There is a frightening/disturbing and almost funny (almost) must-read on the Mother Jones website about “Tea party causality” Rep. Bob Inglis, a soon-to-be-former Republican congressman from South Carolina. Inglis, who seems like a decent enough guy—and not a hypocrite or a demagogue like many GOPers—was forced out, losing the primary, 71 to 29 percent, to a Tea party-backed candidate:

“They were upset with me,” Inglis recalls. “They are all Glenn Beck watchers.” About 90 minutes into the meeting, as he remembers it, “They say, ‘Bob, what don’t you get? Barack Obama is a socialist, communist Marxist who wants to destroy the American economy so he can take over as dictator. Health care is part of that. And he wants to open up the Mexican border and turn [the US] into a Muslim nation.’” Inglis didn’t know how to respond.

“I sat down, and they said on the back of your Social Security card, there’s a number. That number indicates the bank that bought you when you were born based on a projection of your life’s earnings, and you are collateral. We are all collateral for the banks. I have this look like, “What the heck are you talking about?” I’m trying to hide that look and look clueless. I figured clueless was better than argumentative. So they said, “You don’t know this?! You are a member of Congress, and you don’t know this?!” And I said, “Please forgive me. I’m just ignorant of these things.” And then of course, it turned into something about the Federal Reserve and the Bilderbergers and all that stuff. And now you have the feeling of anti-Semitism here coming in, mixing in. Wow.”

Imagine having to pander to that low IQ mob? To his credit, Rep. Inglis did not try, but look what it got him: the bum’s rush. What wins primaries for conservative Republicans is the very same thing that loses them in the general election. Only the committed, hardline types ever come out to vote in the primaries.* If a Republican wants the nomination, they have to run pretty far right candidacies.

Look at some of the positions Meg Whitman took here in California on immigration during the primary. Whitman had to appeal to the Orange County conservatives to win the GOP nomination because they’re a reliable voting bloc in the primary and in the general election, as well. But gimme a break, this Fall, those “winning” positions will become albatross-like liabilities in a state with as many Latino voters as California has. From what I can tell, the only thing Whitman’s over $100 million dollars have done for her public image with CA voters is to remind them that she is a billionaire who once hit one of her Ebay employees and that they don’t like the positions they heard her espousing during the primary. By contrast, former CA governor and current CA Attorney General, Jerry Brown, has spent under $400,000 and is still beating Whitman in a recent poll.

Prediction: Given a little over 90 days to completely turn the collective stomach of the electorate seems to be a challenge the Tea party is up for. As long as the Democrats don’t screw up on the “get the vote out” stuff, I don’t think there is much chance for the GOP to retake the House or Senate. Brown-nosing the Glenn Beck set is going to be met with disaster at the voting booth, mark my words. As many fucking idiots as there are in this country, they’re still (slightly) outnumbered.

*I don’t give a shit about the primaries, do you? I know, for sure, that no matter which Democrats are on the ballot in November, that they’ll probably get my vote. I’ve never voted for a single Republican candidate in my life and I doubt I ever will.

 
Long after I’d given up hope of seeing anything even close to a principled stand by a Republican, something incredible happened. It’s amazing to me that the party responsible for my wonderment is the same attorney who represented George Bush in the Bush v. Gore election caper, former Solicitor General, Theodore Olson.

Last year, Ted Olson joined with David Boies, the opposing lawyer in Bush v. Gore, and a staunch Democrat, to bring a federal lawsuit against Perry v. Schwarzenegger challenging Proposition 8, the California constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage. This odd couple of ideologically opposed lawyers, of course prevailed in overturning Prop. 8.

