Hat tip to Brian at BlueNC for this news — homobigot Vernon Robinson, who tried and failed to unseat Congressman Brad Miller in the 13th District race here in 2006, has picked up something as a consolation prize — the “Willie” award for Worst Political Advertisement, given by progressive thinktank Growth & Justice.

Here’s what Vern actually put on the air to receive the honor; he does the NC GOP proud:

And a snippet the post I did back when that ad was first released (March 2006) is below the fold.
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This is getting so tired now — lower the discourse, then trot out with a lame apology that doesn’t address the horror of what was said. Faux News contributor Liz Trotta doesn’t even attempt to sound sincere with this bullsh*t mea culpa:

“I am so sorry about what happened yesterday with that lame attempt at humor…I just really fell over myself in making it appear that I wished Barack Obama harm or any other candidate for that matter. I sincerely regret it and apologize to anybody I’ve offended. It’s a very colorful political season, and many of us are making mistakes in saying things we wish we hadn’t said.”

Let’s take a look at what she said that got her into hot water. I don’t see any other candidates mentioned in her assassination joke:

“and now we have what … uh…some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama …uh..um..Obama [after being prompted by the FNC anchor]….well both if we could [laughing]”

Please.

Former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr has secured the nomination of the Libertarian Party for president, and this news has no doubt has given the GOP a big case of agita.

“I’m sure we will emerge here with the strongest ticket in the history of the Libertarian Party,” Barr stated in his victory speech shortly after being selected as the Party’s nominee. “I want everybody to remember that we only have 163 days to win this election. We cannot waste one single day.”

…”We’re proud to present to the American voters Bob Barr as our presidential nominee,” says Libertarian Party spokesperson Andrew Davis. “While Republicans and Democrats will fight for their own power in November, Libertarians will fight for Americans. Bob Barr is one of the strongest candidates in the Party’s 37-year history, and we look for him to have an enormous impact in the 2008 race. Republicans and Democrats have good reason to fear a candidate like Barr, who refuses to accept the ‘business-as-usual’ attitude of the current political establishment. Americans want and need another choice, and that choice is Bob Barr.”

The GOP already knows John McCain’s support is soft (to be charitable) with the lunatic Base, so an opportunity to cast a protest vote is a real problem. Barr supported Bush’s drug war and authored the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 while a congressman; out of office, he’s reversed his position on those issues, as well as lobbied for the legalization of medicinal use of marijuana.

I decided to venture over to the swamps of Freeperland to see what the knuckle-dragging crowd thought of Barr’s nomination. It’s after the jump.
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The party’s over for the GOP, my friends. This race is the Democrats’ to lose (and what’s scary is we’re fully capable of doing so).

A planned mega-fundraiser for the GOP, featuring President Bush and John McCain, has now been scaled back in the face of a daunting problem: Too few people actually wanted to buy tickets.

According to the Phoenix Business Journal, fundraiser set for this Tuesday in the city’s convention center failed to sell enough tickets, leading to fears that the anti-Bush protesters might end up outnumbering actual attendees.

What’s the new plan now that the huge convention center can’t be filled? To hold gatherings in private residences away from media prying eyes in the Phoenix area.

As we all know, a dump of less-than-favorable information always happens on a Friday, and something of this magnitude — 71-year-old cancer survivor and war torture survivor John McCain’s health records — happened on the Friday of a holiday weekend — and the terms of review of them were curiously restricted. (Newsweek):

During his first presidential run, eight years ago, McCain disclosed hundreds of pages of records to reporters as he sought then to counter what aides called a “whisper campaign” questioning his mental fitness. In those records, medical personnel concluded that his years in prison, including solitary confinement, left him with no psychological wounds. Aides said McCain has had no mental evaluations in the past eight years.

This time, a small group of reporters reviewed 1,173 pages of medical documents that span 2000 to 2008 over several hours in a conference room at a resort just outside Phoenix and a few miles from the posh Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, where McCain receives most of his medical care under a pseudonym — which reporters were asked not to disclose.

By the way, we never learned in February that McCain had yet another cancerous growth removed from his face:

McCain’s most recent exams show a range of health issues common in aging: He frequently has precancerous skin lesions removed, and in February had an early stage squamous cell carcinoma, an easily cured skin cancer, removed. He had benign colon growths called polyps taken out during a routine colonoscopy in March.

The cancer issue, while a relevant health issue to consider when electing someone to the highest office in the land, is not nearly as critical as the fact Sen. John McCain hasn’t had a mental evaluation in eight years. More below the fold.
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Ah, Rick Santorum, returning from his anti-”Islamofacism” post-Senate efforts to familiar homo-hate territory. He’s back in the news, penning a ridiculous op-ed in the Philly Inquirer, “The Elephant in the Room: A wake-up call on gay marriage after ‘03 alarm went unheeded.”

Bigot! Hate-monger! Homophobe!

