THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
(apologies to Keith Olbermann)
Steve Kush
Steve Kush, the executive director of the Bernalillo County Republican Party in New Mexico, called a 19-year-old Working America volunteer a “radical bitch” on Twitter Tuesday night after she testified before the county commission in favor of raising the minimum wage…. “Nice hat Working America chick but damn you are a radical bitch,” Kush tweeted.
Wow.
Just…wow.
I can think of nothing that could possibly be said to sugarcoat the epic stupidity, insensitivity, and condescension displayed by Steve Kush, who clearly has the Republican “stupid gene.” Just when you might begin to think that maybe, just maybe, the GOP’s outreach efforts might be legitimate and something resembling heartfelt, The Stupid happens. In most cases, it’s a Republican simply not recognizing that the mere act of having a thought doesn’t ipso facto translate to having to voice it. Some thoughts are, in fact, pretty offensive…and most of us know when to keep our mouths shut and take the high road. Kush evidently possesses no such filter, to the embarrassment of himself, his party, and his family. Why Kush would think that a woman is unworthy of being taken seriously simply because she’s young and a Liberal is something only he can explain.
And it gets worse:
He also referred to Maggie Hart Stebbins, the chairwoman of the county commission and a Democrat, as a “Gestapo leader,” writing on Facebook, “Gestapo leader Hart Stebbins reduced comments to 1 and a half mins. Anything to suppress opposing views.”
Ah, so the chair, also a woman, doesn’t hew to Kush’s view of the world…and so she’s also unworthy of being taken seriously and is in fact worthy of being grossly insulted. It shouldn’t take a Ph.D. to figure out that Kush is a pig, and that Kush is guilty of what he accuses the chairwoman of trying to do- suppressing opposing views. When a Democrat does it (especially a woman), it’s the worst sort of Nazi censorship and oppression imaginable. When a Republican does it, it’s efficient and sensible governance.
Right….
ProgressNow New Mexico, a progressive advocacy organization, said on Wednesday that Kush should resign. “In a state run by one of the country’s most high-profile Republican women, the party’s leaders appear to see nothing wrong with misogynistic statements towards working women time and time again,” said spokeswoman Marsha Garcia. “Mr. Kush should resign.”
“If the Republican Party wants to know why they have such a hard time connecting with young women, they should start by examining the very public way their leaders feel about young working women,” said executive director Pat Davis.
ProgressNow New Mexico confirmed that the woman who was the target of Kush’s first remark is 19 years old, but Working America said that she wished to remain anonymous.
To her credit, the anonymous 19-year-old young woman has displayed significantly more class and simple human decency than Kush appears capable of. Sometimes, the best way to savor a victory is to watch your opponent hoist himself on his own petard. It seems Kush may be hanging for awhile; he’s been “suspended indefinitely without pay” for his remarks.
Time for a long ride down the Schadenfreude Expressway….
