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I guess this what you call being a really sore loser.

Alan Keyes -- who several weeks back called President Obama a 'radical communist' who must be defeated or America "will cease to exist as we know it" -- yesterday on Fox denounced Obama as "the focus of evil". Not just once, but twice.

First Keyes appeared on Greg Jarrett's daytime broadcast, where he called Obama the "focus of evil" and "the child-killing policies in the world today."

Then he came on Sean Hannity's evening program and said the same thing:

Keyes: Well, I think it was clearly an effort today to try to establish some kind of moral legitimacy for Obama despite the fact that he takes an extremist stance on child-killing that marks him as the focal point evil, with respect to this heinous destruction of innocent life in our world today.

Of course, the "Obama favors infanticide" smear is nothing less than an outrageous lie -- which is exactly what Obama has called it -- created out of whole cloth from the fakery of Illinois right-wingers like Keyes.

Not the start they were looking for.

There will be no tea-dumping in the Potomac River -- that's illegal -- but organizers of today's national tea party tax protest found out this morning that so is their plan to dump a million tea bags in Lafayette Square to demonstrate displeasure at government spending and tax policies.

Protesters, using a rented truck to haul the million tea bags, began unloading their cargo at the park this morning but were told by officials that they didn't have proper permits and must move the tea. They complied with the order but are still considering what to do with the load.

The tea had been purchased online by people upset over recent government policy, said John Gauger, a spokesman for the grass-roots conservative group Reagan.org.

The protesters got more bad news this morning when security officials also told them that they did not have proper permits for a rally in front of the Treasury building. That noon-time protest had been expected to provide a national stage for speeches by such figures as Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform; former presidential candidate Alan Keyes; and Thomas A. Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste. But after the discussion with security officials, the protesters sent away the advance crew that was to set up risers and equipment for news crews. Now the speeches will be concentrated in Lafayette Square -- just without the tea dumping.

They have had a tough time really framing this issue correctly. I saw Cavuto mumbling and bumbling his pitch this morning on FOX, but Digby has an interesting take if they do ever get their talking points together.

SaveTheRich is an excellent frame to start beating this back. May the best populist win.

I've been around right-wing extremists long enough to know when they're making calls to action. And when it comes to these folks, this inevitably translates as violent action.

So Alan Keyes, in an interview with a reporter from KHAS-TV, filmed outside a fundraiser for the AAA Crisis Pregnancy Center in Hastings, Neb., said this:

"Obama is a radical communist, and I think it is becoming clear. That is what I told people in Illinois and now everybody realizes it's true," said Keyes, who ran unsuccessfully against Obama for the state's open Senate seat in 2004. "He is going to destroy this country, and we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist."

These kinds of remarks are, as Andrew Sullivan suggests, deeply disturbing, and not merely for the gut-level emotional impact.

Already, if you look at the comments from the YouTube where it's posted -- as well as at a number of right-wing sites -- the remarks are being hailed as "the truth" and "telling it like it is."

This is classic right-wing eliminationism: Depicting the opposition as the embodiment of evil, intent on destroying the nation. For militia/Patriot types, this kind of rhetoric also becomes a call to action.

"The communications director for Bush-Cheney, Nicolle Devenish, said Kerry miscalculated the impact of his remarks and now is "backpedaling from what is a crass, below-the-belt political strategy to attack the vice president's daughter."

"We're all God's children," he said. "And I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was. She's being who she was born as. I think if you talk to anybody, it's not a choice." -- John Kerry, 3rd Pres. debate.

Andrew Sullivan (here and elsewhere) and his correspondent, Marshall Wittman (here), say what needs to be said about the GOP's odd treatment of Mary Cheney's sexual orientation as something to be ashamed of, and its hilarious offensive against John Kerry as an apparent homophobe.

Sullivan's site also has a wonderful run-down of all the conservatives who have suddenly become charter members, so to speak, of the Human Rights Campaign. It's obvious what's going on here: The only way to salvage a "win" out of Wednesday's debate is to recast it as an occasion where Kerry made a horrendous gaffe. And the Bush surrogates in the right-wing press are doing everything they can to make that happen.

