Jesus Christ, is everyone running for governor of Tennessee? In addition to Basil Marceaux, “Crazy Man James,” and secessionist Congressman Zach Wamp, current Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee Ron Ramsey is fighting for the Republican nomination. But Ramsey isn’t an actual lunatic and doesn’t want Tennessee to break away and form its own pointless independent nation, so obviously he needs a “hook” to get the crazies who now determine the outcome of Republican primaries to vote for him. Hmm, how about calling Islam a “cult,” will that do? Will that get you to pay attention, just for 10 minutes or so? Find out with video, after the jump!
So, yeah, this is Ramsey in … the break room in a government building, or a senior center, or in an office at some low-slung office park somewhere? The headline on the YouTube video says “Chattanooga,” so let’s go with that. Anyway, if you want to avoid hearing the usual blather about debt and the country heading in the wrong direction and so forth and just see the Islam stuff, skip ahead to about 3:10 — but you’ll miss the sad, slow spectacle of the audience rapidly losing interest; by the time he gets to anything vaguely interesting, it seems like pretty much everyone else in the room is talking about something else, and not even bothering to whisper. So rude!
“Now, you could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, cult whatever you want to call it,” is the fun quote, if your fascistic workplace blocks the YouTube. Ramsey also worries about the imposition of Sharia law on Americans (did you know that there are 22 communities already run by Sharia judges, right here on U.S. soil?) and seriously misconstrues a long-running controversy about a proposed Muslim community center in Tennessee (Talking Points Memo has the details, if you care).
Then he wanders off into zoning issues and it gets boring again. But, before that happens, he makes the mistake of admitting that he’s only cared about the Muslim takeover of the U.S. for a few weeks! Now we must ask the question: does Ron Ramsey hate Muslims enough? For your answer, check out the individual sitting behind Ramsey — presumably one of his staffers:
It’s well known that, now that Tucker Carlson has given up bow ties, the only people who wear them are Black Muslims and George Will. And that doesn’t look like George Will.
Ramsey also noted that he loves the 1st, 2nd, and 10th amendments equally, which means he is 100 percent in favor of gay marriage. Basil Marceaux will dispatch this gentleman handily. [TPM]
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{ 45 comments }
He looks like he could use a hug.
There’s also that prat in the Washington Times. For the bowtie, I mean.
Can you guys kick states out because they’re stupid?
The Simpsons hasn’t been funny for a long time.
Yeah, “The Simpsons” was only funny for the first 15 of its 22 years. What losers!
the leader is good. the leader is great. we surrender our will, as of this date.
We’ve already had Sharia law in the US. It was called Prohibition. It didn’t work. There was no money in it.
Religion is Belief, in the absence of Perception.
Islam is masculine religion.
Christianity is feminine religion.
Windmills is religion for easily led retarded people, and graduates of the Ivy League.
This is the classical rhetorical technique known as the argumentum ab ignorati or argumentum ad stultitia. It is a variant of the “I have never read that book, but I want it banned for all the smuttiness in it.”
You see, admitting that he understood Islam would disqualify him. Therefore, his comments were simply a way of saying, “I know so little about it that it might be a vending machine or a surgical procedure or my wife’s last husband’s cousin, but it’s bad.” This is a way of ensuring that he’s perfectly in step with the voters, because they too know that Islam is bad and that everything about it is bad, although they have that knowledge without any actual epistemology.
If any of them had a non-singed Koran, that one would be himself a liberal whose every word would be a lie. Therefore, only those without a clue can be trusted.
already run by Sharia judges
Sharia Judges was the star of several late night Cinemax movies, including “The Hills Have Thighs Part II” and “Young Catholic Cheerleaders In Bondage”.
[re=626203]Troubledog[/re]: You are incorrect. They were not funny for a while, but this season has been quite sharp.
“…(with Bart) we’ve tried Ritalin, Adderall, and Focusyn, but now we think Bart’s on drugs.”
