Recently in GOP Bigotry Category

Our nation's been waiting with bated breath for years. But, at long last -- Happy B-day, America! -- Sen. Jesse Helms has shuffled off this mortal coil. (1921-2008) "Ed Feulner, president of conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, hailed Helms as 'one of the most consequential figures of the 20th century.' 'Along with Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, he helped establish the conservative movement and became a powerful voice for free markets and free people,' Feulner wrote."

Um, yeah. As with Strom's passing in 2003, it's worth rereading Hunter S. Thompson's Nixon obit right about now. "I beat him like a mad dog with mange every time I got a chance, and I am proud of it. He was scum. Let there be no mistake in the history books about that. Richard Nixon was an evil man...Some people will say that words like scum and rotten are wrong for Objective Journalism -- which is true, but they miss the point. It was the built-in blind spots of the Objective rules and dogma that allowed Nixon to slither into the White House in the first place."

Same goes for Helms and the Senate. If, God forbid, the media roll over as they did at Helms' retirement and try to "Russert-ize" Helms now that the racist, homophobic bastard is finally gone, remember this: He was the worst kind of racebaiting scum and the worst kind of hypocrite. He camouflaged his divisive hatred by slathering it in fake, aw-shucks populism. And he spent his career serving the dictates of the wealthiest and screwing over the good people of North Carolina, white and black. Our nation is a brighter place with his passing. [Helms photo via here.]

"Tyson Homosexual easily won his semifinal for the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and seemed to save something for the final later Sunday..." The wacko-right American Family Association has a little trouble with their auto-replace software. (It's been happening for awhile.)

"'In contrast to earlier times,' the opinion reads, 'our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation.' More generally, 'an individual's sexual orientation -- like a person's race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights,' it says." A tip of the hat to the Golden State: Joining Massachusetts, the California Supreme Court overturns a same-sex marriage ban, and Gov. Schwarzeneger announces he will honor the court's decision. [Responses: Obama, McCain, Clinton.]

Naturally, I'd expect the neanderthal, culture-warrior wing of the GOP to try and make some hay out of this, and, as with 2006, I'd expect it to make very little difference come November (give or take some fundie votes in California.) True, anti-gay bigotry may have played in 2004, but, with each passing year, it's looked that much more antiquated and ridiculous. And, frankly, the fractured, anemic GOP has vastly bigger issues to contend with at the moment than whether or not gay and lesbian Americans are choosing to get married. In any case, congrats to the many couples in Cali who today saw their life-commitments honored by their state as they should be.

"I don't like what the Republicans have done to our country." Obama supporter, former Republican, and 2014 Alabama gubernatorial candidate Charles Barkley is mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore. "Every time I hear the word 'conservative' it make me sick to my stomach, cause they're really just fake Christians, as I call them. That's all they are...They want to be judge and jury...These Christians are not supposed to judge other people, but they're the most hypocritical judges of people we have in this country. And It bugs the hell out of me. They act like they're Christians and they're not forgiving at all."

"[T]he newsletters I saw all had one thing in common: They were published under a banner containing Paul's name, and the articles...seem designed to create the impression that they were written by him -- and reflected his views. What they reveal are decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays." McNulty might be acting like a nutjob these days, but, as TNR's James Kirchick writes today, he still has nothing on Ron Paul. "In the early 1990s, a newsletter attacked the 'X-Rated Martin Luther King' as a 'world-class philanderer who beat up his paramours,' 'seduced underage girls and boys,' and 'made a pass at' fellow civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy. One newsletter ridiculed black activists who wanted to rename New York City after King, suggesting that 'Welfaria,' 'Zooville,' 'Rapetown,' 'Dirtburg,' and 'Lazyopolis' were better alternatives." (When asked about Kirchick's story today, Paul called King "one of my heroes because he believed in nonviolence and that's a libertarian principle," but he didn't exactly disavow this garbage: "Paul's position is basically that he wrote the newsletters he stands by and someone else wrote the stuff he has disowned." Sigh. The libertarians among us, and the libertarian philosophy, deserve a more sane spokesman.

