Rep. Nunes calls Hill aides ‘staff thugs,’ compares Pelosi to Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe.

[RedEarth]

Some of the most inflammatory rhetoric in recent days surrounding the health care debate has come from Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), who excused the racist, homophobic slurs at the recent Capitol Hill Tea Party by saying that they were a justifiable response to Democrats’ “totalitarian tactics.” He has also said Democratic congressmen from California are “part of this totalitarian regime in Washington” whose “votes are for sale.” McClatchy reports that he is now comparing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to infamous international dictators:

Nunes said Pelosi and her lieutenant, Rep. George Miller, D-Concord, want to cut off Valley irrigation water because “they are radical environmental crazies,” and he explicitly likened the House leaders’ water policies to those of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the current Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe.

Saddam’s forces killed between 30,000 and 60,000 of the so-called Marsh Arabs in the early 1990s, following an uprising encouraged by the first Bush administration after the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War. Saddam’s campaign included destroying marshlands. Mugabe’s corrupt security forces practice torture and “politically motivated, arbitrary and unlawful killings,” according to the State Department’s annual human rights report. Some activists allege Mugabe’s repressive tactics include cutting off water supplies to dissident cities.

Nunes also took a shot at aides who work on Capitol Hill, calling them “‘staff thugs,’ who watch over lawmakers during votes.” Nunes’ comments are similar to those of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), who urged bankers to lobby against financial reform and not be deterred by the “little punk staffers” who work in Congress

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/26/nunes-thugs/

[gratuitous]

1. Wow, somebody's a sore loser

Rep. Nunes is apparently quite upset with that whole, new-fangled "majority rules" concept, and he's totally unfamiliar with his party watching over lawmaker during votes or selling their votes for campaign contributions. No, the continued prosperity of Halliburton's bottom line is a cause in which many of his brother Republicans believe deeply.

What a tool.

[Hekate]

2. The water accusation is serious fightin' words in this dry State. He's trying to be dangerous...

As for the "staffer" allegations -- how are these jerks going to find anyone to work for them?

Hekate

[anigbrowl]

5. My thoughts exactly - access to water is an extremely emotive issue in central CA.

This article is not ideal - I would have preferred a more non-partisan source, but the only one I can find that's better and more informative is behind a paywall.

http://www.alternet.org/story/146130/?page=entire

Very quick summary: most of California's fresh water is in the North of the state. For almost a century, LA has sucked away a lot of that water because it's in a desert. Big agribusiness and other concerns own a lot of cheap land in the dry central valley. California has had a drought for several years. Aforesaid large businesses want the state to spend billions building a canal to irrigate their land make $$$$ from both building contracts and farming, but obviously that's going to leave the rest of CA seriously short of water. Also, problems with the water infrastructure have caused massive environmental damage and destroyed large parts of a once-thriving fishing industry.

There is a ballot proposal on whether to implement this massive canal plan or not in November. One one side, city-dwellers and small farmers who are mostly against. On the other, a few big corporations, in counties with massive unemployment and social problems, which vote heavily Republican, and who are mostly for it. I think you can guess which part of the state Devin Nunes comes from.

There are many many billions of dollars at stake just in the short term; in the longer term it is literally a fight over who will have the most control over the state's economy. The CA GOP is dominated by maniacs. This fight has been going on over the last 50 years and is coming to an epic showdown in November. You do the math.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. So, why are these people attacking the staff?

What's going on?

[anigbrowl]

4. Easy target

If someone assaults a member of Congress, they are in massive trouble - it's a federal offense and chances are they will be sent to federal prison for a long time. A congressional aide enjoys no such protections, nor are their names or faces familiar to the general public.

'Thugs' and 'punks' make fine dogwhistles since they sound like the sort of people who do unsavory things to innocent people, and need to be defended against by, ah, 'public-spirited citizens'.

[Hekate]

6. It's really cowardly rhetoric, isn't it? nt