I grew up in East Tennessee, spent 30 years in the Army, lived in Bristol, TN, for 8 years, and am now in E VA on the Chesapeake Bay.
Ron Ramsey came to power while I was living in Bristol, 20 miles from his hometown. He’s an auctioneer and a coon hunter. He owns a number of fine coonhouds, all of whom are smarter than he is.
No, that doesn’t look like George Will. But then, neither does this: http://washingtonindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/georgewill.jpg
Funny, I believe there are many different countries with majority Muslim populations, not one, which would make the argument over whether being a Muslim is a nationality fairly simple. Maybe the Nation of Islam (note: not actually a nation) confused Mr. Ramsey?
Hmmm, so a group of people who believe they have a special, person relationship with a deity, and gather in glass and steel monstrosities to proclaim how right they are are not part of a cult? Weird.
That’s definitely Bob Balaban circa Close Encounters of the Third Kind, when he was translating for Francois Truffaut. And I look forward to The Cult (the band) getting tax-exempt status so that I may begin building my giant Ian Astbury statue to perch atop Mt. Bonnell in Austin.
Can we also argue whether the Tea Partiers are truly Christians?
[re=626214]Old Redneck[/re]: But does he know how to cook road kill ‘possum by duct taping the critter to his truck exhaust manifold?
One thing is for sure: this guy is no stranger to bean pies.
Salaamnsteakums
[re=626225]Tube City[/re]: They follow the New New Testament, in which the essence of Jesus’ message can be boiled down to “I got mine, don’t worry ’bout his.” Either that, or you’re in a splinter sect that worships Marshall, the 13th apostle and former Judean hypnotist and memory expert.
[re=626225]Tube City[/re]:
Well, since Christians are supposed to put a high value on forgiveness, that might rule out the tea partiers right there. We don’t have to even get into faith, hope, and charity.
[re=626210]Geogre[/re]:
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
MUSLIN IS A COUNTRY
The thing, he is sort of right, in a way. The only thing that really separates religions from cults are how many adherents the belief has, and how old it is; look how today some argue Mormonism and Scientology are cults. But if Islam is a cult, than so is Christianity, and your average Southerner probably doesn’t want to hear that.
“MY SHARIA MORE, lovely as a summer’s day” Hey what the hell does a Stevie Wonder song have to do with running the state of Tennessee? How outta touch is the GOP anyway.
[re=626203]Troubledog[/re]: [re=626204]V572625694[/re]:
You probably don’t like Futurama, either.
fucking movementarians.
But Ramsey isn’t an actual lunatic
Says who?
Also, I think he made the same claims about the threat of Sharia law in these United States during the gubernatorial candidates’ debate a couple of weeks ago (Basil, sadly, was not there).
[re=626221]MarieDeGournay[/re]: “Later, with time, I learned that although all men are capable of good and evil, the worst among them are those who, when they commit evil, do so by shielding themselves in the authority of others, in their subordination, or in the excuse of following orders. And even worse are those who believe they are justified by their God. Because in the secret dungeons of Toledo, nearly at the cost of my life, I learned that there is nothing more despicable or more dangerous than the malevolent individual who goes to sleep every night with a clear conscience. That is true evil. Especially when paired with ignorance, superstition, stupidity, or power, all of which often travel together.
And worst of all is the person who acts as exegete of The Word — whether it be from the Talmud, the Bible, the Koran, or any other book already written or yet to come. I am not fond of giving advice—no one can pound opinions into another’s head—but here is a piece that costs you nothing: Never trust a man who reads only one book.”
~ Inigo Balboa y Aguirre (c. 1623)
[re=626235]Potater[/re]: Well, IGNORANCE IS TRUTH
FREEDOM IS ME
MUSSELMAN IS AT WAR WITH FREEDOM
THE MUSSELMANS IS AT WAR WITH ME.