This morning on Fox News Sunday, Olson appeared with Chris Wallace to discuss the recent defeat of Prop 8 in a California courtroom.  I find Chris Wallace to be the single toadiest, most craven, ass-licking employee of Fox News. That’s really saying something, I realize, but Chris Wallace is a nauseating one-man wind-up toy of Republican talking points. He’s not a journalist, he’s a weenie. He’s not a conservative, he’s a Republican and as Olson proves in the following clip, there is a very big difference between the two. Republicans used to have a credible reputation for being anti-statist and wanting to keep the government off the backs of the people and out of their lives. That was then and this is now. Now, who the fuck knows what they stand for except for the interests of the ruling class and abject stupidity? If the Republicans got smart and ran someone brilliant like Olson instead of ignoramuses like Sharron Angle and Sarah Palin, maybe they’d have a chance in general elections, but that’s not going to happen, not for a long time:

Olson: (to Wallace) Well, would you like your right to free speech? Would you like Fox’s right to free press put up to a vote and say well, if five states approved it, let’s wait till the other 45 states do? These are fundament constitutional rights. The Bill of Rights guarantees Fox News and you, Chris Wallace, the right to speak. It’s in the constitution. And the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the denial of our citizens of the equal rights to equal access to justice under the law, is a violation of our fundamental rights. Yes, it’s encouraging that many states are moving towards equality on the basis of sexual orientation, and I’m very, very pleased about that. … We can’t wait for the voters to decide that that immeasurable harm, that is unconstitutional, must be eliminated.

 
If you appreciate intelligent political humor, especially when delivered by Brits, you’ll pee your pants for The Bugle, the free weekly Times Online comedy podcast. Daily Show correspondent/writer John Oliver calling in from New York City and fellow Brit comedian Andy Zaltzman in London deliver an excellent 40-minute fake news show, replete with grandiose trumpet fanfare, horribly stretched-out puns, and a lot of schoolgirl-style giggling. Plus zingers like these:

Bush admitted that standing under a banner that read “Mission Accomplished” was a mistake—which is like apologizing for spelling someone’s name wrong on the birthday cake you made them out of shit.

Here’s some highlights from the audio newspaper for a visual world:
 

 
After the jump, the Bugle asks an American…
 

 
Really creative stuff here. UK designer and video artist Chris Lince has put together a fantastic video for his fellow Brits in the group Pig With the Face of a Boy, which describes itself as “the world’s best neo-post-post music hall anti-folk band.”

The song, “A Complete History Of The Soviet Union Through The Eyes Of A Humble Worker, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris” (that melody is actually the 19th-century Russian folk song “Korbeiniki”) is clever enough, packing a 70-year history into seven minutes. But the metaphor of the famously addictive video game truly comes alive in Lince’s atmospheric vid. He captures the grime, the grit, and the blocks beautifully. I’m not a gigantic fan of satirical musical comedy, but I think this is executed really well.
 

 
There aren’t too many people who I’d be really that impressed to meet. To be perfectly honest/obnoxious I’ve already met most of the people who I ever wanted to meet, or else they’re dead. Just three people come to mind who I’d be humbled to find myself face to face with and all are women: Oprah Winfrey, Patti Smith and Rachel Maddow.

In the above clip, Rachel Maddow shows why she’s such an important, even necessary, figure in the American media. Although David Letterman is obviously throwing her well-intentioned, and respectful softballs, she says here what more sane and responsible people who have an audience should be saying about Fox News, Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart: “Scaring white people is good politics on the conservative side of the spectrum.” Bravo, Ms. Maddow, keep it up!!

 
OK, America, here’s how it seems to be going down in Tuscon, AZ as of earlier today, despite the standing federal injunction against SB1070, the state of Arizona’s attempt to enforce national border laws.

Run a stop sign, get detained potentially by Border Patrol.

What now, America? What do we got?
 

 
Hat tip Charlie Bertsch.

 
Dangerous Minds pal Charles Johnson has posted another tasty classic comics cover over at Little Green Footballs. Wait until Glen Beck gets ahold of this, PROOF that Marvel Comics promotes racism or reverse racism or Communism… or something:

Since the New Black Panther Party has been the race-baiting rage lately, here’s a related cover image from the Lizard Collection: issue #52 of Fantastic Four, a classic released in July 1966, an arguably more innocent and open time. This book featured the first appearance of African superhero Black Panther, who would go on to become one of the Avengers. It’s Jack Kirby and Stan Lee at the top of their talents, drawing on 60s memes and cultural icons to create a new, distinct, and very influential form of pop art.