Dying Bob Bennett apologizes to Muslims for Donald Trump

[RogueBeaver]

He wanted to apologize to all the Muslims in the hospital where he was dying, and before his illness he would approach women in hijabs and tell them he was happy they were in America and were welcome.

[This account no longer in use.]

Lots of respect for this guy. Why couldn't Lee have primaried Hatch instead?

[Indy Texas]

This is sad and you have to wonder if Trump winning the nomination was the literal "nail in the coffin" for RFB. He's had to watch the slow-motion collapse of his party for the past six years, after a lifetime in Republican politics. How must it feel to watch everything you worked so hard for go up in smoke so quickly?

[SATW]

RIP, Senator. Truly a good man.

[Zioneer]

He wanted to apologize to all the Muslims in the hospital where he was dying, and before his illness he would approach women in hijabs and tell them he was happy they were in America and were welcome.

Bob Bennett was one of the few Utah Republicans I actually respect/respected, and now that he's gone and another of my favorite Republicans is retiring from the state legislature, I can't think of a single one I actually respect.

[Indy Texas]

If the Democrats play their cards right this year, they could undo the monopoly the GOP has had on the Mormon vote since the 1980s.

It should be pretty obvious from their history that Mormons aren't big fans of discriminating against religious minorities. And since they live in an incredibly homogeneous region where pretty much everyone is white and Mormon, the two things that animate the GOP these days - resentment-fueled white identity politics and the Victimhood/Martyrdom Complex that Evangelical Christians have from occasionally having to encounter people who disagree with them - are absent.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Lots of respect for this guy. Why couldn't Lee have primaried Hatch instead?

Hatch had voted against the 2006 and 2007 immigration bills.


Also Bennett was up in 2010, Hatch was not.

[Angrie]

If the Democrats play their cards right this year, they could undo the monopoly the GOP has had on the Mormon vote since the 1980s.

It should be pretty obvious from their history that Mormons aren't big fans of discriminating against religious minorities. And since they live in an incredibly homogeneous region where pretty much everyone is white and Mormon, the two things that animate the GOP these days - resentment-fueled white identity politics and the Victimhood/Martyrdom Complex that Evangelical Christians have from occasionally having to encounter people who disagree with them - are absent.

There are getting to be more Mexicans. Although it is very strange how if you compare Utah to the surrounding states, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado... all seem to have larger Hispanic populations. Is there some sort of force field along the Utah border that keeps them out? Why this difference?

[ag]

If the Democrats play their cards right this year, they could undo the monopoly the GOP has had on the Mormon vote since the 1980s.

It should be pretty obvious from their history that Mormons aren't big fans of discriminating against religious minorities. And since they live in an incredibly homogeneous region where pretty much everyone is white and Mormon, the two things that animate the GOP these days - resentment-fueled white identity politics and the Victimhood/Martyrdom Complex that Evangelical Christians have from occasionally having to encounter people who disagree with them - are absent.

There are getting to be more Mexicans. Although it is very strange how if you compare Utah to the surrounding states, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado... all seem to have larger Hispanic populations. Is there some sort of force field along the Utah border that keeps them out? Why this difference?

Remember: one of the reasons the Mormons chose Utah was that it was in Mexico. There are still very close ties between them and northern Mexico, where there is a notable Anglo Mormon population (of course, there are also many Hispanic Mexican converts all over the country, but that is another matter). I mean, this guy



whose name is Jeffrey Jones, has been a PANista senator from Chihuahua during the Fox term and a federal undersecretary of agriculture under Calderon. Talk about links

[ag]

Rest in Peace, Senator. You will be missed.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

He was sure friendly to Muslims when he voted to invade Iraq. Or voted for Gitmo. Or voted for the PATRIOT Act and other laws that target Muslim Americans.

I am not shedding any tears for this prick. He was a Bush II era Republican in every sense of the term, and when the cracks started to form in the dam, he didn't lift a finger to plug them. Which is why, when the dam broke, he was the first to be carried away in the tidal wave. One sob story that I'm sure his children (who grew up in the elite Washington/NoVA bubble) made up to show that he was above the rubes doesn't do any justice to him. Bob Bennett was part of the problem, and not the solution.

RIP HP.

[publicunofficial]

He was sure friendly to Muslims when he voted to invade Iraq. Or voted for Gitmo. Or voted for the PATRIOT Act and other laws that target Muslim Americans.

I am not shedding any tears for this prick. He was a Bush II era Republican in every sense of the term, and when the cracks started to form in the dam, he didn't lift a finger to plug them. Which is why, when the dam broke, he was the first to be carried away in the tidal wave. One sob story that I'm sure his children (who grew up in the elite Washington/NoVA bubble) made up to show that he was above the rubes doesn't do any justice to him. Bob Bennett was part of the problem, and not the solution.

RIP HP.

God you're a dick.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

He was sure friendly to Muslims when he voted to invade Iraq. Or voted for Gitmo. Or voted for the PATRIOT Act and other laws that target Muslim Americans.

