The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for March, 2023

Almost exactly 12 years ago (April 17, 2011) I presented the very first Ass Clown Award to none other than Der Furor. The citation noted that the award was presented

"in recognition of his boundless egotism and willingness to embrace long-discredited birther conspiracies in an attempt to make himself look like a meaningful candidate for president"

As we now know to our sorrow, he did become president, and we are still living with the tsunami of hatred, undermining of our institutions, and foreign and domestic policy wreckage he left in his despicable wake. As we begin what promises to be a presidential campaign season of historic vitriol and disinformation, we present today's award - for the third time* - to an individual who has set the stage for exactly that. Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the tinfoil and toilet paper crown signifying

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for March, 2023

is presented to

Representative and

Speaker of the House

Kevin McCarthy (R, CA-23)

I had originally intended to present today's award to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in honor of its excellence in wannabe-fascist ass clownery, but I changed my mind at the last minute and chose instead to bestow the dishonor on Mr McCarthy to highlight his staggering hypocrisy, amorality, and utter lack of dignity and statesmanship. He has given evidence enough of all this during his time in Congress and since his ascension to the Speakership, but the immediate reason for this award is his decision unilaterally to hand over some 40,000 hours of Capitol security video footage to equally shameless and hypocritical buffoon Tucker Carlson** of Fox "News."*** Carlson, of course, is cherry-picking the footage to attempt to rewrite the history of the insurrection of January 6th, 2021 ... which the world witnessed in real time ... as a peaceful tourist event savagely suppressed by a tyrannical government.

Mr McCarthy defended his decision as a principled act of government transparency to balance the horrific video footage used as evidence during the January 6th investigation, but his actual rationale was evidently the fulfillment of a promise to the most rabidly ultraconservative wing of his party and the management of Fox "News." Fox is reeling from the exposure of hundreds of internal documents and text messages that prove its managers and opinion broadcasters knew full well that their drumbeat of election denial and donation of air time to such lunatics as Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani was completely false, but that they continued with it in order to keep from losing its viewers to even more hysterically conservative networks like Newsmax and OANN. In short, they deliberately undermined our government, turned Americans against each other, and subverted political reality in pursuit of profit and market share. Mr McCarthy's indefensible donation of the Capitol video footage is an obvious attempt to help Fox divert attention from its legal difficulties by creating yet another false reality for its credulous viewers.

As one would expect, Democratic members of Congress and Capitol security officials have condemned Mr McCarthy's action, and even some Republicans have bestirred themselves to criticize him for his foolish and dangerous action ... too late and not too loudly, of course, so as not to offend their most fervently MAGA followers, but they've criticized him nevertheless. I'd like to think that means there's hope for sanity on the right, but I would certainly not get my hopes up.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for March, 2023, is California Representative and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy ... a world-class example of spineless pandering to the worst of the modern right.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow, when Cartoon Saturday returns ... heaven knows we need something to laugh at.

Bilbo

* Mr McCarthy was the Right-Cheek Ass Clown in December of 2022 and the Right-Cheek Ass Clown in January of 2023. 

** Mr Carlson was the Left-Cheek Ass Clown in March of 2019, the Right-Cheek Ass Clown in March of 2021, and the 2021 Ass Clown of the Year.

*** Fox "News" was the Left Cheek Ass Clown in February of 2023.