OK--Before this meme gets embedded in the discourse, let me note that the release has now been removed from the TN GOP website, at the demand of its two top statewide office holders, Senators Corker and Alexander.  Now I realize that the left blogosphere has a comeback, arguing that the GOP has a two-track strategy, allowing top officials to take the high road while lower-level minions do the dirty work.  But in this case, I think [and other Tennessee liberals think the same] that people like Lamar were genuinely offended, or at least embarrassed.  The guys at state party HQs tend to dish out red meat without terribly much regard to sensibilities [I remember a certain SC state *Democratic* chairman openly alluding to rumors that Lindsay Graham is a closeted gay, so it isn't a peculiarly Republican characteristic], but I see no reason to believe that this bit of moral idiocy is representative of the entire Tennessee GOP, rather than a product of a rogue wingnut who slipped his own obsessions onto the site.  Note, after all, that while this sort of stuff might satisfy the hard core, it has generally played out as an embarrassment for the TN GOP, both outside *and* inside the state.  Will Obama lose votes because of this, or *gain* them?  I think it work to his favor, and I suspect people like Alexander think the same way.

Anybody can denounce Obama, but does al-Qaeda denouce _and_ reject Obama?

Rhubarbs

Damn you ... you beat me to it.

colablease

First, I much appreciate your civil response wich is neither snarky,  vindictive, or  paranoid.   Kudos (and I say that knowing that our side can be equally awful)

I agree there isn't a conscious two track policy in the GOP.  However, this is the inevitable  consequence of the extreme demagoguery used by GOP politicians for the past 20 years to characterize Democrats. You have drawn in these kooks into your party, with these sorts of tactics becoming standard modus operandi in certain quarters. The extreme partisanship has come back to hurt you.

And like my sainted Grandmother once said to me "when you lie down with dogs, you are going to get fleas"

tem, American campaigns are nasty affairs of scurrilous name-calling. John Adams was going to stage a coup and make himself king. Jefferson was a sexual deviant French spy. Martin Van Buren, one of the most devious snakes in our history, tried to attack the wealthy, intellectualist aristocrat William Henry Harrison as a backwoods hick who lived in a log cabin and drank hard cider. Bad move: Whigs embraced the attack, made log cabins and hard cider the symbols of their campaign, and knocked old Van out of the White House. (Turns out Americans like single-family homes and stiff drinks. Who knew?)

Anyway, the point is that this sort of atmospheric attack is nothing new, it's not the result of the GOP sleeping in the gutter, and we need to keep our cool and accept a certain amount of it as the cost of doing business in a democracy. Bemused detachment first, outrage second. And Democrats need to be unashamed to hit back hard and to work to ensure that Republican attacks on Obama backfire like Van Buren's attacks on Harrison. So far, I think we're doing pretty well, but we need to avoid sounding like whiners. Don't complain, hit back. These "Hussein hahaha" attacks will make McCain and his supporters look small and mean and actually kind of un-American if we let them.

Rhubarbs

Thanks for the history.

Point taken about the whining..Obviously certain folks on the right live to make us angry. It really does our side little good to give them encouragement

And, according to the dirt, Ike was a philanderer and Mamie was a lush.  And this from fellow Republican Robert Taft's campaign's "low level".

It's silly speculating on whether this kind of stuff is actively encouraged by the campaigns.  It's going to be out there no matter what they do.  And if it hurts the other guy of course there'll be schadenfreude.

"Hussein hahaha" may be small and mean, but so were the Swft Boaters.  It's vile, contemptible and small and mean but it's there, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Actually, there is a solution, though it's probably too late:

In a grand gesture -- not on the sly, but openly and with fanfare -- Obama should officially change the name.  Find one on his mom's side --  I mean, after all, none of the current ones are from her side -- "To honor her love and sacrifice".  Preferably a very Christian name, so he could also say, "To testify to my faith in Jesus."  That would be the smart political caulculus.  It would work.  Those who accuse him of opportunism could then be painted as nasty cynics who question this affirmation of "my love for my country, my Redeemer and my mom."  Like I say, though, it's probably too late.

Tembrach,

You thank colablease for the tone of his comments, and then repay him by accusing the Republican Party of recruiting "kooks."

Is there really a death of kooks in our (Democratic ) party. (For reference, I would refer you to the website: "McCainSucks.com" Note that there is no "Hillarysucks.com or Obamasucks.com).

Let the man whose party has no kooks throw the first stone.

jm_rice, the great thing is, Obama really doesn't have to do much right now.  I think enough people are tired of these kinds of tactics that almost no one waits around for them to take hold.