Those were just a few of the terms hurled my way in 2003 when I said that the Supreme Court’s Texas sodomy decision opened the door to the redefinition of marriage.

When I wasn’t ducking the epithets, I was being laughed at, mocked, and given the crazy-uncle-at-the-holidays treatment by the media. Or I was being told I should resign from my leadership post by some Senate colleagues.

Five years later, do I regret sounding the alarm about marriage? No.

I’m just saddened that time has proved right those of us who worried about the future of marriage as the union of husband and wife, deeply rooted not only in our traditions, our faiths, but in the facts of human nature: as Pope Benedict said, “The cradle of life and love,” connecting mothers and fathers to their children.

(Cue epithets: Bigot! Hate-monger! Homophobe!)

The latest distressing news came last week in California. The state Supreme Court there ruled, 4-3, that same-sex couples can marry.

In doing so, four judges rejected a statute that passed in a referendum with 61 percent of the vote that defined marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

And look, he’s worried that the elimination of discrimination will make all of the heterosupremacists look back at the good old days when homos were on the run.

Let me go out on another limb here and make another crazy prediction. Within 10 years, clergy will be sued or indicted for preaching on certain Bible passages dealing with homosexuality and churches, and church-related organizations will lose government contracts and even their tax-exempt status.

The California judges also ruled, for the first time in American legal history, that sexual orientation is just like race.

The California court just declared that those of us who see marriage as the union of husband and wife are the legal equivalent of racists. And openly racist groups and individuals can be denied government benefits because of their views, including professional licenses (attorney, physicians, psychiatrists, marriage counselors), accredited schools, and tax-exempt status for charities.

Have fun with the rest.

He knew what he was getting into when he walked onto the set of Ellen’s show, and she held John McCain’s feet to the fire on same-sex marriage and legal rights for gay couples. McSame believes that same-sex couples should be allowed to enter into legal agreements, but they should not be able to marry due to what he says is “the unique status of marriage between and man and a woman.”

Wait - is this the same John McCain who made this commercial for the failed 2006 Arizona Marriage Amendment, which would have effectively banned same-sex couples from legal recognition of any kind?

Now watch his appearance on Ellen through that prevaricating lens; it’s below the fold.
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Oh yesssss…bring it on, sister:

The Memorial Day guest list at Sen. John McCain’s Arizona home runs to at least three Republicans mentioned as vice presidential running mates, but a top aide said Wednesday that vetting possible veeps is not on the agenda.

“It’s purely social,” said Mark Salter, a senior adviser to McCain.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney were all invited to a Memorial Day gathering at the senator’s home in Sedona, Ariz. Romney ran for the Republican presidential nomination in last winter’s primaries, but dropped out months ago and has endorsed McCain.

…Crist, 51, provided a major boost to McCain prior to Florida’s Jan. 29 primary with a well-timed endorsement.

Elected governor in 2006, Crist has been seen as a moderate Republican. He has championed efforts to curb climate change, and was praised by former President Clinton for his efforts to restore voting rights of felons who have completed their sentences.

Related:
* Tongues wag whether Crist’s ‘girlfriend’ is ‘the one’
* Poor Charlie Crist - he’s really desperate for that VP slot
* Howie Klein: Charlie Crist Has A “Girlfriend”– A First Step Towards Getting On The Mccain Ticket… To Nowhere?
* Oh my — more GOP closet doors are flying open…
* Florida gov Charlie Crist: leave ban on adoption rights for gays on the books

Do I even need to bother identifying U.S. Representative Paul Broun as a Republican? With an economic wasteland left by this president, as well as military carnage, waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption, of course this guy has to pull out the Homo Straw man — he has nothing else to run on. (Washington Blade):

Backlash from the California Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage continued this week as U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) said he plans to introduce an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Broun, a freshman Congressman from Augusta, announced his intent May 20.

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun says an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is needed to protect heterosexual marriage from ‘activist judges.’

“What the activist judges in California have shown is that the traditional definition of marriage is under assault by a cadre of lawyers and judges who hold the will of the voters in contempt,” Broun said in a press release. “As a result, a political and social question that should be resolved at the ballot box is being imposed by a handful of liberal elites.”

…Broun’s proposed amendment states: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any state, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.”

See him bleat about the California Supreme Court ruling after the jump.
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In what is a sign of the times, the Republican party is unable to field a single candidate of color with a snowball’s chance in hell of being elected to House, the Senate or governor. So much for former RNC head Ken Mehlman’s “legacy” of GOP outreach to blacks.

At a time when Democrats are poised to knock down a historic racial barrier with their presidential nominee, the GOP is fielding only a handful of minority candidates for Congress or statehouses — none of whom seem to have a prayer of victory.

At the start of the Bush years, the Republican National Committee — in tandem with the White House — vowed to usher in a new era of GOP minority outreach. As George W. Bush winds down his presidency, Republicans are now on the verge of going six — and probably more — years without an African-American governor, senator or House member. That’s the longest such streak since the 1980s.