"It ought to be borne in mind that Romney is not a mere rank-and-file Mormon. His family is, and has been for generations, part of the dynastic leadership...It is not just legitimate that he be asked about the beliefs that he has not just held, but has caused to be spread and caused to be inculcated into children. It is essential. Here is the most salient reason: Until 1978, the so-called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was an officially racist organization." Slate's Chris Hitchens explains why Mitt Romney needs to start being more forthright about his Mormonism. I'm inclined to agree -- if nothing else, he needs to clear the air as Kennedy did in his 1960 address to Southern Baptists (a strategy Romney avoided in his run against JFK's little brother in 1994.)

A self-proclaimed paragon of virtue, Governor Romney has recently been publicly tsk-tsking Barack Obama's candor about his drug use. But I doubt I'm the only American who'd feel more sanguine about my child experimenting with marijuana than he or she espousing some of the notions that the Mormon Church declared holy writ within my lifetime. "[I]n antebellum Missouri and preaching against abolition, Smith...announced that there had been a third group in heaven during the battle between God and Lucifer. This group had made the mistake of trying to remain neutral but, following Lucifer's defeat, had been forced into the world and compelled to 'take bodies in the accursed lineage of Canaan; and hence the negro or African race.' Until 1978, no black American was permitted to hold even the lowly position of deacon in the Mormon Church, and nor were any (not that there were many applicants) admitted to the sacred rites of the temple." As Hitchens aptly points out, "Mitt Romney was an adult in 1978. We need to know how he justified this to himself, and we need to hear his self-criticism, if he should chance to have one." Update: Facing a surprising (to him) Huckabee surge among Christian conservatives, Mitt Romney announces he'll discuss his faith in a major speech next Thursday, akin to Kennedy's 1960 address. I presume he won't be delving into this former aspect of his faith, but you never know.

"The upshot was that by 1980, race and ideology had become so commingled that one's stand on racial issues served as a proxy for one's partisan preference. Previously, economic issues had been the chief dividing line between the parties. By 1980, though, according to the Edsalls, the changes that followed the civil rights movement had crystallized, and racial politics figured just as strongly." Slate's resident historian David Greenberg weighs in on the recent furor at the NYT (and elsewhere) over Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign kickoff speech in Philadelphia, Mississippi, site of the 1964 Schwerner-Chaney-Goodman murders. (Coincidence? Sheah.) Therein, Greenberg correctly and succinctly argues that Reagan's "I believe in states' rights" was, in an apt turn of phrase, "a dog whistle to segregationists."

Honestly, I'm not really sure how you could dispute this, unless you want to argue that Reagan and his political handlers were completely ignorant about the civil rights struggle, massive resistance, and the significance of Philadelphia, Miss. in those struggles. (Of course, then you'd have to explain how Reagan remained blissfully unaware of the fact his 1966 gubernatorial bid often relied on similar loaded language.) Was Reagan a racist? I dunno, that's not the issue. Did Reagan rely on coded racial messages to appeal to white conservatives, akin to what Dubya does these days with pro-lifers and Dred Scott? Obviously.

Jerry Falwell, 1933-2007. My thoughts on this are basically the same as on Strom's passing in 2003, and once again I'd refer everyone to Hunter S. Thompson's Nixon obit. Of course, it's bad form to speak ill of the dead...still, I'm sure countless people and pets around the world passed yesterday who are more deserving of eulogy than this contemptible, hypocritical bigot. Let's just hope, for Falwell's sake, that God is more compassionate and forgiving than he ever was.

Regarding ballot initiatives, it was a bad night for same-sex marriage and marijuana decriminalization. Still, there's cause for hope around the country in the six state minimum-wage hikes that passed, as well as the repudiation of the stringent abortion law in South Dakota (Justice Kennedy: take note.) Speaking of the Court, its eminent domain decision of last year took a beating in nine states, although California, Idaho, and Washington thankfully repudiated stronger measures that would effectively hobble any kind of federal land regulation.

Shady, harrassing "robocalls", voter intimidation in Virginia, sketchy-acting electronic voting machines: yes, folks, it's Election Day in America, and the frantic GOP are up to their usual bag of tricks. In the inimitable words of Baltimore Deputy Commissioner for Ops Bill Rawls: "American Democracy. Let's show those Third World %@#$ how it's done."

