Hate from the Heartland: Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart
What do you do if you're a county commissioner in Oklahoma up for re-election and facing criminal charges of felonious misuse of campaign funds? If you're Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart, you commission the creation of a 16-page comic book that looks like it was drawn by a sixth-grader, fill it with bigotry and allegations that your opponents are "pedifiles" working for Satan, set yourself up as a messianic figure at the center of a battle between angels and devils, and do everything you can to rally your local fundamentalists. You pretend that anyone who stands in your way is in favor of allowing gay men to rape Boy Scouts.
In short, you do as much to play upon hate, fear and ignorance as you can, all the while exhibiting your own embrace of the basest traits that humanity has to offer alongside your own illiteracy. Then you wrap it all up with a neat little ribbon and launch it toward the doorsteps of your jurisdiction.
Mud-Slinging Comic Book Stirs Up ScandalABC News was kind enough to archive a copy of Rinehart's "comic book" at the link above. I used that copy to produce my own copy of the noxious campaign comic book, which I've annotated with a few comments but otherwise left in all its pristine, hateful, narcissistic glory.
Oklahoma County Official Creates Comic Featuring Gays in Togas, Satan
By MARCUS BARAM, ABC News
Political candidates looking for an edge have employed all types of cutthroat tactics to sully their opponents, from TV ads depicting nuclear war and paroled murderer-rapists to flyers alleging interracial relationships and criminal fraud.
And then there was the 16-page homophobic comic book featuring Satan, angels, toga-wearing gay people and crude depictions of public officials discussing "anal sodomy" and "Pedifiles."
Brent Rinehart, an Oklahoma County Commissioner locked in a tough reelection race, spent two months creating the comic book and is preparing to send it out to registered Republicans in his district...
The book also attacks Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who filed felony campaign finance charges against Rinehart last year related to his 2004 campaign for county commissioner. Rinehart's trial is set to begin in September.
Edmondson is depicted holding a sign that says "Gay rights now!" while Rinehart's figure blasts the attorney general for his decision to "force the Boy Scouts to accept homosexuals as scout leaders, a pedifile's [sic] dream come true."
Though the book's content has stirred up scandal and been widely condemned by politicians in Oklahoma, Rinehart is unrepentant, misspellings aside.
"I'm proud of it," he tells ABCNews.com. "It's a novel way to tell a story about the last three and a half years. It's informative, entertaining and a good read..."
If you thought that Oklahoma legislator Sally Kern was a vile and hateful malignancy infesting America's heartland, you're just going to love the hell out of self-appointed fundamentalist messiah and all-around example of what's wrong with American politics Brent Rinehart.
