The rich get richer

And some of the Republican politicians get dumber

Last week, a Connecticut Republican state representative (Anne Dauphinais, of Killingly) went to the Facebook page of the fabulous CT News Junkie and said in a comment something she insists other people are thinking but are too afraid to say.

What are we all thinking but are too afraid to say? She compared Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont to Adolph Hitler. Here she is explaining herself on something called IAmPepesWastedLife, which, having given the recording 13:51 minutes of my life, I can say I will never listen to the thing again, ever.

Gov. Lamont is requiring all state employees and certain early childhood teachers to get vaccinated against the deadly COVID virus, and Dauphinais, who says she’s a nurse, and who, God help us, serves on the legislative public health committee, cannot remember a single solitary time when the U.S. government has required U.S. residents to seek a particular medical treatment.

Honest-to-God drawing of honest-to-God vaccines from long before Dauphinais’ time

Reader: We draw your and Dauphinais’ attention to smallpox vaccines during the Revolutionary War, Massachusetts in 1902 — also smallpox, and in modern times places like Florida — four doses of Diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP), four doses of polio (IPV), two doses of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), two doses of chickenpox, Hepatitis B, and pneumococcal conjugate (PCV13), and haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) — all before a Florida child can enter kindergarten. Have I missed any?

Why, yes. I have.

Here the representative is on her Facebook page, digging herself an even deeper hole:

There’s more but it doesn’t illuminate things much.

Let’s recognize that the “I’m only saying what you’re too afraid to say” is the go-to explanation of people who’ve royally stepped in it. All hail the First Amendment, and now comes the part about the First Amendment that Dauphinais would do well to remember: When you, an elected official, publicly say something ignorant or offensive or both, then you must expect others to discuss what you said, loudly and in public. In Dauphinais’ case, one of those discussions included a rare joint statement from leaders of both main political parties in the state condemning her offensive, ignorant post.

Herself

Part of the statement said:

There is simply no comparison between contemporary political issues and the actions of Hitler and his accomplices who were responsible for the murders of over 6 million Jews and millions of other victims. Our caucuses stand strong against these references becoming normalized in our politics and our communities.

So Rep. Dauphinais, as you double down and refuse to apologize, I hope this at least helps you think before you post again. And Killingly? Honest to God, is this what you want in an elected representative? Dauphinais’ term ends Jan. 4, 2023.