Brent Rinehart = Loser

Oklahoma pol Brent Rhinehart, who made national news with his homophobic comic book, came in last in yesterday's three-way primary. Which gives him plenty of free time to fight those felony corruption charges.

After being denounced for mailing out a crude campaign comic book and trounced in his Republican primary, Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart now can move on to his next battle — in district court. Rinehart is scheduled to appear at an Oklahoma County District Court hearing on Thursday in connection with several felony campaign corruption charges he's facing in connection with his previous campaign.

On Tuesday, Rinehart was tossed out of office by voters in his district, finishing third in a three-way primary with 1,900 votes, or 21 percent. "I've been battling and battling for many years, and I believe even though I still had some fight left in me, I don't believe the public had it left in them," Rinehart said Tuesday night. "I don't in any way blame them."

(Via - Towleroad)

OK Pol Brent Rinehart Defends Comic Book

An excerpt via Towleroad:

"Well, I'm not even sure as to what homophobic means, but let's just keep in mind that we are in a cultural war. Not just here in the state of Oklahoma, but nationwide. And I have seen pictures and I have seen viewings of gay pride parades around the nation here and the state of Oklahoma, and that's the very same attire and the very same billboards that you see in these parades. So, the thing about it is, when you're putting out a message it lands on particular people's feet and they don't necessarily like the message, that doesn't mean that the message isn't true."

OK Pol Uses Homophobic Comic Book

Via Towleroad comes the story of Oklahoma politician Brent Rinehart's homophobic comic book, which he is using to attack the people he thinks are trying to run him out of his OK County Commission office:

The "liberal good ol' boys,” gays and Satan are doing everything they can to get Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart out of office, a comic book prepared by his re-election campaign claims. The comic book, obtained Wednesday by The Oklahoman, is expected to be mailed to voters by Rinehart's campaign, Rinehart said.

"A drowning man tends to thrash about,” state Attorney General Drew Edmondson, one of the targets in the book, said through a spokesman. "Nothing Rinehart says is worthy of comment or rebuttal.”

Edmondson filed felony campaign finance charges against Rinehart last year, alleging Rinehart and his former campaign manager illegally funded the 2004 campaign for county commissioner. A trial has been scheduled for September.

Another of the book's targets, Sheriff John Whetsel, called it "extremely pathetic and very bigoted. I was taken back that in 2008, a candidate would use that type of inflammatory material and do it under the name of being a Christian.”

"This is one of the strangest things I've ever seen,” said Keith Gaddie, a political science professor at the University of Oklahoma. "I've never seen a comic book with the phrase ‘anal sodomy' in it before. That was a new one for me.” Gaddie said comics were common political campaign tools decades ago, but not for today. "He's pretty much grinding every ax he's got from his days in the county commission,” Gaddie said. "In a way, it's a sophisticated piece.”

In one sequence, Satan says: "If I can get the kids to believe homosexuality is normal!” The angel replies: "Hey Satan, not with Brent around you won't!”

Illustrations by Sally Kern.