Video on the GOP website, “FISA 2008: AMERICA AT RISK,” Via the Atlantic:

Why not just use the music from JAWS!

This is too funny. It’s been reported that the Science Museum of Minnesota will be closed for the Republican National Convention in September. But here’s the kicker……the Republican Party will rent the museum and party delegates will be offered complimentary tours of the museum’s exhibits.

More at the Minnesota Monitor

This is their level best?

As one commenter over at The Nation observed:

You would think, being a GOP site, they’d have Valentine cards depicting Bush kicking a poor, sick healthcare-less child into the street, or Cheney waterboarding someone, anyone. Wouldn’t that be friggin’ more apropos? Morons.

From just one WaPo article, I find that:

- McCain and Romney are in Michigan, fighting each other over who can do more damage to our environment in order to win the hearts, minds and votes of republican voters.

“Look at Washington. What have they done to help the domestic auto industry?” Romney said on CNN on Sunday, citing congressional pressure to improve gas mileage and reduce emissions. “Look, you can’t keep on throwing anvils at Michigan and the auto industry and then say, how come they are not swimming well?”
[...]

McCain repeated an allegation he first made Saturday that Romney supported a tax increase on sport-utility vehicles. “I would not support a tax increase on SUVs,” McCain said.

- Huckabee and Giuliani are duking it out in South Carolina and Florida, respectively, sucking up to the “God’s chosen” crowd. What better way is there to garner more votes and win the presidency than taking your foot and mashing separation of church and state into the ground?

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee spent Sunday in South Carolina, where he is counting on another victory fueled by support from the state’s evangelical community. He preached at the 2,500-person First Baptist North Spartanburg. Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani campaigned at the El Rey Jesus church in Miami.

And just a side note and not germane to this post, but, anyone seen Fred lately?

What the hell is up with you friggin’ idiot republicans???

GOP will demand ‘oath’ of February primary voters

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — If you’re planning to vote in Virginia’s February Republican presidential primary, be prepared to sign an oath swearing your Republican loyalty.

The State Board of Elections on Monday approved a state Republican Party request to require all who apply for a GOP primary ballot first vow in writing that they’ll vote for the party’s presidential nominee next fall.

There’s no practical way to enforce the oath. Virginia doesn’t require voters to register by party, and for years the state’s Republicans have fretted that Democrats might meddle in their open primaries.

Virginia Democrats aren’t seeking such an oath for their presidential primary, which is held the same day — February 12th.

If you have so much hate for your country, you’re welcome to leave it at any time. If “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is just too much for you to stand, please, allow me to point you in the direction of the knife drawer.

Loyalty Oaths… Not really all they’re cracked up to be.

New Mitt Romney “illegal immigration” ad:

Announcer: “Illegal immigration. We need smart, tough solutions, not just talk. What will it take to fix it? Technology, new ideas, guts, values, Mitt Romney. He said no to driver’s licenses for illegals, no to in’state tuition, fought for English in the classroom. The only candidate with a proven record of fixing the big problems. From day one, Mitt Romney will do what he does best - take charge, demand results, no excuses.”

Romney: “I’m Mitt Romney and I approve this message.”

Values?

I love how republicans throw that word around. Like they retain sole-ownership of it or something. The values-party, my ass!

A partial list of republican values:

• August 2, 2007: Bush administration senior adviser Karl Rove disregards a Congressional subpoena and refuses to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee
• August 6, 2007: Investigation called for after House Republican Leader John Boehner leaked classified information regarding a secret court ruling over warrantless wiretapping
• August 8, 2007: Republican Senator Larry Craig pleads guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct following his June 11 arrest
• August 9, 2007: Major Republican donor Alan Fabian is charged with 23 counts of bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and perjury
• August 15, 2007: Republican state House candidate Angelo Cappelli is arrested for perjury and grand theft
• August 22, 2007: Republican political consultant Roger Stone resigns his role with the New York state Senate Republicans after reports surfaced that he made a “threatening, obscenity-laced” phone call to the 83-year-old father of Governor Eliot Spitzer
• August 27, 2007: Story breaks that Republican Senator Larry Craig was arrested and pled guilty - he had not publicly disclosed the events to that point

Again, this was only a partial list. There’s plenty more HERE.