I am not shedding any tears for this prick. He was a Bush II era Republican in every sense of the term, and when the cracks started to form in the dam, he didn't lift a finger to plug them. Which is why, when the dam broke, he was the first to be carried away in the tidal wave. One sob story that I'm sure his children (who grew up in the elite Washington/NoVA bubble) made up to show that he was above the rubes doesn't do any justice to him. Bob Bennett was part of the problem, and not the solution.

RIP HP.

God you're a dick.

He does make an important point, though. The pre-Trump GOP wasn't really a beacon of acceptance toward the Muslims, both home and abroad.

[Phony Moderate]

He was sure friendly to Muslims when he voted to invade Iraq. Or voted for Gitmo. Or voted for the PATRIOT Act and other laws that target Muslim Americans.

I am not shedding any tears for this prick. He was a Bush II era Republican in every sense of the term, and when the cracks started to form in the dam, he didn't lift a finger to plug them. Which is why, when the dam broke, he was the first to be carried away in the tidal wave. One sob story that I'm sure his children (who grew up in the elite Washington/NoVA bubble) made up to show that he was above the rubes doesn't do any justice to him. Bob Bennett was part of the problem, and not the solution.

RIP HP.

God you're a dick.

He does make an important point, though. The pre-Trump GOP wasn't really a beacon of acceptance toward the Muslims, both home and abroad.

The Republicans also claim to be a party of personal responsibility; thus far they have taken almost no responsibility for the fact that they created TRUMP.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

He was sure friendly to Muslims when he voted to invade Iraq. Or voted for Gitmo. Or voted for the PATRIOT Act and other laws that target Muslim Americans.

I am not shedding any tears for this prick. He was a Bush II era Republican in every sense of the term, and when the cracks started to form in the dam, he didn't lift a finger to plug them. Which is why, when the dam broke, he was the first to be carried away in the tidal wave. One sob story that I'm sure his children (who grew up in the elite Washington/NoVA bubble) made up to show that he was above the rubes doesn't do any justice to him. Bob Bennett was part of the problem, and not the solution.

RIP HP.

God you're a dick.

He does make an important point, though. The pre-Trump GOP wasn't really a beacon of acceptance toward the Muslims, both home and abroad.

The Republicans also claim to be a party of personal responsibility; thus far they have taken almost no responsibility for the fact that they created TRUMP.

Absolutely. They tend to act like the party is an innocent victim of some crazy hijacker, but they made Trump possible. Trumps is just a logical consequence of their own actions.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

He was sure friendly to Muslims when he voted to invade Iraq. Or voted for Gitmo. Or voted for the PATRIOT Act and other laws that target Muslim Americans.

I am not shedding any tears for this prick. He was a Bush II era Republican in every sense of the term, and when the cracks started to form in the dam, he didn't lift a finger to plug them. Which is why, when the dam broke, he was the first to be carried away in the tidal wave. One sob story that I'm sure his children (who grew up in the elite Washington/NoVA bubble) made up to show that he was above the rubes doesn't do any justice to him. Bob Bennett was part of the problem, and not the solution.

RIP HP.

God you're a dick.

Reality can be very cruel.

[Zioneer]

He was sure friendly to Muslims when he voted to invade Iraq. Or voted for Gitmo. Or voted for the PATRIOT Act and other laws that target Muslim Americans.

I am not shedding any tears for this prick. He was a Bush II era Republican in every sense of the term, and when the cracks started to form in the dam, he didn't lift a finger to plug them. Which is why, when the dam broke, he was the first to be carried away in the tidal wave. One sob story that I'm sure his children (who grew up in the elite Washington/NoVA bubble) made up to show that he was above the rubes doesn't do any justice to him. Bob Bennett was part of the problem, and not the solution.

RIP HP.

Well, you're back on the ignore list.

But in any case, Bennett was not one of the worst; at the worst, he was a pretty generic Republican, no more warhawk-y or authoritarian than any other. Frankly, Utah's taken in thousands of Muslim refugees, which are now a thriving minority in Utah. Part of that was through Bennett's influence.

[Zioneer]

If the Democrats play their cards right this year, they could undo the monopoly the GOP has had on the Mormon vote since the 1980s.

It should be pretty obvious from their history that Mormons aren't big fans of discriminating against religious minorities. And since they live in an incredibly homogeneous region where pretty much everyone is white and Mormon, the two things that animate the GOP these days - resentment-fueled white identity politics and the Victimhood/Martyrdom Complex that Evangelical Christians have from occasionally having to encounter people who disagree with them - are absent.

There are getting to be more Mexicans. Although it is very strange how if you compare Utah to the surrounding states, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado... all seem to have larger Hispanic populations. Is there some sort of force field along the Utah border that keeps them out? Why this difference?

Remember: one of the reasons the Mormons chose Utah was that it was in Mexico. There are still very close ties between them and northern Mexico, where there is a notable Anglo Mormon population (of course, there are also many Hispanic Mexican converts all over the country, but that is another matter). I mean, this guy



whose name is Jeffrey Jones, has been a PANista senator from Chihuahua during the Fox term and a federal undersecretary of agriculture under Calderon. Talk about links

Also, there was a Brazilian Mormon senator, Moroni Bing Torgan. We do well in Latin America overall.

