That's One Clever Dog Whistle

Politico reports that at an appearance in Roanoke in southwestern Virginia

Rep. Paul Ryan pledged Friday night that House Republicans will investigate President Barack Obama’s deal to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

At an after-dinner speech on the eve of Virginia’s GOP state convention, the former vice presidential nominee urged activists to unite behind Senate candidate Ed Gillespie as their best hope for advancing a conservative agenda.

For now, he said, the Senate is a “graveyard of good ideas” and Republicans must focus on aggressive oversight as their best bet to hold Obama accountable.

“I’m part of the IRS investigation,” Ryan told about 600 people in a ballroom at the Hotel Roanoke. “We’ve got the Benghazi investigation, the Veterans Affairs investigation, and we’re going to do an investigation about this troop transfer with the Taliban. So we’ve got a lot on our plate.”

The Wisconsin congressman said the country would start to turn the corner if Sen. Harry Reid became minority leader, stressing that Republican unity is key to make that happen.

“We agree on the same principles. We actually all agree on the same policies … Every now and again we disagree on tactics,” he said. “So it’s very important that as a party we put those differences aside, we put them in perspective, and like Mel Gibson said in that great movie ‘Braveheart,’ ‘we need to unite the clans!’”

According to Politico reporter James Hohmann, the former Repub vice-presidential nominee was referring to clans.  But he could as easily have been referring to Klans.

Gibson has engaged in a few tirades exposing his religious bigotry, misogyny, or profound passion for profanity. Nonetheless, probably his most famous outburst occurred when, in 2006

he was stopped on Pacific Coast Highway and told he was to be detained for drunk driving Friday morning in Malibu. The actor began swearing uncontrollably. Gibson repeatedly said, "My life is f****d." Law enforcement sources say the deputy, worried that Gibson might become violent, told the actor that he was supposed to cuff him but would not, as long as Gibson cooperated. As the two stood next to the hood of the patrol car, the deputy asked Gibson to get inside. Deputy Mee then walked over to the passenger door and opened it. The report says Gibson then said, "I'm not going to get in your car," and bolted to his car. The deputy quickly subdued Gibson, cuffed him and put him inside the patrol car.

TMZ has learned that Deputy Mee audiotaped the entire exchange between himself and Gibson, from the time of the traffic stop to the time Gibson was put in the patrol car, and that the tape fully corroborates the written report.

Once inside the car, a source directly connected with the case says Gibson began banging himself against the seat. The report says Gibson told the deputy, "You mother f****r. I'm going to f*** you." The report also says "Gibson almost continually [sic] threatened me saying he 'owns Malibu' and will spend all of his money to 'get even' with me."

The report says Gibson then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: "F*****g Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"

The deputy became alarmed as Gibson's tirade escalated, and called ahead for a sergeant to meet them when they arrived at the station. When they arrived, a sergeant began videotaping Gibson, who noticed the camera and then said, "What the f*** do you think you're doing?"

A law enforcement source says Gibson then noticed another female sergeant and yelled, "What do you think you're looking at, sugar tits?"

We're told Gibson took two blood alcohol tests, which were videotaped, and continued saying how "f****d" he was and how he was going to "f***" Deputy Mee.

This does not appear to have been an isolated incident.  In April, 2012 the website thewrap.com published a nine-page letter written to the actor/screenwriter/producer/director by screenwriter Joe Ezterhas who had written for Gibson a screenplay about Judah Maccabee. At the time, CNN's Josh Levs found

"I've come to the conclusion that the reason you won't make 'The Maccabees' is the ugliest possible one. You hate Jews." He recounts Gibson repeatedly using derogatory epithets for Jewish people.

Allegations of anti-Semitism are nothing new for Gibson. Concerns that arose among some Jewish groups over his handling of the story of Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004 were replaced by widespread condemnations two years later when Gibson was arrested on a drunk driving charge. According to a police report, he asked the arresting officer if he was Jewish and said, "F***ing Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."

Gibson later apologized without acknowledging specific remarks.

Eszterhas is a veteran of the industry, having penned such titles as "Basic Instinct" and "Showgirls."

In his letter, he writes that he hoped Gibson viewed the Maccabees project "as a kind of penance/apologia" -- a claim Gibson denies in his response.

Eszterhas says that soon after he began working with Gibson on it, he became "increasingly worried that I'd made a grave mistake by hooking up with you."

It was not immediately clear how thewrap.com obtained Eszterhas' letter.

In discussing Jewish people, Gibson regularly used the terms "Hebes," "oven-dodgers," and "Jew-boys," Eszterhas alleges. "You said most 'gatekeepers' of American companies were 'Hebes' who 'controlled their bosses.'"

"You said the Holocaust was 'mostly a lot of horsesh*t,'" the letter says, adding that Gibson made various false accusations, including that the Torah refers to sacrificing Christian babies.

The most intriguing, though completely overlooked, portion of Gibson's alleged remarks involved the then-head of the Roman Catholic Church.  Representative Ryan is a disciple of Ayn Rand, a proud libertarian and atheist. He also always has portrayed himself- as has a largely friendly mainstream media- as a devout and devoted Roman Catholic and Christian After singing during a Baptist service, he reportedly told a  minister “I’m Catholic, but I’m cool with that. I’m so goofy with that stuff. It’s just not my thing. I’m Catholic!”

But according to Levs, Ezterhas maintained that Gibson  "called Pope John Paul II 'the anti-Christ' and 'the devil.'"

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine," Rick says to Sam in Casablanca (video, below).  Of all the actors in all the movies in American cinema, Mel Gibson is quoted by Paul Ryan.

The Wisconsin congressman, who enjoys posing as a friend of the poor while advocating policies to wipe them out, may not have an authentic bone in his body. But Mel Gibson, partly on the strength of "The Passion of the Christ," an anti-Semitic movie its fans erroneously believe faithful to the biblical account, is a favorite with much of the GOP base. And when Paul Ryan- reportedly contemplating a run for the 2016 presidential nomination- speaks to a conservative Republican audience, he certainly knows how to blow that dog whistle.

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