Admittedly, it's a little hard to see, but you can see the full thing here at GOP.gov (.pdf).

And again, I must ponder whether the Republican Party is truly this clueless when they opt to illustrate their booklet of summer activities for Republican members of Congress with photos of Denis and Margaret Thatcher, Lech Walesa, Ike and Mamie Eisenhower, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Winston Churchill and Jack Kemp. Let's see--they've used three foreign leaders (including one fervent labor organizer and Iraq War critic) and three (four, if you count Teddy Roosevelt bringing up the rear at the bottom of the page) American Republican politicians who have all long since passed away. This is "treading boldly"? They can't even find a living Republican to hold up? And really, Jack Kemp? What's that about? A fairly undistinguished House career, two failed presidential campaigns and then finally Secretary of Housing and Urban Development--this is the coverboy for the Republican Party's plan to sway those all important "independent" voters for the mid-term elections?

Brilliant.

But wait, it gets better. Take a look at page 6, where they outline a typical August calendar: it is literally re-tweeting the RNC talking points. That's it. The booklet recommends holding town halls and setting up media interviews...but never forgetting their daily re-tweet.

Amazing. We're in the midst of two wars, the most severe economic dire straits since the Great Depression, and we have lunatics of the right wing noise machine all but directly calling for armed revolution and the GOP's answer is for its members to log on to Twitter.

The second half of the booklet is ostensibly the GOP's platform. Are you surprised to learn that it's heavy on spin and provable falsehoods: "Most Americans do not want a government takeover of health care that was forced upon them and would like to see it replaced with common sense solutions that lower costs and protect jobs." and light on actual solutions (lower taxes! less regulation! repeal health care! That's it in a nutshell.). Energy is barely mentioned except as a way to point out those mean old Democrats' onerous regulations on energy is a job killer.

In fact, there's a distinct lack of anything of substance in the kit. No discussion of immigration reform, other than the meaningless "secure the borders." Calls to reduce the size of government without the honesty to admit that it grew under their majority during Bush. Calls to stop runaway spending without acknowledging their own profligate ways.

There's enough cognitive dissonance in that kit to keep an analyst busy for years.

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Rachel Maddow speaks to Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family, about Tiahrt's membership in the C Street House and his own peculiar obsession with the idea that Muslims are having more babies than Americans (presumably, he meant Christian-Americans) and that we must stop abortions to win the birth war. Even more frightening is that his spiritual counselor and leader of "The Family" Doug Coe encouraged him to think even bigger--and wait to you hear the kind of "bigness" he should aspire to: Pol Pot, Hitler. I wish I was joking.

You may recall last week's offensive and racist rant by Kansas Republican Todd Tiarht when he said the following about taxpayer funded abortion:

"If that financial incentive was in place, is it possible that his mother may have taken advantage of it?" Tiahrt asked. "Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice, if those circumstances were in place, is it possible that we would be denied his great mind? The opportunity to have tax-funded abortions, a financial incentive, is something that I think most of us want to oppose in America and it's certainly deserves a clean up or down vote."

Something that offensive would normally bring about a chorus of criticism and demands for an apology - but Tiahrt is a member of today's GOP. Not only is nobody within his party calling for him to apologize to the president, they're promoting it and using it as a political talking point. More from Media Matters:

Now, the House Republican Conference, chaired by Rep. Mike Pence, is actively promoting Rep. Tiahrt's remarks. What was a situation solely involving Rep. Tiahrt now taints every Republican in the House of Representatives. What could have been written off as an impassioned rant by an over-zealous member is now being embraced and promoted by the Republicans' official government website.

As John Perr pointed out to me last week, President Obama's parents couldn't even have legally married in many states until the Loving vs. Virginia case of 1967. And imagine the outcry from the right if the same question had been asked about the mother of say, Ronald Reagan or Bush Sr. or Jr.? The Kansas Democratic Party still has a petition posted, demanding Tiahrt apologize to the president. You can sign it here if you like.