Chris Wade analyzes a 2008 conservativepunk.com editorial detailing how Republican town halls in July 2008 mirrored punk rock aggression, citing incidents where supporters used profanity like "shit" and "bitch" against John McCain and Hillary Clinton. The segment highlights extreme behavior, including an Iowa audience member asking about McCain's alleged use of a "c-word" for his wife and a Columbus reporter allegedly shitting on his hand to throw at McCain. Ultimately, the discussion suggests modern Republicans have abandoned traditional decorum for a raw, expletive-laden style akin to Johnny Ramones and Ted Nugent, fundamentally altering political engagement through shock and passion. [Automatically generated summary]
The last editorial that I wanted to cover from conservativepunk.com is titled, Republicans Show Punk Attitude at Town Halls.
So this is again from 2008.
This is July.
2008, this is July.
If we needed some proof that conservatives can be punk, we only need to look at the recent spell of supporters who have been cursing and breaking all formality at McCain's meetings.
It seems the new conservatives of the day have significantly broken from past stereotypes.
This is this from Fox News.
In this case, a woman who identified herself as a McCain campaign volunteer used her question to complain that the paid staffers were not pulling their weight.
Quote, I am going to do a little straight talk here, she said at the Rochester New Hampshire Forum.
Mine is not really a question.
So we're off to a good start.
Yes, of course.
Oh, that's so gross.
I hate that.
Put your hand down.
Mine's not so much of a question or a comment as it is a complaint.
It is a statement about a lot of your campaign staff members, and I can tell you right now, I know I will be on top of their shit list, but I could care less.
And then quote, shush, McCain said before the woman continued with her critical remarks.
And then another piece of this Fox News article, first a woman in South Carolina, or first was a woman in South Carolina who during the Democratic primary season late last year asked McCain of Hillary Clinton, how do we beat the bitch?
Then there was a man in Pipersville, Pennsylvania last month who urged McCain not to get involved, quote, in all that bullshit nasty politics.
That was outdone by the audience member who asked McCain at an Iowa town hall in May whether it's true that you called your wife a cunt.
Whoa!
So much for the Republicans of old.
It seems more than ever the Republicans are breaking rank with the traditionalist image that we have.
I think it is safe to say that the Republican Party more than ever is a party of the Johnny Ramones and Ted Nugents out there who want their freedom back and are not afraid to add some passion and expletives to it.
In Columbus, one reporter shit into his hand, broke glass and threw it at McCain's head.
Another member, yeah, cut himself and rubbed the defecation into the wound.
Yeah.
He was like, what the heck?
This isn't a question as much as a comment.
Yeah.
I love this.
Hey, these aren't your daddies conservatives.
These are punk conservatives.
They call women bitches and cunts.
Awful.
It's awful, people.
Not like the conservatives of yesteryear.
Oh yeah, it's like the essential funniness that the most punk thing that they're doing is using swears.
But then also the dual thing of one of them using swears and McCain immediately trying to shut it down and another one using a swear to quote something that McCain said himself.
Yep.
So is perhaps McCain the most punk here by calling his wife a c-word?
I mean, you think you're punk rock for breaking a guitar.