Taking a look at the current field, the GOP only has one minority governor — Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, who is Indian-American. The Dem tally? Three minority governors and 43 black members of Congress. The GOP obviously sees nothing wrong with this growing problem with gaining interest from POC in its party. Given the vitriol from the Fear of the Brown Menace wing of the party, it crapped away its prospects with Latinos as well. Look at this laugher:

Despite having a Spanish-speaking “compassionate conservative” in the White House, Republicans’ diversity deficit seems to have only widened.

WTF? Anyway, one respected member of the GOP doesn’t mind being blunt about the whiteout:

Jack Kemp, the former Republican congressman and vice presidential nominee, says the culprit is clear: a “pitiful” recruitment effort by his party. “I don’t see much of an outreach,” he said. “I don’t see much of a reason to run.”

A former black GOP candidate who declined to be identified by name offered a slightly more charitable explanation. He said the party is so broke and distracted that wooing strong minority candidates is a luxury it simply cannot afford right now.

Should we bring out the tiny violin? I absolutely cannot wait to see the pale sea of faces during the GOP convention. The party may have to resort to some sort of rent-a-POC service to avoid looking like the fossilized, insular entity it has done everything to cultivate.

Hat tip to Oliver Willis, who said:

Wanted: Racial minorities to stab your own people in the back, provide cover to destructive policies. Perks include a life long association with the party of Strom Thurmond, Trent Lott, and The Southern Strategy. Inquire Within.

Guess someone told Goodtime Vito “it’s game over man.” The reason Fossella, who was arrested for DUI in Virginia (and was fornicating and procreating outside of his sacred marital bond), isn’t resigning is because there would have to be a special election held for his seat, and the Republicans don’t want to lose it. (Staten Island Advance):

In a bombshell announcement that brings the curtain down on one of the most storied careers in Staten Island political history, fifth-term Republican Rep. Vito Fossella will not seek re-election this fall.

Mired in scandal after revelations about the secret daughter he fathered with Virginia divorcee Laura Fay became public, Fossella (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) tells constituents in a letter to be posted on his Web site tomorrow that he will no longer serve them in Congress after his current term expires on Jan. 3, 2009.

“After a great deal of consideration, I have made the decision not to seek re-election to the United States House of Representatives this November,” Fossella says in the statement. “This choice was an extremely difficult one, balanced between my dedication to service to our great nation and the need to concentrate on healing the wounds that I have caused to my wife and family.”

Apparently Fossella doesn’t care about any wounds he caused in the past to his lesbian sister, as the homophobic lawmaker will not attend any family events if she and her partner are there; he also voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Related:
* Fossella’s judgment day?
* Another Republican protects the sanctity of marriage

One of the ongoing issues in this election is going to be waking people up to the fact that John McCain is a grade A, totally not moderate social conservative. This is critical for that swing vote, especially those swing voters that say, “Well, I don’t think abortion should be illegal, but it’s bad to use it as birth control.” Translation of that sentiment: “I want to be able to have an abortion if I so desire, but I reserve the right to gossip about others in tones that indicate that I’m so scandalized.” These people would shy away from a ban, of course, but they probably can be convinced to vote for someone they erroneously believe talks the anti-choice talk but won’t do the anti-choice walk.

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If you had any doubt that John McCain is a complete tool — and a prevaricating one at that — take a look at this video from Brave New Films:

Since we first released The Real McCain a year ago, our REAL McCain series has garnered close to 2 million views, with over 13,000 comments and tens of thousands more in petition signatures! Clearly, John McCain’s record is something the public wants to discuss, and yet the corporate media is doing NOTHING to present the truth. We feel obliged to continue countering the mainstream media’s love of McCain. And so we thought it was high time for a sequel: The Real McCain 2.

I would love to hear an argument from the Log Cabin Republicans, for instance, explaining why our country needs to elect McSame.

Bonus: check out the new fact-checking resource McCainpedia.

The Republican stupid - it burns. From Kathleen Parker’s column at the WaPo:

Well, at least they didn’t kiss.

I was bracing myself for the lip lock Wednesday when John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama.

Don’t look at me. David “Mudcat” Saunders, Edwards’s former rural adviser, came up with the idea, saying Obama should kiss Edwards on the lips “to kill this 41-point loss,” referring to Hillary Clinton’s landslide victory in the West Virginia primary.

Instead, the two men exchanged a manly air-hug to commemorate the moment when Edwards threw Clinton under the upholstered sofa on his grandmama’s front porch.

Holy smoke, is the “Breck Girl” reference to the former NC senator going to make comeback? I leave it to Brad at Sadly, No to break this sh*t down.

It’s tough to list all the things that make this column so mind-crushingly stupid, but let’s give it a shot:

• Parker begins the column by calling Edwards and Obama fags.

