Republican West Virginia Governor Jim Justice had a not-so-subtle message for singer Bette Midler and other limousine liberals.
At the end of his State of the State address, he held up his famous bulldog Babydog – backward, so his butt was pointing up, and said: “Babydog tells Bette Midler and all those out there, kiss her hiney.”
The rear-end move drew a standing ovation from members of the West Virginia legislature.
Governor Jim Justice had a message for those who doubted West Virginia in his State of the State address.https://t.co/uhY6pjRra7
— WVNS 59News (@WVNS59News) January 28, 2022
Before Justice presented Babydog’s hiney, he listed some of West Virginia’s accomplishments, including the fact that the state has lowest unemployment rate in its history. “They never believed they would be here. They told every bad joke in the world about us,” Justice said.
In December, Midler took aim at Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who at the time was opposing President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion spending bill.
“What #JoeManchin, who represents a population smaller than Brooklyn, has done to the rest of America, who wants to move forward, not backward, like his state, is horrible. He sold us out. He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out,” Midler wrote on Twitter.
Justice hit Midler after her tweet.
“Bette, it’s cruel, and it’s really, really unfair. You know, we’ve had a struggle, just like anybody’s had a struggle, but just think about what we’ve done. In the last few years, we have become the diamond in the rough that everybody’s missed. We have the four most beautiful seasons on the planet. Absolutely, we have the very best people, and I would welcome you to come and see these people. See these people that really care. People that love and appreciate what others by what they do,” Justice said.
The backlash to Midler’s tweet was so intense that the singer later apologized, blaming her “outburst” on passion for the topic at hand.
“I apologize to the good people of WVA for my last outburst,” she wrote on Twitter. “I’m just seeing red; #JoeManchin and his whole family are a criminal enterprise. Is he really the best WV has to offer its own citizens? Surely there’s someone there who has the state’s interests at heart, not his own!”
The left-wing activist also made headlines last September when she recommended women practice abstinence as retaliation for pro-life legislation taking effect in Texas.
Midler apparently reasoned that pro-lifers would be so put out by the sex strike they’d eventually “guarantee” women’s “right” to an abortion.
“I suggest that all women refuse to have sex with men until they are guaranteed the right to choose by Congress,” she posted to Twitter, stealing the idea from “Lysistrata,” an ancient play by Aristophanes.
The pro-life law tweaking Midler effectively bans most abortions after six weeks, when an unborn baby’s heartbeat can be detected on an ultrasound. The legislation took effect after both the Supreme Court and a lower federal court of appeals refused to rule on a demand from Texas abortion providers to stay the law pending further litigation, The Daily Wire reported.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent, and ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2015. Send tips to [email protected].