Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Hippie Punching, Tennessee Style

Yesterday afternoon the Republican-led Tennessee House approved a resolution commending Arizona for its racial profiling immigration law.

The language, specifically:
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE CONCURRING, that this body hereby honors and commends the State of Arizona and its government officials on the upcoming commemoration of Arizona's Centennial and that this body also salutes the initiative and the courage of the Arizona State Legislature and Governor Jan Brewer in their actions to protect their citizens and the borders of our great nation.

Oy. With state unemployment still over 10 percent and state tourism suffering from the recent floods, who thought wading into a controversy costing the state of Arizona millions of dollars in lost business was a good idea? House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, for one. Casada brushed away criticism from House Democratic Leader Gary Odom with a dismissive verbal wave:

"I've never heard so much belly aching in my life."

Yeah, protests over racial profiling are so silly!

What an idiot. Glen Casada, you are an embarrassment to the people of Tennessee.

(As if inserting Tennessee into Arizona’s economically-damaging immigration battle wasn’t bad enough, House Republicans dissed President Obama in a resolution offering thanks for flood assistance, too.)

It seems in this election year, certain factions in the Tennessee House are tripping over themselves in a battle to appear more right-wing and reactionary than their colleagues. Perhaps this particular brand of hippie-punching is seen as the key to re-election, a way to affirm one’s knuckle-dragging bonafides. But hippie punching doesn’t create jobs and it doesn’t convince industry that this is a place you want to do business. It does the opposite.

So Glen Casada and Rep. Joe Carr and the rest of the Republican House Caucus I have three words for you:

Stop hurting Tennessee.

More from Aunt B, including a list of those Tennessee Democrats who sided with the knucle-draggers. Shame on you.