• Then, not having the courage to stand by this novel and poignant insight, she claims that it wasn’t her idea to call them fags, but was instead the idea of one of Edwards’ advisers. But hey, they’re still gay homo fruits who like to take it up the homobutt.

• Next, she pulls out the oldest trick in the Wingnut Punditry Bible: she lectures us about what Real Americans think! Never mind that she’s spent her entire working life on the Wingnut Welfare circuit - she’s got her hand on the pulse of The People, baby!

• And what do Real Americans think, you ask? Why, they’re apparently super-duper happy about the state of the country! Even though, like, 85% of them are dissatisfied with the direction of the country. And even though Bush’s approval rating stands at a sterling 28%. And even though the Republicans just lost a goddamn seat in freaking Mississippi.

How come I don’t hear about this loving - ahem - male bonding:

“Members and pundits . . . fail to understand the deep seated antipathy toward the president, the war, gas prices, the economy, foreclosures.”
–Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia in a 20-page memo to House GOP leaders.

That Captain Obvious winner shows up in Peggy Noonan’s WSJ column “Pity Party.” This where the real spin begins, as she distances herself from the rest of the apologists and GOP cheerleaders for Dear Leader for the last seven years. She’s the one with 20/20 vision about the disastrous political bind the Republicans are in. The Democrats aren’t the ones falling apart, the Republicans are. The Democrats can see daylight ahead.

For all their fractious fighting, they’re finally resolving their central drama. Hillary Clinton will leave, and Barack Obama will deliver a stirring acceptance speech. Then hand-to-hand in the general, where they see their guy triumphing. You see it when you talk to them: They’re busy being born.

The Republicans? Busy dying. The brightest of them see no immediate light. They’re frozen, not like a deer in the headlights but a deer in the darkness, his ears stiff at the sound. Crunch. Twig. Hunting party.

…Many are ambivalent, deep inside, about the decisions made the past seven years in the White House. But they’ve publicly supported it so long they think they . . . support it. They get confused. Late at night they toss and turn in the antique mahogany sleigh bed in the carpeted house in McLean and try to remember what it is they really do think, and what those thoughts imply.

And those are the bright ones. The rest are in Perpetual 1980: We have the country, the troops will rally in the fall.

“This was a real wakeup call for us,” someone named Robert M. Duncan, who is chairman of the Republican National Committee, told the New York Times. This was after Mississippi. “We can’t let the Democrats take our issues.” And those issues would be? “We can’t let them pretend to be conservatives,” he continued. Why not? Republicans pretend to be conservative every day.

While she’s angry at how the GOP has failed her, she underestimates the capacity of denial and blame-shifting of these clowns in an attempt to save their personal political fortunes.

I say watch the former Bush faithful. If there’s one thing the GOP is good at, it’s the taking the long view of how to make a comeback. Look at what else Davis says to Noonan — after the jump.
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I don’t care how hilarious rapist / murderer-releasing, Christian Reconstructionist- supported, Man-On-Dog wannabe, former Arkansas governor, and Baptist minister-without-a-theology-degree Mike Huckabee thinks he is, this isn’t funny. We’ve already seen the yahoo vote unapologetic about the fact that they’d never vote for a black man — and plenty of them have an NRA card.

During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain — joked that an unexpected offstage noise was Democrat Barack Obama looking to avoid a gunman.

“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

After all, look at what a Freeper posted yesterday in response to the marriage equality ruling in California. These folks are sick.

38 posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 1:37:53 PM by Lancey Howard

Related:
* Noose found at Secret Service training center
* Dallas: weapons screening halted at Obama rally
* Other posts on the security breach

The rapist/murderer-releasing, Christian Reconstructionist-supported, Man-On-Dog wannabe, former Arkansas governor, and Baptist minister-without-a-theology-degree Mike Huckabee is back in the news — at least at U.S. News & World Report, in its Capital Commerce column.

A top McCain fundraiser with access to McCain’s inner circle, as well as one of those infamous “top GOP strategists” are saying that the Arizona senator has Pastor Huck at the top of his VP pick list. U.S. News’s James Pethokoukis on the purported logic of picking Huckabee.

1) He is a great campaigner and communicator who could both shore up support in the South among social conservatives (Huckabee is a former Baptist minister) and appeal to working-class voters in the critical “Big 10″ states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio.

2) As any pollster knows, voters search for candidates who “care about people like me,” and Huckabee would probably score a lot higher on that quality than millionaire investor Mitt Romney. Plus, given all the turmoil on Wall Street, 2008 would seem to be a bad year to pick a former investment banker for veep.

3) Economic conservatives and supply-siders may balk, but the threat of four years of Obamanomics and higher investment, income, and corporate taxes might be enough to keep them on board.

More below the fold.
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Bob Barr has jumped into the race as a Libertarian candidate. Will this siphon off some of the disaffected Republicans voters who cannot stand McSame, or is this just a blip.

Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr launched a Libertarian Party presidential bid Monday, saying voters are hungry for an alternative to the status quo who would dramatically cut the federal government.

His candidacy throws a wild card into the White House race that many believe could peel away votes from Republican Sen. John McCain given the candidates’ similar positions on fiscal policy.

…Barr first must win the Libertarian nomination at the party’s national convention that begins May 22. Party officials consider him a front-runner thanks to the national profile he developed as a Georgia congressman from 1995 to 2003.

Barr, 59, quit the Republican Party two years ago, saying he had grown disillusioned with its failure to shrink government and its willingness to scale back civil liberties in fighting terrorism.

The Freepi are alternately seeing this as a good thing or a disaster spoiler situation.

And look at this fun — McCain is going to have a pain in the posterior as Ron Paul’s revolutionaries are plotting a “convention revolt.” The GOP convention may be more interesting than expected. (LAT)

[L]argely under the radar of most people, the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in Minnesota at the beginning of September.

…But what’s been largely overlooked is Paul’s candidacy as a reflection of a powerful lingering dissatisfaction with the Arizona senator among the party’s most conservative conservatives. As anticipated in late March in The Ticket, that situation could be exacerbated by today’s expected announcement from former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nod, a slot held by Paul in 1988.

…They hope to demonstrate their disagreements with McCain vocally at the convention through platform fights and an attempt to get Paul a prominent speaking slot. Paul, who’s running unopposed in his home Texas district for an 11th House term, still has some $5 million in war funds and has instructed his followers that their struggle is not about a single election, but a long-term revolution for control of the Republican Party.

So eager are they to follow their leader’s words, that Paul’s supporters have driven his new book, “The Revolution: A Manifesto,” to the top of several bestseller lists.

Whoops. We haven’t had a good one like this in, oh, a few weeks. This NY pol was not only fornicating outside the marital bond, he was procreating with a sex partner other than his wife. He receives bonus points for being charged with driving while intoxicated! (NYT):

Representative Vito J. Fossella, a Staten Island Republican who was arrested on May 1 in Alexandria, Va., and charged with drunken driving, issued a statement on Thursday acknowledging that he had had an extramarital affair with Laura Fay, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel, and that the two of them have a 3-year-old daughter together.

The prospect that Mr. Fossella could face a mandatory jail sentence if convicted had already threatened to bring to an end his decade-long career in the House, where Mr. Fossella is the only Republican representing New York City.

…Mr. Fossella, 43, was driving with a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he was pulled over. He faces a mandatory five days in jail if convicted.

…In the Democratic stronghold of St. George, the neighborhood nearest the ferry to Manhattan, patrons at the Cargo Cafe weighed in on the scandal.

“Vito Fossella’s behavior is a disgrace to himself, his family and to Staten Island,” said an anesthesiologist, Dr. John Ferguson, 44. “Given the fact that he votes along the Bush-Cheney line 90 percent of the time, which means he sees himself as a moral values candidate, I find his behavior completely, but not surprisingly, hypocritical. He should resign immediately.”

You have to read Howie Klein’s take on this one.

Hat tip, Linda.

So does the clock at left stop? I didn’t receive a response from Sen. Dole’s pitiful Constituent Services Letter Generator^TM. No autopen-signed missive to help me pretend that I heard from my senator.

What I did receive this afternoon was a fax from Communications Director Hogan Gidley of the Elizabeth Dole campaign regarding the petition that I delivered last Friday on behalf of 1265 readers of Firedoglake, Pam’s House Blend, and BlueNC. The petition requested that the North Carolina senator ask Linda Daves of the NC Republican party to stop running the color-aroused anti-Obama ad called “Extreme,” which tries to draw some sort of connection between Dem gubernatorial candidates Bev Perdue and Richard Moore (both endorsed Obama) and Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

What was Dole’s response? I have no idea, since the response is from Mr. Gidley, there’s no way for me to know whether my senator actually read the petition. The letter I received is an exercise in predictable spin; it doesn’t address the NCGOP’s ad or her party’s involvement and endorsement of playing to people’s biases. Gidley:

Thank you very much for delivering the petition. As Senator Dole’s campaign spokesman, I would like to take the opportunity to respond. The political advertisement that you reference has nothing to do with Senator Dole’s campaign, nor does she plan on refereeing third party political advertisements.

So state parties can run amok. I guess it’s hands-off for Liddy.

What the Dole campaign laughably calls for, in letter to NCDP party chair Jerry Meek from Dole consultant Mark Stephens (the second page of the document), is for the NC Democratic Party not to run any advertising against Dole, to tell her Dem opponent to refrain from anti-Dole ads, and to tell the national party not to run third party ads against her! Oh, this is rich!

Stephens to Meek:

the Dole campaign extends an offer to enter into a written agreement with the North Carolina Democratic Party, your national counterpart committees in Washington, as well as the eventual Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate to disallow political party advertising in North Carolina. This will prevent the circumstances that you have described from happening in the contest for U.S. Senate.

