When you are a leader in a political party that has been mainstreaming offensive fringe beliefs? The last thing that you want to see is an actual journalist with a camera and a live microphone. If you are an individual who proudly holds extremist views? Nothing freaks you out more than a reporter putting your vile in-house nonsense on the record for everyone else to see and hear. All of America's various deranged and/or cynical politicians and pundits who thrive on, or who pander to, extremism have that in common. Well, that and their common radical resentment, perpetual bad faith, and an absolutely craven sense of greed and entitlement being righteously noble and just. The last thing in the world that any of them want is to be widely quoted.
At Heritage? Sure. On a National Review Online booze cruise to nowhere? Yes, sir. But that's it.
Thus, we have that sanctimonious and completely unbowed fever swamper's favorite lament.
For the greater good of the State of Nevada and the cause I support it is necessary for me to withdraw as Speaker Designee. The tens of thousands of people who both read my columns and listened to my radio shows through two decades in the media know this has been a carefully orchestrated attack to remove a conservative Republican from a major leadership role in State government. The deliberate character assassination and the politics of personal destruction have totally distorted my views and record. Ultimately, this whole attack has very little to do with my views. The powers that be are planning a massive, more than one billion dollar, tax increase and I stood in the way as Speaker. I have already served two terms as an Assemblyman without any of these vicious attacks. It was only when I had risen to leadership that this smear campaign occurred. That is the real reason for this and it is vital the public understands that.
-Nevada State Assemblyman Ira Hansen (R)
Ira Hansen, as you can see, will not be the new Speaker of the Nevada State Assembly.
Why?
Well, Ira has spent years writing down, and saying out loud, some pretty vile nasty nonsense. Let me spitball it for you. Okay. In the 21rst century? He still calls African-Americans "Negroes". At least when he's got his gumption on and his intellectual iron is really glowing white hot when it comes to his sharing the most profound and innermost thoughts. He treats dropping the term "darkies" like it's akin to a shoulder shrug. Something that runs the gambit from being a thing that he should be overtly proud of, to it merely being a slightly iffy kind of rhetorical tick. Eh. No Rush. What's the hurry? Like he should probably phase that out. One of these days. Maybe. If he really feels like it. But. No quotes. People who don't know him might... misunderstand.
And by 'misunderstand' him? What Ira actually means is 'totally understand him completely'.
Yes. That's right. Quoting him, you see, is smearing him. From his pity party press release:
The politics of personal destruction wins, and I need to step down. I hope that you all know that the Ira that you have known through these years and weeks is the real Ira and not what the media is painting me to be."
In the end, the real Ira was ultimately exposed by... the real Ira. Over a dozen years of columns printed in a tiny local newspaper called the Sparks Tribune that previously had no online archives to search. But then, all that changed. That teeny tiny little outlet up and decided to go digital and put their old and new material up online. This allowed the Reno News & Review to review that content for anything interesting or important that might, who knows, somehow have an effect on the rest of the state. Including the offensive dreck in the head and heart of the almost-to-be future Speaker of the incoming Nevada State Assembly. Something that probably never even occurred to Ira while he was busy practicing his gavel swing.
So now he is whining and grousing about how he's being done wrong. I'm the real victim here.
Ah, yes. The second-to-last refuge of a scoundrel. The "Politics of Personal Destruction" saw. The whole "deliberate character assassination" has "totally distorted my views and my record" gag. Yeah. That's it. That's why you had to step aside. You just happened to spend years and years obscurely spouting racist, sexist, and derpy nonsense to your commiserating federation of fellow travelers out in the comfy confines of talk radio, friendly small-to-tiny conservative outlets, and Bundyville. But its reporting what you said that is the real dark alley here. Even better? This howler. "Ultimately, this whole attack has very little to do with my views." Um. How about we just sample just a few of these views?
"The lack of gratitude and the deliberate ignoring of white history in relation to eliminating slavery is a disgrace that Negro leaders should own up to."
"The shrewd and calculating [black] 'leaders' are willing to sacrifice the children of their own race to gratify their lust for power and position."
"The relationship of Negroes and Democrats is truly a master-slave relationship, with the benevolent master knowing what’s best for his simple minded darkies."
"Locally, gangs and their associated criminal activity are obviously dominated by immigrants, especially Hispanic immigrants."
"You cannot read a story about criminals or watch a news report locally without noticing a grossly disproportionate amount of Hispanic involvement."
"Male homosexuals are grossly disproportionate in child molestation cases, and the youth orientation of male homosexuality drives this trend."
"I've been keeping a rough tally on homosexual/heterosexual molesters as reported locally, and roughly half of all molestations involve homosexual men preying on boys."
The Reno News and Review
Yeah.
Two things. One? No. You do not get to play the victim here. Two? Cripes, who's next up?
Because this fetid shit is really not all that rare or outlier behavior inside the current GOP.
Let's get real. It's not just Indignant Ira at the corner of Resentment Pander and I'm The Real Victim Here rolling this way. Lots of Movement Conservatives with wingnut welfare gigs, talk radio shows, even RW speechifying rackets play this game. First the dreck, and then the 'quoting me is smearing me' parachute. As a non-Conservative, no matter of what stripe or persuasion inside the tent, it has been clear for quite some time that the only thing the American Right understands, and fears, is the politics of the political bloody nose. They fear consequences like a cartoon slug fears a giant shaker of salt.
So you take a page out of the 'calling somebody a liar a bigger sin that being a liar' playbook.
It's a travesty that sometimes all that has to be done to make this kind of outrage go away is for those trying to point it out to also be members of the Democratic Party as well as outraged. Because a lot of pretty extreme people running for both the US House and the US Senate were given an outrageous free pass on views that are not all that far off from this kind of rot. What made them unserious issues to be raised? A (D). Which is exactly why somebody like this is able to convince himself that a "quoting me is smearing me" defense is something an extremist thinks might be a viable way to get out of a jam, if not mitigate the longterm damage to a career in public office. If this had been raised by a (D) in a race, are these ugly matters any less serious?
In some 2014 contests in this cycle, the shameful answer to that fully valid question was 'yes'.