Republicans, Cannibalism and Headlines

WC subscribes to the Idaho Statesman, a Boise-based, very nearly daily newspaper. The digital edition includes notifications, and pretty much every locally written news story or opinion piece results in a notification in WC’s email box. Above you can see two of those notifications, sent about an hour and a half apart.

Idaho cannibalism and Tasty tacos? Idaho cannibalism and the Republicans eating their own? Is there anyone at the newspaper who thinks about this stuff before it goes out? In the event, it’s nothing more than more stupidity, more Republican self-destruction and still more stupidity. But parsing it give you a nice look into what’s going on with the Republicans in control of the Gem State.

The stupid starts with one of its true champions, Idaho Rep. Heather Scott (R, North Idaho). Rep. Scott has has that special mix of gullibility, ignorance and poor impulse control that puts her near the top of the short list of idiot state legislators. Reportedly, she saw a spoof video clip where diced human bodies were served as food, a comic sketch as old as Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. Likely because of that special strain of gullibility that Rep. Scott brings to her world view, she believed it. She thought it was real. You can only wonder what she would have thought of Soylent Green.

You or WC, confronted with an advertisement for cannibalism, might have done a little research before acting. But instead Rep. Scott’s poor impulse control cut in and she drafted a legislative bill to ban cannibalism in Idaho.¹ Confronted with her error – WC pities the poor staffer who had to explain – that strong vein of stupid took over, and she switched her justification for her anti-cannibalism bill to objections to “human composting,” the ritual disposal of human bodies by decomposition. Rep. Scott confused decomposition of human bodies with composting, saying (paywalled), “I didn’t want to see that in my Home Depot stores.”

Back when WC worked at his law firm, and we’d screen new attorneys for potential hire, we took the view that we could teach new lawyers the skills necessary to be good lawyer, but that we couldn’t fix stupid. You have to have a minimum level of smarts to succeed, to be able to learn those indispensable lawyering skills. The same is true for effective legislators. You can’t fix stupid.

Which takes us to the metaphoric cannibalism committed by the Idaho State House.

Rep. Megan Blanksma (R, Hammett), was removed from her position as majority leader, the most senior position in the House after Speaker Mike Moyle. She was the first woman in Idaho history to hold the position, and the only woman in the House Republican leadership. She was sacked for heinous offense of voting against a railroaded state budget. She was fired for doing what her constituents – you know, voters – wanted her to do. Her symbolic action had no effect on the outcome – the Republicans have a supermajority in both branches of the legislature. But it was pure anathema to Republican leadership, and to the omnipresent Idaho Republican puppet master, the Idaho Freedom Foundation. And so she had to go. It’s the Idaho mini-version of the Congressional cannibalism of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and for much the same reason. It’s the sight of a political party eating itself. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

And finally, what Idaho Statesman editor – or algorithm – put “cannibalism” and “tasty tacos” in the same email notification subject line? That’ll boost the struggling paper’s circulation, you betcha. The late Howard Weaver, a real journalist, formerly with the McClatchy newspaper chain that owns the Statesman, is rolling in his grave.

WC doesn’t regard himself as the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but it sure feels like we are drowning in stupid.

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¹ Ironically enough, Idaho is one of the few, maybe the only, state that actually bans cannibalism. You have to wonder what circumstances led to that law being on the books. And more proof of Rep. Scott’s stupidity.