5 Childhood Heroes Republicans Turned to Complete Assholes
It’s a terrible feeling to lose respect for someone you once admired. While it’s nothing for your opinion of people like Republican contender Donald Trump to get even lower, it’s particularly disheartening when our childhood heroes let us down. Unfortunately, this is sometimes just a fact of life, and looking back on my own childhood heroes, it became quite apparent that it’s the GOP that turned them into pricks.
CHILDHOOD HEROES REPUBLICANS RUINEDChuck NorrisWe all know who Chuck Norris is. If you weren’t old enough to enjoy watching him fighting Bruce Lee, which I wasn’t, you at least know him from the Chuck Norris jokes. After all… didn’t you know they once named a street after Chuck Norris? Unfortunately, they had to change the name, because no one crosses Chuck Norris and survives.
I mostly remember him from Walker, Texas Ranger. The show ran from 1993 to 2001, and it was as a sixth grader, who wasn’t worried about Republicans or Democrats, that I began watching it. I absolutely loved the show. To see a hardcore badass take on evil guys every week? It was something significant. Especially for me, a liberal in the south, watching a Texas lawman fight for justice.
Sadly, the man he portrayed on television is nothing like the real Norris. He currently writes for WorldNetDaily, an ultra conservative “news” website that consistently put out “birther” conspiracies claiming President Obama wasn’t American. In one of his articles, Norris had this to say:
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“Indeed, as I just wrote in a former column, Obama has literally helped build the environment for the Apocalypse, as defined by both Muslims and Christians.”
He also campaigned for Republican Mike Huckabee’s presidential run in 2008 and supported the Jade Helm 15 conspiracy theory that America was going to invade… America. He’s perfectly content with anti-gay rules in the Boy Scouts and, as you can see in the video below, joined his wife in saying President Obama’s reelection would lead to “socialism, or something much worse” in America along with “1,000 years of darkness.”
You’re drunk, Chuck. Go home.
Steven SeagalIf you’ve only recently become acquainted with Steven Seagal, you may think of him as nothing more than a Hollywood has-been. Of course, it wasn’t always this way. In the early ’90s, he could be found consistently saving the day in films like Under Seige, On Deadly Ground, and The Patriot (not the good one). And just like Chuck Norris, he’s not just a badass on screen. He actually has a 7th degree black belt in Aikido.
Unfortunately, being a badass doesn’t make you smart or logical. Remember, for instance, when Republicans were supporting Russian president Vladimir Putin just because he and Obama were at odds? Yeah, Seagal did the same thing. He called Putin “one of the great living world leaders” and even supported Crimea’s annexation by Russia.
Sadly, that’s not the only area he goes off the rails. When he attended a conservative conference, which you can view the video of below, he had plenty of stupid things to say. My favorite was when he said President Obama had issued nearly 1,000 executive orders. This is hilarious since, currently, Obama’s total only sits at 216. In fact, you have to go back to Andrew Jackson to find someone with a better executive order track record.
Hear me out on that one: Many presidents since Andrew Jackson, including Republicans, have issued fewer executive orders than President Obama. Funnily enough, though, ALL of these presidents were either elected only once or died while in office. So all the way back to Andrew Jackson, the only presidents who issued fewer executive orders than Obama weren’t actually able to finish out two terms.
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Of course, that’s neither here nor there. Here’s the rest of Seagal’s speech, including his quoting of Ted Nugent and saying Obama would be impeached if the truth about Benghazi came out — without ever actually mentioning the “truth” about Benghazi.
Clint EastwoodMy first exposure to Clint Eastwood was when A Fistful of Dollars was shown in the Back to the Future trilogy. From that point on, I just had to know about the guy. After I watched Man with No Name and the Dirty Harry films, one thing became apparent: Eastwood was a badass. Sadly, he would come to let me down as well.
Let’s get this one out of the way really quick: Clint Eastwood isn’t a complete prick. He has openly supported gay marriage, disapproved of the Iraqi War, remained pro-choice over the years, gave money to groups pushing for an Equal Rights Amendment, and agrees with a “certain amount of gun control.” So in reality, he’s let me down the least of all these individuals.
Of course, his speech at the Republican National Convention cannot be overlooked. During it, which you can see portions of in the video below, he seems to imply that the 2001 war in Afghanistan was somehow Obama’s fault. After the speech, he had this to say:
“President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”
Because of these types of statements, I’m currently not his biggest fan, but I also can’t completely despise him thanks to many of the liberal views he holds. Eastwood just goes to show that even an unbroken clock will break occasionally.
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Elisabeth HasselbeckThis is probably more one of my heroes than yours, and you’re likely surprised I mentioned her. After all, many people only know her from her stint on The View followed by her “look at me, I’m stupid” career on the Republican propaganda machine, Fox News. What you might not realize, though, is that she first burst on the scene as a hero to women everywhere.
In Survivor: The Australian Outback, Hasselbeck, then known as Elisabeth Filarski, was a member of the Kucha tribe. During the game, her entire tribe was decimated. Like a champ, though, she remained the last surviving member of that tribe. At one point, she even went nine straight hours in a physical challenge during the game.
I was about 15 years old when the show came out, and all I saw was this gorgeous, sweet, young woman willing to fight to conquer the show. Alas, we all know what came next. She’s now said that emergency contraception is equal to “birthing a baby and leaving it out in the street,” claimed that waterboarding isn’t torture, stated that older women are only lesbians because they can’t get a man, and slut shamed a stalking victim.
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Unfortunately, our website’s server could not handle the additional load of typing in every dumb statement Hasselbeck has ever made. Honestly, though, this one is quite a shame. More than just a hero, the Fox News diva was a teenage crush. What’s even worse than that? She’s forced me to agree with Donald Trump on something.
Kevin SorboI’ll be honest with you: this one really did break my heart. Kevin Sorbo was the star ofHercules: The Legendary Journeys. He portrayed Greek demigod Heracles, known in Roman mythology as Hercules, in an epic show that ran six seasons. This show spawned other stars such as Lucy Lawless and Ryan Gosling, and it even introduced B-movie great, Bruce Campbell, to a whole new audience.
Sadly, he would become the most significant childhood hero to betray me. In fact, I literally have no clue how he still gets work at this point. The things he posts on his Facebook pageare borderline psychotic. Go ahead, check the page out. You don’t even have to scroll down to find craziness; it’s all there on full display. At this moment, here’s his latest post:
Only hours before that post, he decided to blame President Obama and liberals for the murder of a police officer.
He also shared a story flaunting this inaccurate and logically-defunct meme.
[Shout-out to President Obama] Let me be clear, this is America and Hercules is free to believe whatever he wants. He’s even free to spout delusional and paranoid conspiracy theories on his Facebook page. Unfortunately, he’s left many of his fans behind. Sorbo was literally my favorite action hero growing up. I had all the action figures and stayed up until after midnight every week to watch his show.
That’s why this one hurts most of all. It just goes to show how great Hollywood actors actually are. A guy can play a caring, understanding, smart individual on television and still be turned into a complete asshole by the GOP. Ah, Kevin… I’ll remember the good times. For now, though, here’s audio of the former hero reasoning that atheists are mad because they know God is real. Seriously… |