[Illiniwek]

RIP FF

[Oldiesfreak1854]

The Tea Party movement threw out one of the best Senators in the nation and replaced him with one of the worst.  Same goes for the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2009.

RIP, Senator. Truly a good man.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

He was sure friendly to Muslims when he voted to invade Iraq. Or voted for Gitmo. Or voted for the PATRIOT Act and other laws that target Muslim Americans.

I am not shedding any tears for this prick. He was a Bush II era Republican in every sense of the term, and when the cracks started to form in the dam, he didn't lift a finger to plug them. Which is why, when the dam broke, he was the first to be carried away in the tidal wave. One sob story that I'm sure his children (who grew up in the elite Washington/NoVA bubble) made up to show that he was above the rubes doesn't do any justice to him. Bob Bennett was part of the problem, and not the solution.

RIP HP.

Well, you're back on the ignore list.

But in any case, Bennett was not one of the worst; at the worst, he was a pretty generic Republican, no more warhawk-y or authoritarian than any other. Frankly, Utah's taken in thousands of Muslim refugees, which are now a thriving minority in Utah. Part of that was through Bennett's influence.

If you're that sensitive to criticism of a Utah politician, then you ought to avoid BRTD and company instead of me, but whatevs.

Bob Bennett and the "generic Republicans" were the biggest and loudest hawks. Thad Cochran, John McCain, Bennett, Lindsey Graham, and Richard Shelby are not "reasonable" Republicans. They followed the call to war. They pushed the Federal Marriage Amendment. They pushed the Bush tax cuts and No Child Left Behind.

Bob Bennett was the consulate insider. He was a career lobbyist turned Senator. Quit pining and yearning for a return to the pre-Tea Party Senate. The Bush era Republican caucus were collaborators in the slow  financial erosion of this country. Get out into the rest of America and see Bob Bennett for what he was: the problem. He wasn't even a colorful part of the Washington elite, which was why his "storied career" ended with a sad whimper.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

Well yes I'm grateful that he's apologizing to my community I don't think he's going to be accepted by many people after his vote for the Iraq war that did result in the deaths of over a million Iraqi Muslims or the Patriot Act that he voted for which has for the large part unfairly targeted many Muslims in this country I'm just stating a simple truth and if anybody wants to put me on ignore for that be my guest.

Also note that unlike chairman Sanchez I do not think that Bob Bennett was that bad of a guy all I'm saying here is just that you can't take back a vote that resulted in the deaths of over a million people on false pretenses and I'm not angry at him I'm just upset that so many people could have been fooled into voting for that but that's besides the point I'm glad that in the final steps of his life he took the time to try to make amends to our community for the mistakes that he made and I'm not going to bash him like chairman Sanchez does.

[SWE]

at the worst, he was a pretty generic Republican, .

That's pretty bad tbf

[Zioneer]

Well yes I'm grateful that he's apologizing to my community I don't think he's going to be accepted by many people after his vote for the Iraq war that did result in the deaths of over a million Iraqi Muslims or the Patriot Act that he voted for which has for the large part unfairly targeted many Muslims in this country I'm just stating a simple truth and if anybody wants to put me on ignore for that be my guest.

Also note that unlike chairman Sanchez I do not think that Bob Bennett was that bad of a guy all I'm saying here is just that you can't take back a vote that resulted in the deaths of over a million people on false pretenses and I'm not angry at him I'm just upset that so many people could have been fooled into voting for that but that's besides the point I'm glad that in the final steps of his life he took the time to try to make amends to our community for the mistakes that he made and I'm not going to bash him like chairman Sanchez does.

Very good points there; I admit that I am a little defensive of Utah politicians (really the state more than the politicians themselves) when they actually do something good, but I fully agree with you here. And I don't tend to like speaking ill of the recent dead unless they were really, really awful.

And full disclosure, I didn't actually bother to put anybody on ignore.

at the worst, he was a pretty generic Republican, .

That's pretty bad tbf

True, but as we've seen, one can be far, far worse.

[DavidB.]

Well yes I'm grateful that he's apologizing to my community I don't think he's going to be accepted by many people after his vote for the Iraq war that did result in the deaths of over a million Iraqi Muslims or the Patriot Act that he voted for which has for the large part unfairly targeted many Muslims in this country I'm just stating a simple truth and if anybody wants to put me on ignore for that be my guest.

Also note that unlike chairman Sanchez I do not think that Bob Bennett was that bad of a guy all I'm saying here is just that you can't take back a vote that resulted in the deaths of over a million people on false pretenses and I'm not angry at him I'm just upset that so many people could have been fooled into voting for that but that's besides the point I'm glad that in the final steps of his life he took the time to try to make amends to our community for the mistakes that he made and I'm not going to bash him like chairman Sanchez does.

So these are really two sentences? Wow.