Regardless, each side has had their November Surprise (for the Left, Haggard's hypocrisy; for the Right, Hussein's hanging), and now -- at long last -- it's showtime: Time to show "the decider" what we really think of him.

For what it's worth, I can now personally guarantee at least one vote for the not-particularly-embattled Spitzer/Clinton/Rangel/Cuomo ticket. I even used an old-school levered voting machine, so mine should more likely than not get counted.

Predictions? Of course, I'd like to venture a 1994-like tidal wave, but I've been burned by too many election nights in the past. So I'll play it relatively safe...the Dems win the House, picking up 18-22 seats, and gain four seats in the Senate: Missouri, Montana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. (So long, Santorum!) It looked like control of the Senate might've hinged on the Allen-Webb race in Virginia, but now that Harold Ford seems to have faded in Tennessee (one has to wonder how much Corker's gutterball ad helped him), a Dem Senate looks really unlikely. Still, I'd love to be surprised in both states.

Obviously not winning the House at this point would be a grievous blow for the party. But, whatever happens tonight, it has to be better than the last midterms.

The last two times I posted exit polls here (in 2000 and 2004), I've been led astray, but if I see anything good from the Senate races, I'll post it below. In the meantime, the NYT has a quality election guide here, and there are a couple of good explanations of what to look for tonight here and here. On this end, I and several of my friends who've been burned over the last few election nights together will be huddled around the TV, yearning to breathe free. Hopefully, at long last, it'll be our night.

Breaking news: Rush Limbaugh is a fat junkie asshole. But you might've already known that.

"The social conservatives are frustrated with what's going on...We have heard disappointment and disenchantment. The level of commitment isn't as fierce as it ought to be." Another Foleygate update: As another GOP staffer backs up Kirk Fordham's account of telling Hastert about Foley in 2003, the NYT reports that the scandal has put at least five more GOP House seats in play, and gay Republicans begin to fear they'll end up the scapegoats of it all. "I'm just waiting for someone in a position of authority to make this a gay issue." Update: With new revelations from Representive Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), the Foley-clock moves back to 2000.

"We're all aware, ourselves included, of the statements that got him into this. The infamous macaca statement. He's using our flag to wipe the muck from his shoes that he's now stepped in." With his penchant for the N-word revealed and his bizarre reaction to his Jewish roots, George Allen was already having a bad week. (Allen's still up on Webb, but barely.) Now, the Sons of Confederate Veterans want an apology for his recent remarks on their battle flag, which Allen recently discovered (at the age of 54) is offensive to most African Americans. Here's a tip, George: So's the noose.

"'Let's give a welcome to Macaca, here,' Allen said. 'Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.'" In a weird on-camera display of political self-immolation, Republican Senator George Allen, the fellow who once proudly sported a lynching noose in his law office, strangely resurrects a racial slur from his mother's days in Tunisia to berate S.R. Sidarth, an Indian-American campaign worker for Democrat Jim Webb. "'I think he was doing it because he could, and I was the only person of color there, and it was useful for him in inciting his audience, Mr. Sidarth told The Post." Class act, Senator. Update: Has Macacagate put Allen's seat in play?

"'I gave blood,' Mr. Lewis said, his voice rising, as he stood alongside photographs of the clash. 'Some of my colleagues gave their very lives.'" Publicly embarrassed by their recent lapse into old-school "massive resistance," (and no doubt chagrined by their dismal poll numbers), the House GOP get their act together enough to pass the Voting Rights Act extension 390-33, after giving fringe right-wingers the chance to vote up or down on a few poison-pill amendments. (All failed, thanks to the Dems.) Still, several southern conservatives are not appeased: "One of the 33 holdouts was Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.). 'Some politicians in Washington wouldn't dare vote against this bill because they'd be lambasted by the media and liberal interest groups.'"

And the GOP veil of moderation didn't just slip on economic policy yesterday: Southern conservatives actually spiked a renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in order to protest multilingual ballots, as well as the (well-earned) perception that the South still disenfranchises African-Americans. "Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said a bipartisan commission found evidence of recent voting rights violations in Georgia, Texas and several other states. 'These are not states that can say their hands are clean,' she said."