Alas, they seem to be doing a very effective job of it. Not one reporter writing a story about this blow-up seems willing to ask the Bush campaign or the Cheneys why it's offensive of Kerry to describe Mary Cheney -- in a positive sense -- as a lesbian. At least Gary Bauer is honest enough to admit that it will hurt Bush among rural conservatives for them to know a member of the Republican ticket fathered a daughter who plays for the other team.

There's a new Circus Clown in town and he's bucking to get a free ride to South Carolina. Rev. Willie Wilson:

“Sisters making more money than brothers and it’s creating problems in families … that’s one of the reasons many of our women are becoming lesbians,” Wilson said.

I knew money was the root of all evil! Do you think he'll stop there? The good Reverend is just getting started:

“Lesbianism is about to take over our community. … I ain’t homophobic because everybody here got something wrong with him,” he said. “But … women falling down on another woman, strapping yourself up with something, it ain’t real."

There's more so check out what this Alan Keyes wannabe says. read it here.

Arthur has a piece called: ELIMINATING THE “OTHER”:But one fact is completely clear: as I noted in my earlier essay, the most virulent of the anti-gay forces seek not only to stigmatize homosexuality. They seek to eliminate it altogether: the enemy must be destroyed. Just how far they are prepared to go to achieve that aim remains to be seen.

Whittemore:The new target

via World O' Crap:

From the Miami Herald piece Crazies Have new Target:

Pity James D. Whittemore, next in line for unholy defamation via e-mail, eternal damnation through the Internet and vilification by postcard. Not to mention death threats from those who claim insight into God's own hit list.

keep reading

.....Congress was effectively manipulated by wingnuts who are manipulated by Alan Keyes et.al. I hope those in the legislative branch who caved in to the pressure will do a little research and learn just what kind of people (and views) they are aligning themselves with -- or otherwise. they might be taken by surprise when, at the next "defining moment in history," those "outraged constituents" attempt to overthrow the government and install Alan Keyes as our priest king.

Exiled from the Underworld

I love Atrios's "Wanker of the Day" feature. Friday's Wanker is (*ta-da*) our own Oklahoma Senator, Dr. Tom Coburn! I disagree with Atrios's choice, however, for the sole reason that Dr. Tom is a professional wanker, and "Wanker for the Day" implies amateur status-- thereby giving Dr. Tom an unfair advantage over other competitors.

To illustrate briefly why Dr. Tom stands overqualified for the more ephemeral title, here are some of his history-making wanks:

* Tom Coburn initially supported Alan Keyes in the 2000 presidential primary.

* Dr. Coburn's medical expertise extends to the prophylactic use ofsilicone breast implants (my sons are thrilled, and want to be at least C cup size):

"And I thought I would just share with you what science says today about silicone breast implants. If you have them, you're healthier than if you don't. That is what the ultimate science shows. . . . In fact, there's no science that shows that silicone breast implants are detrimental and, in fact, they make you healthier."

On the left, most of us would probably feel saddened to learn that a child would be kicked to the curb by her parents because of her sexuality. via WaPo "Alan Keyes and his wife, Jocelyn -- threw her out of their house, refused to pay her college tuition and stopped speaking to her." On the right there's probably a celebration going on in honor of this great tribute cast forth by Alan Keyes. "That will teach those freaks," will most likely be the prevailing thought for many of the right wing ideologues; most of whom won't have the courage to voice that opinion publically, but who are probably humming "Dancing in the Streets" to themselves while reading the story of Keyes rejection of his daughter.

Keyes slams Cheney daughter

New York, NY, Sep. 1 (UPI) -- Illinois Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Alan Keyes reportedly had tough words for vice presidential daughter Mary Cheney because she is a lesbian.

In an interview with SIRUS satellite radio, the Internet's Drudge Report said Wednesday, Keyes called Mary Cheney "a 'selfish hedonist' because she is a lesbian."

Keyes said: "The essence of ... family life remains procreation. If we embrace homosexuality as a proper basis for marriage, we are saying that it's possible to have a marriage state that in principal excludes procreation and is based simply on the premise of selfish hedonism."

Asked whether that meant Mary Cheney "is a selfish hedonist," Keyes said: "That goes by definition. Of course she is."