See? Your outdated thinking from way back in 1984 has gotten much more sophisticated in the era of FoxNews. (“Heay! He knows too much about them religions. He must be a lire.”)
Ron “Pharoah” Ramses probably wishes he had the cult status of a Mulsim imam right about now.
I’m convinced that guy in the bow tie is wearing a kilt. Prove me wrong.
Seems like boilerplate-RINO-trying-to-relate-to-wingnut rhetoric to me. Probably 80 percent of the people in that room would describe Islam as a cult, so he had to throw that out there. This guy may be a douche, but he just sounds like a politician here.
That Rutherford County mosque concerns me. I mean, if Muslim grad students at Middle Tennessee State University get together and pray, then all across the Volunteer State, sundresses at football games might immediately be replaced by burquas! Not the sundresses!
HEY, I laugh every time Homer says “D’oh!”
Don’t try to take that away from me!
I cannot believe I am going to say this, but I am going to say this: I think he means culture and he verbally cuts himself off. He is headed down that road, rhetorically: “whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, or cult, whatever you want to call it…” I suspect he think that he and his likeminded supporters might be able to make some headway against the “mosque” if it is more like a “cultural center”–he’s a real estate agent/zoning technocrat–he’s also trying to figure out (really, I think he is trying) how a society would balance the guarantee of free exercise against the the supremacy of civil law. He has no idea, of course, but I’m guessing that’s where he’s headed.
It’s obviously a Chattanooga (from the Muskogean word for “dumb as rocks”) Subway, since Ron is ordering a foot-long (it can’t be a gay bath house, because someone has left the right miniblinds askew, which would cause multiple nervous breakdowns).
[re=626204]V572625694[/re]: Thanks for that! Despite the increasing use of really lame “historical” episodes lately, the new writers are doing a bang-up job!
“Let’s see: go to a war zone with a busload of religious lame-os, in a country with no pork and a desert with no casinos. Where do I sign up?” -Homer describing Israel.
Gold, Jerry! GOLD!
[re=626209]Brick Oven Bill[/re]: THAT’s the BOB we all know and…love…I guess. Anyway, some asshole is using your name over at BJ and not even trying to spoof you. You need to go reclaim your glory.
[re=626368]4tehlulz[/re]: BOB can be amusing when he’s completely incomprehensible, like now; unfortunately when he makes sense he starts getting offensive.
Tucker Carlson has abandoned the “Ted Bundy” look? How said. Ted was a very tricky little Republican operative at one point.
I guess Tucker looked in the mirror and realized he’s not a twink anymore. It’s time for the guy to don the Torquemada/cum Lucky Stars Leprechaun look made so famous by the adorably cute little Robert Bork.
Meanwhile, I’m going to Wonkette’s archives and rereading that description of Orly Taitz’ pussy and how much “tighter and wetter” it was than girls half her age. Peace. God bless.
Any sentence that begins, “I’m not an alarmist, I’m not an extremist or anything, but…” is going to hit conspiracy/comedy gold before it reaches a period.
[re=626244]Autochthon[/re]: That was great, thank you.
[re=626376]JMP[/re]: You must have an extremely low threshold for amusement, because he’s a dire vortex of unfunny stupidity.
Apologies to Wonketteers of the Southern persuasion, but you could read Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity in an accent like that and sound like a total dope.
[re=626258]Lazy Media[/re]: And I say, more likely, he is getting pleasured by Tucker Carlson under the table.
[re=626470]WadISay[/re]: As you could in a Brooklyn or Queens accent or a Chicago accent. Meh.
“Dah masssss isss equal to da Bearss.”
I have decided that, despite being a resident of Virginia, I am going to run for Governor of Tennessee. My campaign platform will be: “[My Name}: The Sane One”
[re=626236]JMP[/re]: “Cult” is usually an insult, like “m*therf*cker”, a word much used in Tennessee. The difference between Muslims and Baptists is that Baptists eat pork and have worse music.
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