"'He couldn't not do it,' explained Richard Viguerie, a prominent conservative activist who believes that gay marriage will not have much of an impact in 2006. 'He's got an election coming up and he is 30 percent in the polls. Nothing, Dr. Samuel Johnson told us, focuses the mind like an impending hanging.'" The conservative coalition collapsing in historic fashion around their ears, Dubya and Rove invoke an old standby and attempt to shore up the bigot vote in November by publicly coming out for the anti-gay marriage amendment. Unfortunately for them and the GOP, the same old freak-baiting trick -- however carefully worded -- doesn't seem likely to catch fire amid all the war and scandal, and the Senate, as well as GOP moderates, want none of it. Update: As expected, the Senate spike the amendment, with 2 Dems (Byrd, Ben Nelson) backing the bigots and 7 Republicans (Chafee, Collins, Gregg, McCain, Snowe, Specter, Sununu) joining the rest of the Dems in voting against the measure.

"'I don't need to be lectured by you. You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I,' Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) shouted after Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) declared his opposition to the amendment, his affinity for the Constitution and his intention to leave the meeting." Senators Feingold and Specter go toe-to-toe over the anti-gay-marriage amendment, which passed a private meeting of the Senate Judiciary Comittee on a 10-8 partisan vote yesterday. My goodness, Specter is a joke these days, isn't he? He says he's "totally opposed" to the amendment for the cameras and his moderate Pennsylvania constituency, but, as per the norm, he capitulated to his GOP masters -- who want this chum in the water for the fundies ASAP -- at the first available opportunity. Senator, you've already proven time and time again in this Congress that you're nowhere near the Constitutional protector as Sen. Feingold. But if you were, you'd recognize immediately that this vile and ridiculous piece of pandering to right-wing bigotry is the biggest embarrassment to our founding document since the Three-Fifths Compromise, and you would act accordingly.

"'There is a growing feeling among conservatives that the only way to cure the problem is for Republicans to lose the Congressional elections this fall,' said Richard Viguerie, a conservative direct-mail pioneer." More trouble for the GOP: The Christian Right looks ready to desert the party in 2006 unless "Congress does more to oppose same-sex marriage, obscenity and abortion." "'I can't tell you how much anger there is at the Republican leadership,' Mr. Viguerie said. 'I have never seen anything like it.'" And November's perfect storm blows stronger...

"'Obviously, it's a very difficult issue and evokes a lot of emotions,' Feingold said in a telephone interview yesterday. 'I think it's something ultimately that people throughout the country will accept, but it's not an easy issue.'" Unlike many of his Dem colleagues (and potential rivals in 2008), Feingold comes out for legalizing same-sex marriage. "Feingold noted that removing the prohibition against gay marriage would not impose any obligation on religious groups. He indicated that no religious faith should ever be forced to conduct or recognize any marriage, but that civil laws on marriage should reflect the principle of equal rights under the law."

"'I believe the most damaging thing that Tom DeLay has done in his life is take his faith seriously into public office, which made him a target for all those who despise the cause of Christ,' Scarborough said, introducing DeLay yesterday." The WP's Dana Milbank reports in as the right-wing "War on Christians" crowd embrace Boss DeLay as a martyr."When DeLay finished, the host reminded the politician: 'God always does his best work right after a crucifixion.'" Update: Salon's Michelle Goldberg has more.

"No longer does he see Republican government as a source of stability and order. Instead, he presents a nightmarish vision of ideological extremism, catastrophic fiscal irresponsibility, rampant greed and dangerous shortsightedness." By way of Cliopatria, Columbia provost (and my dissertation advisor) Alan Brinkley takes a look at Kevin Phillips' new book, American Theocracy for the NYT.

"Shoplifters of the World, unite and take over"...After resigning under strange circumstances last month, former Dubya administration domestic advisor Claude Allen is arrested and charged with felony theft -- i.e., shoplifting, with approximately 25 counts involving $5000 worth of merchandise.(His particular con -- Refund Fraud.) When I first heard the story, I felt kinda bad for Allen -- I mean, couldn't he get on board with Safavian, Federici, and the other Dubya administration crooks and at least make some Casino Jack-levels of swag?

