Fuck you Sacramento GOP

I was raised in California, I generally like most of the people there, a lot of Republicans included. I tend to think both extreme Republicans and extreme Democrats are gods damned idiots (I went to college out in Santa Cruz, where there are a lot of “I’m open-minded and if you don’t think in exactly the same open-minded way I do than you’re wrong” asshats) Anyway, this morning a friend of mine who lives in Sacramento sent me this:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/waterboard-him.html

check out the link for the picture. I’d post it here but A) my computer at works sucks and B) I can’t figure out half the menus cause they’re all in Japanese and I only know like 200 kanji, none of which I’ve found to actually be useful.

Now this isn’t some extreme right-wing assclown, this was on the OFFICIAL Republican website in the capitol of the most populous state in America.

They’re calling a sitting senator of the US a terrorist and saying we should torture him. WTF?!

I wish all of our normal Republicans could see that their party has run totally ker-fuck.
This is a starting point. “No, we don’t really want to hurt, humiliate and torture folks 'cause they have different opinions.”

Gads.

Wow, that’s crossing beyond parody territory. Are they serious? The republican party has reached the levels of Hollywood villainy. Can they really not look back and see themselves objectively and realize what they’ve been reduced to? Or are they really fine with this?

This is the legacy of George Bush’s presidency. I hope he’s proud of it.

I love the comment that the Sacramento GOP Chairman made to the Sacramento Bee about the issue:

What a jackass.

Where do you live? Are you me?

I’m a little uncomfortable with this- I was raised in Sac, went to school in SC. You implied earlier you are living overseas, as am I. I don’t like this one bit- the last thing I need is a doppelganger hanging around.

Ok, calmed down. I see you are in Japan. If you are my freaky double, at least I won’t fear running in to you on the street unless you take a vacation to China.

At least, the Governator got mad and made them take it down:
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1314854.html

Jeez, it’s bad enough to want to waterboard anyone, much less a person who merely differs from you in political beliefs. I can’t believe how nasty this election season has gotten. I don’t recall anyone advocating the torture of Kerry in 2004.

No kidding. That’s truly ugly – insanely ugly.

WTF are people thinking?

I guess it’s just one more reason to vote for McCain, since the promises to not engage in dirty politics have been ignored, eh Bricker? I mean, I don’t understand the logic, but whatever floats your boat.

The Virginia GOP’s not much better.

Yes, but Kerry wasn’t winning. It’s easy to be gracious when you’re ahead. It’s when you’re behind that character shows.

What do you want from the guy? He came out unprompted and condemned it outright. And you’re still getting a dig in?

What he said.

Yes. Bricker has a thick skin. I have no doubt he can get his digs back at me - I’m not his equal when it comes to debating.

I just could never understand why he changed his mind about voting for Obama because Obama was unable to keep every single one of the Democratic supporters from “going negative”.

Gee, a lot of the discussion here the last few days has turned on how difficult it is to control your political supporters, hasn’t it?

Is it unreasonable to expect that the editors of official party publications exercise a little discretion?

Certainly true.

All the politicians CAN do, is let their supporters know that you do not appreciate that “kind” of support. Like if someone yells “kill him” when you talk about your opponent at a rally, you should probably not just let it pass without condemning it. Or, on this board, if someone posts something that says McCain is an “evil, stupid man”, it behooves all of us to tell that poster he’s full of shit.

In the case of the OP, and ArchiveGuy’s Virginia GOP example though, it is not the supporters we’re talking about. It is the party apparatus itself indicating that the opposition is “evil” or that we should waterboard the opposition.

In the first Clinton-Bush-Perot debate in 1992, Perot said,

I didn’t watch the debate, so I don’t know if McCain was presented with an opportunity to talk about the people who are supporting him. But he’s pretty good at shoehorning talking points into whatever question he is asked. Too bad there isn’t one like this in his repetoire.

Yes. I find it absolutely ridiculous that both sides feel the need to point fingers and demand statements repudiating what so-and-so and this-and-that said about such-and-such.

Some celebrity is pregnant? Make a statement.

Someone hurts someone’s feelings? Make a statement repudiating it, then hold a press conference asking why your opponent hasn’t done the same.

Some idiot supporter only vaguely associated with either candidate says something stupidass? Issue a press release using the word “repudiate.”

Example: McCain won’t repudiate the “kill him!” statements from his own supporters nor decry the racism, but he insists that Obama repudiates what’s-his-nose about the George Wallace comparison.

It’s all about controlling the message. McCain constantly mentions Rezko, Ayers, and ACORN because he wants to control the topic of conversation; Obama isn’t allowing McCain to choose the subject matter.

If McCain wants Obama to repudiate every nutbag on the left, he’d better set a good example by marshalling the right.