Alrighty then. So if they cannot use traditional bottom-feeding ads, they propose no one runs any ads, even comparison of record ads, which do inform voters. Take their ball and go home. Well we know the GOP cannot run on its failed ideas, and Elizabeth Dole has a miserable Bush rubber-stamp record, so it’s no surprise that we received a non-starter response like this.
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This morning I delivered a petition to Senator Elizabeth Dole’s Raleigh office. It was signed by 1,265 concerned citizens — including more than 300 North Carolinians — all requesting that Senator Elizabeth Dole use her considerable clout in her party to tell the North Carolina Republican Party’s Linda Daves to stop running the race-baiting anti-Obama ad called “Extreme.”

The bottom-feeding ad is currently running on four TV stations in the state (New Bern, Asheville, Winston-Salem and Wilmington). It attempts to draw a tenuous-at-best connection between Dem gubernatorial candidates Bev Perdue and Richard Moore (both endorsed Obama) and Reverend Jeremiah Wright. It’s crude and reflects the pathetic state of the GOP here, a party in embarrassing decline, longing for the days where everyone knew their place.

The reason Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, the crew at BlueNC and I wanted to do this is because John McCain doesn’t have the cojones to go toe-to-toe with the apparently omnipotent Linda Daves. He denounced the ad from afar but couldn’t even pick up the phone to express his dismay directly.

We figured that perhaps Elizabeth Dole, with all her party connections here, would have the gravitas necessary to take on the likes of Linda Daves. Surely she must care that fossilized Republican party in North Carolina is running racist dog whistle ads is not what he approves of. Unfortunately, her initial response wasn’t very encouraging.

“I am concentrating on getting my work done here in the Senate, and I’m just not going to get into refereeing a third party political ad that has nothing to do with my race,” she said.

So that’s where the petition effort came in.
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Atrios, in his pony watch series, has a new low for George Bush: least popular President ever. 71% of pollees disapprove of Bush now, which is kind of remarkable if you think about it in psychological terms. Basically, the concept of cognitive dissonance and rationalization would say that people usually don’t admit that they were in error so much as they rationalize how they were right all along. Bush got enough votes to win, and we can expect that people who voted for Bush, instead of saying, “Damn, I fucked up,” are going to say things, well, like right wing nuts say all the time. Things like: History will vindicate Bush. Iraq is going great! The economy isn’t depressed, that’s just the liberal media telling lies. Etc. But as Bush’s polls slip, we can expect a lot of people are having serious moments of reckoning, which are never easy. It’s kind of amazing, if you think about it.

That, or they’re finding some sort of cheat to explain why they weren’t wrong. This is probably likely for a good number of Bush voters and explains why we should not assume that it will be so easy to beat McCain. I’ve seen hints of this in some conservative writings, and suspect it’s much more widespread in the non-pundit conservative community. Basically, it amounts to telling yourself that Bush isn’t a real conservative, that he lied to you and that you were completely right but just working on bad information. Which makes it real easy to justify voting for McCain, because you just have to tell yourself that he’s the straight shooter, going to be the things that Bush promised to be, and tah-dah! Will show that you were right about that conservatism stuff all along.

We need a smackdown win that’s impossible to steal. I just don’t see it happening. If it does, it won’t be without a massive fight.

Linda Daves of the North Carolina Republican party apparently wields a lot of power. When Senator Elizabeth Dole was asked to condemn an anti-Obama color arousal ad, this was her response:

Dole said in an interview she didn’t want to get involved.

“I am concentrating on getting my work done here in the Senate, and I’m just not going to get into refereeing a third party political ad that has nothing to do with my race,” she said.

You can do something about this - we’re planning to give Liddy a special delivery. Read on.
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As Richard at All Spin Zone notes, shouldn’t there be an investigation by officials into this? Inciting a riot is a felony. Here’s Rushbo:

He said the riots would ensure a Democrat is not elected as president, and his listeners have a responsibility to make sure it happens.

“Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don’t elect Democrats,” Limbaugh said during Wednesday’s radio broadcast. He then went on to say that’s the best thing that could happen to the country…

…Limbaugh said with massive riots in Denver, which he called “Operation Chaos,” the people on the far left would look bad.

“We do, hopefully, the right thing for the sake of this country. We’re the only one in charge of our affairs. We don’t farm out our defense if we elect Democrats … and riots in Denver, at the Democratic Convention will see to it we don’t elect Democrats. And that’s the best damn thing that can happen to this country, as far as I can think,” Limbaugh said…

Richard:

Someone needs to tell me the difference between Rush Limbaugh and Moqtada al-Sadr (above and beyond the fact that al-Sadr is an ordained cleric, and Limbaugh is just an ordained asswipe). And I want to know how Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, etc. etc. can continue getting away with inspiring their listeners to violence, yet are never called on it by either the Republican Party leadership or law enforcement authorities.