Then I read a little more about him: A former aide to notorious race-baiter and national embarrassment Jesse Helms (No, not yet), Allen accused Helms rival Jim Hunt in 1984 of connections to "'queers,' 'radical feminists,' socialists, and unions." (In Senate testimony in 2003, he claimed -- under oath -- that by "queers" he meant "odd" people.) Moreover, fiercely pro-life and anti-contraceptive, Allen has been one of the administraton's foremost advocates of promoting abstinence programs as the sole way to combat the spread of AIDS and other STDS. ("In February [of 2003] a hundred CDC researchers on sexually transmitted diseases were summoned to Washington by HHS deputy secretary Claude Allen for a daylong affair consisting entirely of speakers extolling abstinence until marriage. There were no panels or workshops, just endless testimonials, including one by a young woman calling herself 'a born-again virgin.'") Well, while we're preaching, Mr. Allen, can I get a witness for the Eighth Commandment? Update: Dubya reacts.

In response to a GOP bill prohibiting gay adoption, Ohio State Senator Robert Hagan proposes a bill to ban adoption by Republicans. "To further lampoon Hood's bill, Hagan wrote in his mock proposal that 'credible research' shows that adopted children raised in Republican households are more at risk for developing 'emotional problems, social stigmas, inflated egos, and alarming lack of tolerance for others they deem different than themselves and an air of overconfidence to mask their insecurities.''' (By way of Do You Feel Loved.)

"I think that the Republican Party fairly recently has been taken over by the Christian conservatives, by the Christian right. I don't think that this is a permanent condition, but I think this has happened, and that it's divisive for the country." So says former GOP Senator John Danforth, himself an Episcopal priest, in keeping with his recent editorials on the subject. Kudos to you, Senator, for saying aloud what needs to be said. By the way, I have a book recommendation for you...

Personal plug: Bill Press' How the Republicans Stole Christmas, which I worked on earlier this year, was released today. As I noted last April, its basic thesis is "The Religious Right are neither religious nor right" (discuss amongst yourselves), and it aims to put the lie to the fundies' constant invocations of Jesus to justify their greed, intolerance, and hypocrisy. (And, along with being a long-time Dem campaign manager and pundit, Press also spent a decade in the seminary, so he knows of what he speaks.) Now, as they say, in bookstores everywhere.

"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong." (And, now that we've got all the racist white freakshows definitively in the bag, we're coming for you...) RNC Chair Ken Mehlman will apparently apologize for the "Southern Strategy" before the NAACP today. Well, I presume there nobody will fall for this ridiculous ruse...Just ask Katherine Harris.

Republican Rick Santorum -- the Senator of the proud state of Pennsylvania -- has rooted out the malevolent cause of the Catholic Church's recent sex abuse scandals. Celibacy? Harry Potter? Guess again. They were due to Boston itself, "a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America,." Um, ok. Could we expect any less from a guy who publicly compares Democrats to Hitler and consensual gay sex to bestiality and pedophilia? Pennsylvania, get your act together -- You're embarrassing the republic with this joker.

"There's not much these days that the two parties in Washington can rally around, as evidenced by the increasingly shrill tone here. You might think that one thing on which everyone in both parties could agree would be a resolution apologizing for the Senate's failure, over many decades, to make it a federal crime for racists to hunt black people like animals and hang them from trees." Terry Neal wonders why eleven GOP Senators refused to sign the recent anti-lynching resolution. (Cliopatria's Robert KC Johnson posted a list of the eleven Senator's responses from Roll Call a few days ago.)

As I've said earlier, I can see how a mea culpa that's coming anywhere from thirty to 130 years late may not be the most useful legislation ever passed by the Senate. But, when it comes time to mark your name down against an abomination like lynching, why not take the opportunity? To paraphrase Karl Rove, moderation and restraint is not what I feel when I see African-Americans strung up and mutilated by mobs of white folk. But, for one reason or another, a sizable number of the GOP think different. Therapy and understanding for the attackers, perhaps?

By way of a colleague in the program, conservative rag Human Events lists their choices for the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th & 20th Centuries (because remember, folks -- reading & thinking are dangerous.) The usual rogues' gallery -- Marx, Hitler, Mao -- are up front, as you might expect, but then things get kooky. Including Darwin is medieval enough, but Betty Friedan and Rachel Carson? You must be joking. (Well, at least it's good to see the right-wing fringe still running scared from progressives like John Dewey and Herbert Croly.)

