Racism is the new cool for the GOP. It's in their blood now.

Think Progress:

Yesterday afternoon, Mike Pompeo, the Republican congressional candidate for KS-4 and RNC committeeman, tweeted out to his supporters an article he thought would be a “good read”:

Here’s a good read about the Team Pompeo campaign: http://bit.ly/cF05mp

That link goes to a post on Newsvine by Ret. Gunnery Sgt. Bob Pinkstaff USMC, who rails against Pompeo’s Democratic opponent, state Rep. Raj Goyle (who also used to work at the Center for American Progress). In the post — which the Pompeo campaign endorsed by sending out to its supporters — Pinkstaff calls the Indian-American Goyle a “turban topper” who “could be a muslim, a hindu, a buddhist etc who knows”:

As I was listening to radio station 1330 about a week ago, the radio station did an interview with Goyle and should be on tape and available to the public. The interviewer asked him what religion or faith he belonged to and this guy mumbled and stumbled around the question, never directly answering it. Like his comrade Obama, he wouldn’t give an answer, only that he was not a Christian. This guy could be a muslim, a hindu, a buddhist etc who knows, only God, the shadow and …goyle knows! One thing’s for sure … goyle is not a Christian!

Since the 2008 election of the evil Muslim Communist USURPER, Barack Hussein Obama, political candidate “BIRTH CERTIFICATE & RELIGION” information is now a vital part of the vetting/nomination/election process for any and all American citizens seeking political office.

Just like his evil Muslim Communist USURPER Comrade, Barack Hussein Obama, This goyle character is just another “turban topper” we don’t need in congress or any political office that deals with the U.S. Constitution, Christianity and the United States of America!!!

The Goyle campaign put out a press release this morning, saying the tweet went “beyond the rules of engagement in politics. This violates the principles and core values of Kansans.”

I don't know why Mike Pompeo even apologized. What's the point? It's something he believes in. It's something that he cherishes. Just go with the tea party flow. The ugly we are witnessing is going to spread and spread. FOX and their friends on AM radio will make sure of it.

US District Judge Martin Feldman has issued a stay to the President's moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Or put another way, the judge has given a green light for all offshore drilling to restart despite the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Judge Feldman ruled that the government had not taken other companies' safety records into account, nor had they provided compelling evidence for imposing a moratorium.

The Obama administration will appeal the ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in an effort to have the ruling reinstated.

The text of the ruling is here (PDF). I will update this post with more information as it becomes available.

On the record now before the Court, the defendants have failed to cogently reflect the decision to issue a blanket, generic, indeed punitive, moratorium with the facts developed during the thirty-day review. The plaintiffs have established a likelihood of successfully showing that the Administration acted arbitrarily and capriciously in issuing the moratorium.

Update #1: From the comments (thanks to savannah43), a backgrounder on Judge Feldman.

The primary objection from the other companies drilling in the Gulf to the moratorium is the perception that they are being punished for BP's inattention to safety. However, as commenter jalbert points out, they are all using the same boilerplate emergency response plan which has been shown to be woefully inadequate, outdated, and unresponsive to specific needs of the Gulf of Mexico. Chevron's claim of "perfectly safe without a relief well" is such an example.

Update #2: Judge Feldman owns stock in drilling companies (Transocean is one).

TPM has the full portfolio, noting cozy relationships between judges in that region and the oil industry:

In his opinion today, Feldman wrote, “Oil and gas production is quite simply elemental to Gulf communities.” Indeed, it is so elemental that the justice system is invested in the oil and gas industry. As TP’s Ian Millhiser has written, “Industry ties among federal judges are so widespread that they are beginning to endanger the courts’ ability to conduct routine business. Last month, so many members of the right-wing Fifth Circuit were forced to recuse themselves from an appeal against various energy and chemical companies that there weren’t enough untainted judges left to allow the court to hear the case.”

And despite the media having written off Coakley's campaign (after all, there's nothing they like better than "explaining" an election means the Democrats are "too liberal"), I got a report from the field saying the volunteers are pouring into Coakley headquarters this weekend for GOTV efforts:

"Vols are flooding the place. People are fighting for chairs at coakley hq. Folks are sitting on boxes and backpacks and whatever is around. There are no phones left in the phone bank here. Vols have stopped telling me to shut up as I yell at reporters on the phone because they can no longer hear me over the din of everyone else working the phones. The CW is wrong and the national narrative is a week behind. Energy level is high on our side. We've got a populist argument, we are on offense, we know the stakes, we are galvanized by the influx of tea party money and Republican bloviations. That story needs to be told."

If you want to help, register here to make calls from home this weekend.

In the meantime, the class acts over at RedState are trying to jam the Coakley phone banks. (Uh, guys? It's still illegal. I know that never stops you, of course.) And rumor has it that Holy Joe Lieberman will endorse Brown, the former Cosmo nude model. (Think about that.)

UPDATE: (Nicole) Just caught this on the Twitter:

@democratsdotorg: BROWN BULLYING TACTICS WATCH: Report of Coakley signs burned in Hyannis…hearing arrests made—send photos/accounts #MASen

coakley's put up an alert button on her site.

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Showing that once more that Republicans have no class and no respect for government and Americans, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled out "You lie!" when President Obama reassured Americans that his health care reform plan did not include illegal aliens. Politico:

"There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false - the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally," President Obama said.

A loud voice from the Republican side of the hall answered, "Lie" -- my colleague Glenn Thrush reports it was Rep. Joe Wilson (R - S.C.) -- drawing a second "It's not true," from Obama and a shake of Nancy Pelosi's head.

The bill is designed to exclude those immigrants, though some Republicans have called for more explicit bans on funding for illegal immigrants and have claimed the bill will funnel money to illegal immigrants.

FactCheck.org described those claims as "false" and noted that one version of the legislation already includes an explicit bar on federal funding for illegal immigrants' health care.

Disgusting. Can you imagine the uproar if a Democrat had so little class as to do that during one of Bush's speeches? To be fair, Wilson was condemned on both sides of the aisle. Even McCain said that Wilson should apologize.

There is an http://act.ly/iq petition going viral, asking @CongJoeWilson to apologize for yelling "YOU LIE" in President Obama's speech.

If you'd like to sign,please click here.

UPDATE: Joe Wilson is being challenged by Rob Miller for SC-02. You can donate to Miller's ActBlue page here.

UPDATE #2: Wow. In less than two hours, challenger Rob Miller has raised over $11K. Clearly quaking in his boots at the disgust leveled at him, Wilson has issued the following apology:

“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”

Stunning. Millions of Iranaian citizens are staging protests of historical proportion and Republican Pete Hoekstra compares it to being taken to the woodshed by Democrats. Zero shame. The best part of Pete's Tweet? The comments.

Ice Station Tango nails it:

I remember that day. It was a god damned massacre. The Democrats surrounded the Republicans and deliberately fired into the peaceful crowd, killing seven...

Wait, that was Iran.

Hoekstra wasn't the only wingnut making the Iran protest/GOP comparison. These people obviously have no idea how ridiculous they look. (h/t HuffPo)