If you feel so moved, you can contact the Colorado Attorney General’s office and express your concerns. At a minimum, inciting to riot is a serious offense. When the call goes out from someone of Limbaugh’s stature, who has legions of loyal dittoheads hanging on his every word, it’s very, very likely that his “call to arms” could motivate some right wing crackpots to action.

Note this is not an exaggeration — Mr. Hillbilly Heroin could be in a heap of trouble. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper realizes that a line has been crossed, saying “Anyone who would call for riots in an American city has clearly lost their bearings.”

Why does Rush Limbaugh hate America?
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[UPDATE: Is it on or off? John McCain clearly doesn’t know how to control bigot eruptions in his own party — first there was an announcement by Charlie Black that the ad was pulled by the NCGOP; state party chair Linda Daves says it’s still a go for the color arousal show. A number of local stations are refusing to run it.]

If you want to know how far to the right the Republican party is in North Carolina, look no further that this bottom-feeding video. It is an ad supposedly about Dem gubernatorial candidates Bev Perdue and Richard Moore (both endorsed Obama). They are trying to link that support to Rev. Wright (again!) to generate color arousal.

The bottom line is that the GOP wants Hillary Clinton as an opponent. They know they can run a successful campaign against her, so this is their attempt to stir the pot. And as Barack Obama said, all the race-baiting that the Clintons have tossed out there so far is just a warm up compared to what’s coming from the Republican machine.

Well that time is now. Echoes of Jesse Helms tactics…(and we’ll see that classic after the jump):

“Narrator: For twenty years, Barack Obama sat in his pew listening to his pastor.

Jeremiah Wright: And then wants us to sing God Bless America. No, no, no. Not God Bless America, God (censored) America.

Narrator: Now Bev Perdue and Richard Moore endorse Barack Obama. They should know better. He’s just too extreme for North Carolina

Chairman Linda Daves: The North Carolina Republican Party sponsored this ad opposing Bev Perdue and Richard Moore for North Carolina Governor.”

Extreme? Please. And it’s not just Dems reacting with alarm to this ad. John McCain has told the NC GOP to cease and desist - and the wingnuts here in this state will have none of it.

McCain urged state party leaders to withhold the advertisement, calling it “offensive.”

“This ad does not live up to the very high standards we should hold ourselves to in this campaign,” McCain said in a letter e-mailed to state GOP chairwoman Linda Daves.

GOP spokesman Brent Woodcox argued that despite the ad’s overwhelming focus on Obama, the spot is targeted at Democratic gubernatorial candidates Richard Moore and Bev Perdue, who have both endorsed the Illinois senator.

“We have a great relation with the RNC and we fully support John McCain for president,” Woodcox said. “But this is an ad about two North Carolina candidates for governor. The ad is going to run.”

All that said, this “outrage” by McCain allows him to distance himself from the race-baiting and smears, but the filth gets out there anyway. That’s your preview playbook for the fall. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Let me tell you all a little something about the Republican party in North Carolina. It’s below the fold.
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These days, Little Ricky Santorum, who went down in flaming defeat in his Pennsylvania U.S. Senate re-election bid in 2006, earns his living these days bashing all things related to Islam. He recently appeared at a Yale Political Union to debate the “War on Islamic Extremism.” The reception was, well, less than a standing ovation. (Yale Daily News):

Amid a chorus of condemning hisses, supportive banging and outright laughter, former Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum argued for war with radical Islam at the Yale Political Union debate Thursday night.

…Santorum seemed to remain unfazed by any skepticism in the audience and only got louder as he argued for the origins of Islamic extremism in the religion’s founding.

He offered a contrast between Jesus Christ and Muhammed as the basis for the irreconcilable differences between Christianity, which he linked to the West, and Islam, which he linked to the Middle East.

“The greatest Christian, the Messiah, is Jesus — he never ruled a country, never forced anyone to convert,” Santorum said. “Islam, on the other hand, was founded by Muhammed who went on to conquer much of the Middle East and Northern Africa.”

He pointed to how Muslim leaders of Spain, centuries ago, gave nonbelievers the option of converting or facing death. He did not mention the Spanish Inquisition, and he excused episodes of Christian violence as “misguidance.” This message did not sit well with some in the audience who did not appreciate what they termed a “history lesson.”

“I don’t think Rick Santorum is qualified to give us a lecture on the history of Islam,” Benjamin Chaidell ’11 said. “He oversimplifies the religion of Islam and the struggle against Islam as an ‘us vs. them’ phenomenon.”

Hat tip, Bob in Raleigh.

I have the urge to say something about “crackers,” but I’ll let it rest…let’s just say that it’s healthy for the political process to have Republicans show their true colors in such beautifully raw fashion. Two snaps to this utterance by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) as he paid tribute to the good old days of the Old South.