Speaking of "corporate lobbyists with close ties to House leaders," there's apparently a lot of them. So many, in fact, that in order to avoid an ethics meltdown that could ravage both parties (particularly, of course, the party in power), the House GOP is now looking to tighten up lobbying restrictions. "The officials stressed that the proposed rule changes and amnesty would not alter plans for...an investigation of reports that lobbyists paid for overseas travel by DeLay in violation of House rules."

Conservative freakshow Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), now head of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the District, threatens Washington DC to back down on its plan to recognize gay marriages (by allowing joint filing for same-sex married tax returns.) Less government? Local control? Surely, it's obvious by now that today's GOP is much more interested in policing the bedroom. If you're still voting Republican these days for any other reason, how much more proof do you need?

Tinky-Winky may keep Jerry Falwell up at night, but apparently it's Spongebob Squarepants that haunts the dreams of James Dobson, founder and head of right-wing freak show organization Focus on the Family. (Must've been that David Hasselhoff cameo.) At a inaugural function this week, Dobson castigated a new tolerance promotion video featuring Spongebob, Barney, Winnie-the-Pooh, and other children's characters of suspect orientation as "pro-homosexuality." Said Dobson's #2, "We see the video as an insidious means by which the organization is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids...It is a classic bait and switch." Um, yeah, ok...fight the power, y'all.

Hope is on the...wait, what's this? Oops, sorry about that. Turns out Hope took a wrong turn and got lost somewhere back there in Idiotville. Welcome to Despairtown, baby.

So, that's that, then...the Idiot Wind blows anew. The American electorate has spoken and -- despite all the shadiness and incompetence of the past four years -- has given Dubya and his cronies the imprimatur to go hog-wild. 51-48%...this is pretty much a mandate, folks. (Big of those Red Staters to ensure that we will be woefully unprepared for the next terrorist attack on a Blue State.) Y'know, H.L. Mencken's whole Tyranny of the Booboisie schtick has always grated on my lefty sensibilities, but at this point I have to admit he may have been on to something.

Ugh. I'm too young to remember 1984 very well, but I'm curious as to how last night and this morning compared for America's Left. (I've since been reminded by several people I trust that 1968 and 1972 were much more grievous blows.) Thing is, 2004 started out with such promise over here. But, right around the time I ended up on crutches in May, events personal and political took a nasty turn, and the past few months have been some of the most dismal I can remember. Now, it seems, I may just look back on this time as relatively calm and worry-free.

But, ok, enough wallowing...let's start taking it frame-by-frame. Given the war, the economy, and Dubya's obvious incompetence, how on Earth did we lose this election? Well, give credit where credit is due...all this exit-talk of "moral values" proves that Karl Rove pulled off his gambit: He got the extra 4 million evangelical votes he was targeting, partly, it seems, by judiciously invoking rampant anti-gay hysteria. Yet, for some reason or another -- a lousy ground game, perhaps? -- the Dems inexplicably didn't counter with extra votes of our own.

Where do we go from here? The Dems are facing an ugly Rule of Four...We lost four seats in the Senate, at least four seats in the House, and likely four seats in the Supreme Court. Whatsmore, we now appear officially dead in the water in the South and Midwest. And, with Kerry and Daschle gone, our standard-bearers now appear to be Hillary Clinton (about whom the country has already made up its mind), John Edwards (whom I still admire, but he couldn't carry his home state), and Barrack Obama (who's probably too inexperienced to make much headway in 2008.)

Obviously, it's now well past time for the serious party overhaul we should've began last cycle, when Al Gore had an election stolen from him that he should have won hands down. Daschle & Gephardt are already in the dustbin of history, and Terry McAuliffe should probably follow them there. I for one don't think Howard Dean was or is the answer, but he's one of the only people injecting new blood and enthusiasm into the party right now, so he should have a seat at the table. Right now, I think Edwardsian populism is our strongest ideological card, but as I said, it didn't seem to make much headway last night.

