#448: Sharron Angle

Sharron Angle is an utterly, fanatically insane Nevada politician and the 2010 Senate Republican candidate, challenging majority leader Harry Reid after beating the incompetent, rather crazy (but certainly less so than Angle) Sue Lowden in the primaries. She lost that one, partially, one suspects (and hopes) because of incidents such as her addressing a group of Hispanic students with: “I don't know that all of you are Latino, some of you look a little more Asian to me.” When it dimly occurred to her that this statement could be deemed unstrategic with respect to the upcoming election, she tried to save the situation with: “I'm evidence of that. I've been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada state assembly.” At one point Angle would have been the kind of wingnut stupid that a political party would have tried to silence during the campaigns; currently it seems to be mainstreamed.

Among her positions and policy suggestions are:

- The view that there is no separation of church and state in the Constitution – but then again, Angle doesn’t even begin to understand (or know) the first thing about the Constitution.

- That “2nd amendment remedies” would be a proper solution if the Tea Party doesn't get what it wants on Election Day.

- Opposition to abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, because she believes that pregnancies under such circumstances are part of God's plan. And with respect to her view on gay rights, this one is illuminating (though the responsible loon is one Janine Hansen, current executive director of the Independent Party of America in Nevada).

- Government cannot create jobs, but  Harry Reid should still be making more jobs in Nevada.

- Trying to get the Scientology programs Narconon and Purification Rundown into the Nevada jail system. Her defense was predictably stupid.

- Dominionism.

- Calling for shutting down the Department of Education and suggesting that people should “depend on God for our daily bread, not on the government”.

- Attempting to ban black jerseys from the Tonopah High School football team, because black is a color of the devil and evil spirits.

- Comparing the Sufi Muslim group who is planning Park51 in Manhattan to “militant terrorists”.

She also criticized Fox News for oppressing her because they insisted on asking her questions: “We wanted them to ask the questions we want to answer, so that they report the news the way we want it reported.” (Yes, she said that.) I don’t think that reflects any deep understanding of the role of the press.

After the 2010 loss Angle seems to have faded from sight a bit, but in 2012 she teamed up with none other than Orly Taitz to combat election fraud, which Angle says is the only reason she lost her Senate race to Harry Reid.

Diagnosis: This Angle is obtuse (hat tip Corpus Callosum). But blunt things can be harmful as well.