If this is what you consider “values”, then you can keep your damn values!

Excellent post by John Cole over at Balloon Juice, titled “The Republican Decline“. Another must-read!

From that article:

And from a commenter on this post, Roddy McCorley:

GO READ!

Jesus “come-over-to-my’stall-for-a-while” Christ! What is up with these Republicans???

I have never done anything like this. I know no one that has ever done anything like this. (And I have known people that have done some pretty lowly things!)

DiFatta twice detained for lewd conduct in mall restrooms

St. Bernard Parish Councilman Joey DiFatta, who on Thursday withdrew from the 1st Senate District campaign, has been stopped twice since 1996 for suspicion of engaging in lewd behavior in public restrooms in Jefferson Parish, records obtained by The Times-Picayune show.

DiFatta, 53, acknowledged that reports he had been stopped are true, but he denied any wrongdoing in both cases. He said he was not prosecuted in either case and has no arrest record.

“If I had done something wrong, I would have been arrested,” DiFatta said Thursday afternoon. “I was not. I will deny that I was involved in any activity of that nature.”
[...]

The report states that DiFatta watched a man use the bathroom while peering through a hole in a bathroom stall. The man held DiFatta until police arrived, at which time he was issued the misdemeanor summons and ordered to appear in court.
[...]

In the second incident, Jefferson Parish deputies working an undercover detail in a men’s bathroom at Dillard’s at Lakeside Shopping Center in March 2000 stopped DiFatta after he indicated a desire to engage in sex with an undercover deputy in an adjoining bathroom stall, according to an interoffice memorandum written by Sgt. Keith Conley, one of the deputies involved in the investigation.

The report said DiFatta slid his foot into the deputy’s stall and tapped the deputy’s foot. In the report, Conley noted that such activity is common among men to indicate a willingness to participate in sex.

The deputy inside the stall, Detective Wayne Couvillion, responded by tapping his foot, and DiFatta reached under the partition and began to rub the deputy’s leg, the report states.

The detective asked DiFatta, “What do you want?” according to the report, and he replied, “I want to play with you.”

DiFatta also used a hand signal to indicate that he wanted to engage in sex and used language that indicated the same, according to the report. Conley, who is now the Kenner city attorney, confirmed the report’s authenticity Thursday.

-Christine Harvey, St. Tammany bureau, The Times Picayune

Times-Picayune

And I must say… very fitting!

Seems one of Jerry’s aides didn’t like political reporter Mike Flannery’s questions and pushed him down a stairwell at the Joliet Junior College after this announcement. Flannery plans to sue. There’s also a report from last night that he DOESN’T plan to step down. I think he’s H I S T O R Y! AMF!!!

Amid a growing list of questions about his Nicaraguan land dealings, his wife’s investments and his relationship to an indicted defense contractor, U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) announced Friday he will not seek another term.

The seven-term congressman whose district includes Joliet said he was calling it quits after 25 years in politics to spend more time with his wife, Guatemalan legislator Zury Rios de Weller, and their 1-year-old daughter. He made the announcement at a luncheon of the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce, which gave Weller its Spirit of Enterprise Award.

A Tribune investigation recently revealed Weller failed to disclose several Nicaraguan land transactions on his congressional ethics forms. The newspaper also recently reported that a charity formed by his wife raised questions about whether he had legally excluded her assets from congressional filings.

Weller also is among 13 House members subpoenaed to testify in the criminal case of a defense contractor accused of bribing then-Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.). They are fighting the subpoenas.

More at the Chicago Tribune