Silver lining? Yeah, right. Well, as this Washington Monthly forum noted in September, second terms are notoriously scandal-prone (Watergate, Iran-Contra, Monica), partly out of press boredom, and Dubya's ilk seem particularly scandal-worthy...perhaps we'll finally hear a little more about Halliburton. I'm sure there'll be no shortage of horrifying policy decisions emanating from this administration that'll keep lefty blogs like this one in business. And, on a purely selfish note, my likely dissertation topic on the fortunes of progressivism in the twenties is now seeming much more sexy in the wake of last night's 1928-like cultural divide. Of course, none of these are really any consolation at all.

At any rate, I generally believe that America tends to get the president it deserves. So, God help us, we've brought this upon ourselves. And now, for we 48%, the hard work begins...we have to lick our wounds, get our act together, and figure out how we can best combat the rightward drift that's afflicting our nation. Alas, I fear Dubya will do much of the heavy lifting for us, by running the nation further into the ground over the next four years. Still, we gotta keep on keeping on, y'all. I do not believe this darkness will endure.

In a surprising (yet very likely vetted and scripted) exchange, Dick Cheney distances himself from Dubya's hard line against gay marriage. What a compassionately conservative way to make news the week before the convention, no? Sure, Cheney probably does harbor some reservations about the religious right's goofy stance on gay marriage, given his family relationship to the issue, and I suppose I should give him credit for mentioning them aloud. But, it's hard to buy his second-thoughts now, when he's been so silent on the topic these past few months...it's too convenient by half.

"Girlie men?" Don't mind the Governor...it's the 'Roids talking.

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns joins with civil rights leaders, John McCain, and - oddly enough - Orrin Hatch to obtain a retroactive pardon for Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion in history. A hero to black America during the Progressive Era, Johnson was convicted under the 1913 Mann Act for the then-heinous crime of dating a white woman. You'd think Jackson's story might cause Senator Hatch to reflect on the appropriate role of the State in private relations and persuade him to rethink his support of the pathetic Marriage Amendment. Baby steps, I guess.

At least McCain gets the message. The Senator from Arizona came out forcefully against the doomed and ridiculous amendment yesterday, arguing: "The constitutional amendment we're debating today strikes me as antithetical in every way to the core philosophy of Republicans." Um, have you looked around your own party lately? It's not the Dems pushing this garbage.

Earth to Inhofe? Earth to Inhofe? Nope, no answer. While several GOP leaders are turning on Dubya (and Rumsfeld) after recent events, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) is not among them. To the contrary, he lost it in committee today, proclaiming that he is "probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged by the outrage than we are by the treatment" of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. (For their part, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC) disavowed Inhofe immediately.) One would be tempted to write Inhofe off as simply a crank, until you peruse the many similar responses emanating from the Right about the relative newsworthiness of US soldiers engaging in torture and assorted other depravities. Mind you, these are the exact same Defenders of American Values who wore moral outrage like a cheap cologne all through l'affaire Lewinsky...some people have no shame. Update: Sure enough, the Right rallies around Inhofe.

As the Senate GOP tries to schedule embarrassing votes for Johns Kerry and Edwards, Richard Rosendall of Salon remembers the last election cycle the GOP invoked the culture wars so heavily: 1992. Thanks again, Pat Buchanan.

So, in an attempt to appease the stark raving Right, Dubya now wants a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Good God, what a colossally stupid idea. Since when did it become "conservative" to encode goofy prejudices into our founding document? And can someone please explain to me what jurisdiction the federal government has over the ecclesiastical institution of marriage anyway? Ridicky-goddamn-diculous. Surely Bush and Rove can find some other way to get out their base besides threatening to tinker with the United States Constitution.

Going over the heads of the Democrats in Congress, President Uniter-not-a-Divider gives segregationist Judge Charles Pickering a recess appointment (which he can hold until January 2005, after the seating of the next Congress.) In case you missed it, Pickering's segregationist backstory was ably fleshed out by historian Sean Wilentz eight months ago.

"All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches," decried Strom Thurmond in 1948 as he led the Dixiecrat segregationists out of the Democratic Party. Of course, as always in the Souths Old and New, the bedroom was another matter. To no one in South Carolina's real surprise, 78-year-old Essie Mae Washington-Williams announces she is Thurmond's mixed-race daughter. True to the character and hypocrisy of the Jim Crow South, here is a man who broke the Democratic Party and the filibuster record of the United States Congress trying to deny basic civil rights to his own child. How's that for "family values?" Unbelievable. Update: Surprise, surprise. The Thurmond family confirms it.

