

It's often difficult to sift through the many dozens/scores/hundreds/thousands of blathering idiots who are eligible for receipt of my quasi-prestigious awards in search of a clear winner, but on the black day on which I write this, there's only one obvious choice.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the clear winner of

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown Award for February, 2022

is presented - once again* - to

The Republican Party

The party's lurch to the extreme, authoritarian and religiously intolerant right that took place during the reign of Der Furor has resulted in huge amounts of state-level legislation that hamper voting, limit individual rights (other than those associated with guns or the imposition of "Christian" values), and attempt to roll back decades of civil rights protections. All of that is bad enough. But the party that claims to be "The Party of Lincoln" and to put "America First" has shown itself to be utterly morally bankrupt by openly supporting Russia's invasion of the independent nation of Ukraine. I would call these actions "shameless," but today's GOP has long shown itself incapable of shame.

While most Republicans in Congress have, however tepidly and grudgingly, supported President Biden’s tough and principled stand against Russia, a cadre of conservative Republicans, supporters of Der Furor, and conservative media shouting heads urge Americans to admire, or even congratulate, Russian President Vladimir Putin's naked aggression.

On Tuesday, Der Furor paid Putin a strong compliment, saying the Russian leader had made a “smart move” by sending “the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen” to the borders of independent Ukraine.

In an interview on a conservative talk radio program, Der Furor doubled down on his past praise of the Russian president, saying his move against Ukraine was "genius." He said that "Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. He used the word ‘independent’ and ‘we’re going to go out and we’re going to go in and we’re going to help keep peace. You’ve got to say that’s pretty savvy." This comment, of course, has been aired many times on Russian state television as justification of Putin's actions.

In what Alice in Wonderland world would a former United States president - even one as demonstrably unfit, unhinged, and incompetent as Der Furor - praise a foreign dictator who has just attacked an independent nation and justified his action with the flimsiest gossamer of lies?

Republicans who blindly parrot Der Furor's ignominious statements hardly shower themselves with patriotic glory as they show that their "America First" slogan is as empty as the GOP platform. Former Secretary of State and Director of Central Intelligence Mike Pompeo has spoken of Putin as "savvy" and "very talented," saying in a February 18th interview that "I have enormous respect for him," and describing the Russian leader as "... a very talented statesman. He has lots of gifts. He was a KGB agent, for goodness’ sakes. He knows how to use power. We should respect that."

At a time of international peril, some Republicans cannot see fit to condemn Putin's aggression without also defaming and undermining their president in a time when national leadership and unity on the international stage is crucial. Third-ranking House GOP Republican Elise Stefanik issued a three-paragraph statement on February 24th in which she managed to call Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" and a "deranged thug" in a three-line paragraph ... that followed a much longer paragraph and concluded with another three lines which excoriated President Biden. As you would expect, useless GOP members of Congress like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, and Matt Gaetz accused the President of "weakness," deftly ignoring the reality that Der Furor publicly kowtowed to Vladimir Putin following their Helsinki summit in 2018, accepting the Russian leader's empty words over the assessments of his own intelligence community.

What we should never ... ever ... respect are treasonous** Republican lickspittles who shower praise on a dictator who has invaded a sovereign nation while at the same time undermining the authority of an American president who, unlike his sorry predecessor, has tried to rally the world to stand against Russian aggression. 

The Left Cheek Ass Clown Award for February, 2022, is presented to the Republican Party and its despicable adherents who are more interested in sucking up to a foreign tyrant than supporting their own nation, its allies, and their president.

Have a good day and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday, which we really need this week. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* This is the GOP's eighth solo award; fifteenth if you count the times it shared the dishonor with a co-winner.

** I use this word in the sense in which it is defined in Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." The emphasis is mine. If the words of Der Furor and his ilk don't meet this definition, I don't know what does.