Those classy guys in the GOP. Will Bunch:

Some of 55 years after the vicious, Red-baiting tactics of Joseph McCarthy were repudiated by America's better angels, the state GOP is picking up the tattered banner of McCarthyism and running with it -- literally, in fact, with this banner ad (top) on a popular political Web site. In this case, it's hard to say what is more appalling -- equating the sitting president of the United States with the Soviet dictators who slaughtered their political enemies and sent others to brutal gulags, or the cause this ad is promoting: The election of a judge to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The ad was was first noticed on the Pennsylvania blog Gort42 (also h/t downwithtyranny) -- it appears on the top of the website GrassrootsPA, which is the leading state-oriented conservative Web site in Pennsylvania. Last night, the image -- as captured and posted by Gort42 and now here -- and this ad was at top of the site when I first visited there around 10:30; later in the night, the same banner displayed a different message -- about bailouts, healthcare and the stimulus. It's not clear whether the image with the hammer-and-sickle "Obama" was replaced or whether it alternates with the other message.

It's not the first time that the Pennsylvania Republican Party has used extreme rhetoric about Barack Obama. Last fall, when he was the Democratic nominee -- as reported here at Attytood -- the state GOP chairman Robert Gleason issued a press release that called Obama "a terrorist's best friend." This new ad also picks up a theme that gained attention earlier this fall in Kansas City, when an anti-Obama billboard placed on I-70 had the Soviet hammer-and-sickle emblem with the message: ""How do you like your change now? Obama Nation. They are coming for you! The Taxpayer. First and Second Amendments are in jeopardy. Live free or Die."

My god, these are the same party who destroyed CDs and sent death threats when the Dixie Chicks said they were embarrassed to be from the same state as GWB and demanded Congress react to MoveOn's ad "Gen. Betray-Us?". But yet they throw around loaded symbols and allusions to some of the most brutal regimes of the last century, and think nothing of it.

Newt Gingrich -- the King of the Teabaggers -- was on NBC's Today Show today slamming President Obamam for shaking hands with Hugo Chavez. In the mind of the Teabagger King, that looks bad.

The importance of the Chavez hand shake is the report you did just now, on the jump in book sales from #54,000 to number 2. Everywhere in Latin America, enemies of America are going to use the picture of Chavez smiling and being with the President as proof that Chavez is now legitimate, that he's acceptable, He's a dictatorial figure, he's an anti American figure, but what I find distressing is this administration is opposed to looking for oil off shore, but the President bows to the Saudi King...

It does matter to the world...

He's doing his best to lead the Fox News cult, isn't he? Obama is just so weak on North Korea too. Teabaggers like Newt will stare in the face of history and go blank. The Teabagger King will lie about all things and be strong for his people. Nixon/Brezhnev, Reagan/Gorbachev none of those great Republican presidents ever shook hands with dictators. Nope, that never happened. George Bush never bowed to a Saudi King. Nope, never happened. Poppy Bush never used cash he got from the Saudis to bail out his son over bad business deals. Nope, never.

What crime has President Obama committed? He's trying to restore the image of America overseas to the rest of the world and he's being successful at it. And the Teabagger King can't have that.

A new website (firethelobbyists.com) has been created by the pro-campaign finance reform organization Campaign Money Watch, to convince Senator McCain to fire three lobbyists in the top levels of his organization that have lobbied for ruthless dictators. You may recall that over the past two days, two McCain aides have resigned because of their willingness to do public relations work for the Burmese Junta.

Ahh, working for the public good. It must feel so refreshing.

Of course, turn over any stone in The McCain Campaign, and one can only guess what might come crawling out. It turns out that they have even more friends in low places. I contacted David Donnelly, Director of Campaign Money Watch, for a comment. He explained what his group is trying to accomplish:

John McCain ought to immediately fire three lobbyists — Charlie Black, Tom Loeffler, and Peter Madigan -- whose lobbying for brutal dictators and foreign governments is every bit as bad as the two lobbyists who left his campaign over the weekend. Frankly, McCain’s campaign is turning out to be an effort of, by, and for these types of Washington influence peddlers. His credentials as a reformer are gone.

Pretty strong words. Yet, if you read what this triad of McCain lobbyists have been up to, perhaps not strong enough. It ain't pretty:

Charlie Black, McCain’s senior counsel and spokesman, began his lobbying career by representing numerous dictators and repressive regimes

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