As the Religious Right preps for their coming crusade against sodomites and liberals, the NY Times examines the impact of yesterday's landmark gay marriage decision in Massachusetts on the 2004 Presidential race. I dunno...I think the potential fallout for the left is being overstated. For one, it's not as if jackasses like these are going to vote Democratic anyway. For another, if Tom DeLay succeeds in pushing a constitutional amendment on marriage to a vote, it will just redound negatively on Dubya and the GOP (as even the Weekly Standard realizes.) So by all means, let's see the right-wing crazies get their dander up on this issue...the electorate will know where to stand after seeing 'em frothing at the mouth and threatening to encode their prejudices into the U.S. Constitution.

Fresh off calling upon the Lord to snuff out a few justices, televangelist and former GOP Presidential nominee Pat Robertson advocates nuking the State Department. I presume John Ashcroft and the FBI are conducting a full investigation of this possible terrorist threat.

See, this is why you don't hire right-wing throwbacks to cover football games...Rush Limbaugh invokes the "black quarterback" canard during an Eagles game, claiming that Donovan McNabb has been overhyped because "the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well." I presume he also thinks the media was behind the respective successes of Randall Cunningham, Kordell Stewart, Steve McNair, and Michael Vick (currently the most exciting QB in the game.) In keeping with his jackass nature, Rush is naturally standing by his comments. (For their part, Clark, Dean, and Sharpton have also weighed in.) ESPN should do the right thing and let Limbaugh dangle, but I doubt that's going to happen...even with whatever dirt the Enquirer's drudged up on him. After all, as this story notes, "Limbaugh once said he felt guilty about telling an African-American caller to 'take that bone out of your nose and call me back.' He still uses the mock dialect 'ax' instead of 'ask' when discussing black leaders on his syndicated radio show and often plays the theme song 'Movin' On Up' from 'The Jeffersons' when referring to Carol Moseley Braun." Does this racist buffoon have any business covering the world of sports? Update: Well, that's then...Rush resigned. Smart of him to try to nip this Lott-sized bud now before everyone starts taking a closer look at his long history of questionable racial remarks.

In a tortured press conference in which he also came out firmly against gay marriage, Dubya finally admits he's to blame for the Iraq-Niger claim in the State of the Union (while letting Condoleeza Rice cry "mea culpa" on Newshour.) Why on Earth did it take him so long to state the obvious? As President, he is in fact responsible for his own utterances.

"'How am I a closet Democrat? I'm racist, I love guns and I hate welfare.'" Michelle Goldberg of Salon checks out the college Republican convention in DC, and discovers many of the attendees to be exactly the bitter, troubled, pugnacious, and ignorant children you might expect (and as the study suggests.) "I'm a Republican because liberals make me sick," says one deluded soul, for example, "I don't like whiny people and tree-huggers." (He then proceeds to whine incessantly about how affirmative action and taxes screwed him over.) Meanwhile, the "adults" at the convention spend their time fostering this hate in the name of the almighty buck. "Gene McDonald, who sold 'No Muslims = No Terrorists' bumper stickers at the Conservative Political Action Conference in January, was doing a brisk trade in 'Bring Back the Blacklist' T-shirts, mugs and mouse pads." Scary stuff.

"Ann Coulter may have committed 'treason' against conservative good taste. But she's done the rest of us a favor. She has exposed the often empty semantic difference between the "responsible" right and its supposed 'fringe.'" Sam Tanenhaus of Slate examines why conservatives hate Ann Coulter (too).

"We ask for miracles in regard to the Supreme Court...One justice is 83-years-old, another has cancer and another has a heart condition. Would it not be possible for God to put it in the minds of these three judges that the time has come to retire?" Pat Robertson calls on God to put a hit out on three Supreme Court justices following Lawrence v. Texas. Well, while we're praying for people's "removal"...

Kowtowing to right-wing unrest following Lawrence v. Texas, Senate Majority Leader Bill "Catkiller" Frist wants to write a gay marriage ban into the Constitution. Where are the true "conservatives" on this question? Surely, most would agree that the doctor and his cronies should not be scribbling their prejudicial rants upon our founding document, no?