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, a Hebron Republican, compared Obama and his message for change similar to a “snake oil salesman.” He said in his remarks at the GOP dinner that he also recently participated in a “highly classified, national security simulation” with Obama.

“I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” Davis said. “He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.”

Davis was evidently nudged by someone who realized this was a bigot eruption of incredible proportions — after all, the public use of “boy” to refer to black men has fallen out of public favor among the well-heeled race-baiting set in the GOP. He personally delivered a letter to Obama’s office offering a CYA apology, saying it was a “poor choice of words.” Yes, indeed.

UPDATE: Oliver Willis on this crap:

If you want to know why this sort of thing is going to be an ongoing problem for McCain and the GOP as Obama moves up to officially become the nominee look no further than the comments on conservative blogs QandO and Rick Moran. Both McQ and Moran know that this is really really stupid but at least of their commenters simply cannot see the problem with calling a grown ass black professional man, let alone one as accomplished as Sen. Obama, a “boy”. They simply chalk it up to “political correctness”.

What’s next? Some con calls Obama a n****r and they shrug their soldiers and say “What’s the big deal?” I wouldn’t bet against it.

Bush’s Torture U.S.A - they all knew.

You’ll find out the one member of the administration who made the above statement below the fold. It’s hard to find any words to describe how sick this is. The ABC headline says it all: Top Bush Advisors Approved ‘Enhanced Interrogation‘.

In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.

…The high-level discussions about these “enhanced interrogation techniques” were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed — down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic.

The advisers were members of the National Security Council’s Principals Committee, a select group of senior officials who met frequently to advise President Bush on issues of national security policy. At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

I guess it’s bye-bye to that VP fantasy, Condi. Below the fold, there was only one member of that committee who had any reservations about the path of torture they were taking.
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Oh yes, they are going to eat their own. Here is the petition web site message.

Republican Presidential Nominee, Senator John McCain:

We call upon you to reject any consideration of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as a Vice Presidential running mate.

We further urge you to only consider for Vice President an individual with a strong and consistent record of support for both the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death, and the amendment of the U.S. Constitution to establish marriage as only between one man and one woman.

It’s up to 1500 signatures so far. Who’s behind the anti-Mitt movement? Someone named William J. Murray, Chairman of Government Is Not God – PAC. Murray’s turned off comments at the petition site because:

Our NO MITT petition site on the Internet gave those who signed the petition an opportunity to give a short personal message to Senator McCain as to why they did not want Mitt Romney as Vice President. Individuals used this opportunity to post hateful and bigoted anti-evangelical messages at the site that I cannot reprint here. At one point a volunteer had to work full time to cull out those messages that were too offensive to leave up. We blocked the server at BYU in Utah and the number of offensive messages declined. In the culling process some messages that were not offensive were removed as well, our volunteers did the best they could with the volume.

…There was an overall dishonesty by the Romney supporters who posted at the NoMittVP site. In order to leave a post they had signed a petition saying they did not want Mitt Romney as their VP choice. To be blunt, they lied in order to post pro-Romney or anti-evangelical messages.

I was surprised by the number of anti-evangelical messages and the tone of hatred for evangelicals in general. However, this has not changed my position or the position of this political action committee. We will still endorse and fund candidates who are Mormon who are consistent social conservatives. We will still not endorse nor fund Catholics or members of Protestant churches who support such social catastrophes such as abortion and homosexual marriage.

Is that just delicious? My marriage is a social catastrophe

On ABC’s This Week, the idea that Condoleeza Rice is actively pursuing the VP slot continues. GOP strategist Dan Senor floated it again.

Speaking of possible Vice President options for McCain, Senor said, “Condi Rice is an option. Tom Ridge is an option. Although, I think he’d have problems at the convention. Mitt Romney is an option. Condoleeza Rice has been actively campaigning for this. There’s this ritual in Washington, The Americans for Tax Reform which is headed by Grover Norquist, holds a weekly meeting of conservative leaders, about 100 or 150 people. Sort of inside chattering class types and they all typically get briefings from political conservative leaders. Ten days ago, they had an interesting visit from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.”

Senor, whose most notable experience was as spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, later added, it was “the first time a Secretary of State has visited the Wednesday meeting. and she wasn’t there to talk about the NATO meeting in Bucharest.”

Raw Story has the video.

Speaking of Rice, it looks like Oliver Stone, in his quest to cast his film about Dear Leader, has picked his Condi.

Oliver Stone has found the actress to play Condoleezza Rice in his upcoming “W,” with Thandie Newton in final negotiations to star as the National Security Advisor-turned-Secretary of State.

Meanwhile, Ioan Gruffudd is in final talks to play former British prime minister Tony Blair.

Rice and Blair are the first non-Bush roles to be cast; Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Elizabeth Banks and Ellen Burstyn had previously been cast as George W., George Sr., Laura and Barbara Bush, respectively.

Dick Cheney, D