The Republican Party has an obvious and much-discussed demographic problem: The future majorities aren't to be made of older straight white voters alone.

First, why did the NRA get involved in the Sonia Sotomayor nomination when it never stepped into the Supreme Court nomination process before? Is it that Sotomayor is the first liberal judge to come along? Or, that she is yet another person who doesn't look like them...another interloper, standing by to end freedom altogether.

Second, can anyone.... seriously anyone.... tell me exactly why conservatives want millions upon millions of semi-automatic weapons? If not for duck hunting or shooting tin cans off of rail fences, then what are they for?

In fact some of the worst offenders of this type language have been republican pundits, politicians and most recently a minister whose searing words have been recorded as follows:

Pastor Steven Anderson: "I hope that God strikes Obama with brain cancer so he can die like Ted Kennedy."

Glenn Beck: Pres. Obama "has a deep seated hatred for white people. This guy I believe is a racist." Obama's healthcare is driven by "reparations." Obama is trying to "settle old racial scores."

Rush Limbaugh: "Adolph Hitler, like Barack Obama also ruled by dictate" "The Obama healthcare logo is damn close to a Nazi swastika logo."

US Rep. Michelle Bachmann: "Right now, we are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom. And we may never be able to restore it if we don't man up and take this one on." Referring to Obama's economic recovery plans, she stated that America needs an "orderly revolution." Bachmann has also inferred that Pres. Obama was "anti-American."

Good bye
French: au revoir
Spanish: adiós
Arabic: إلى اللقاء
Czech: na shledanou
Yiddish: a gutn
Turkish: güle güle
Swedish: hej då
Portugese: adeus
Hebrew: להתראות

"POLITICO has learned that there's some love in the House: Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) got engaged.

The 33-year-old congressman got engaged to Giulia Cangiano over the weekend in the tiny, cute and romantic spot of St. Michaels. Cangiano, who has been dating McHenry for seven months, is a senior economist at the Government Accountability Office, and the two met through mutual friends, McHenry's spokesman said.

Ironically, Cangiano grew up in Massachusetts and was a constituent of McHenry nemesis Rep. Barney Frank. Naturally, the two will live in North Carolina.

'Patrick and Giulia could not be happier and thank everyone for their well wishes,' McHenry's spokesman said."

"KCAL-TV in Los Angeles played a tape of the married Yorba Linda Republican speaking about sex with two women. He apparently did not realize a microphone was on during a legislative hearing."

Nearly three years after then-Congressman Mark Foley, R-FLA, saw his political career crumble following the revelation of his sexually explicit emails with underage congressional pages, he's garnering the spotlight once again: as a radio talk show host.

Democracy Now Host Juan Gonzales: Fifty years ago, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower issued a warning against the rise of extremist movements within his own party. During his presidency, Eisenhower had endured attacks by Senator Joseph McCarthy, the radical right John Birch Society and others. In a 1959 letter to a World War II veteran, Eisenhower wrote, quote, “Many prominent officials, possessing no standing or expertness as they themselves claim it, attempt to further their own ideas or interests by resorting to statements more distinguished by stridency than by accuracy.”

Half a century later, in a summer of town hall disruptions and birth certificate controversies, what Eisenhower had warned against has come true: that the Republican Party has been captured by its extremist wing. At least that’s what award-winning journalist Max Blumenthal argues in his new book, Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party.

On Monday August 31st, 2009, Lt. Governor Bauer was accused of being a closeted gay man by the blogger Mike Rogers of gay activist website BlogActive.[2] Rogers claimed he has corroborated the story with men who have been intimate with Bauer. These allegations have been picked up by the local and national press.[3] [4] Bauer has denied the accusation."

"Everyone I’ve talked to thinks there is some connection to the governor," said State Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, in a story on Politco.com.

But Rogers calls the claim that Sanford had anything to do with his post on Bauer is an "absolute untruth."

"I don’t know anyone in Mark Sanford’s office," Rogers told Free Times Sept. 3 while in a Washington, D.C. taxi cab. "I don’t know anybody on Mark Sanford’s political team. I don’t know anything about Mark Sanford except what’s been out there in the public and in the press."

"It’s a silly question."
"I don’t think it’s a proper question"
"I think it’s a little bit ridiculous and it’s sad that politics has gotten to that."

The timing of this smear campaign is obviously not a coincidence. Last week, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer called on Governor Mark Sanford to resign, and last weekend, the House Republican Caucus decided almost unanimously to move forward to ask Gov. Sanford resign from office, under threat of impeachment,” Knotts, who is a close ally of Bauer, wrote in the letter.

“This attack was orchestrated on behalf of Mark Sanford, either directly or indirectly, and financially subsidized by him or one of his many ‘front-groups,’” he wrote.

Questions for Janet Napolitano:

Men don’t know what to make of women who choose to be single. Rumors of lesbianism have dogged women in politics like you, Condoleezza Rice and Ann Richards.

Right. I think the more people get to know a person, the less that becomes an issue. It’s interesting. In Arizona when I first ran for public office, that’s when the rumors were going around, and of course I’m sure they go around now.

In 2002, during your gubernatorial campaign, you publicly denied rumors that you were a lesbian.

I just happen not to be married.

Are you seeing anybody now?

Yes, my staff.

"Mike, did the media pick up the story?"
"Where is the mainstream media on this?"
"What's the deal with the press, do they ignore these closet cases?

"No."
"They are chicken."
"Yes, they do."

Bauer on defense after blog post makes bold claim

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Last week, South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer said he would sacrifice his political ambitions if Governor Mark Sanford resigns.

Sanford refused, and now Bauer finds himself on defense. The issue? His private life.

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer wants to talk about where he would take the state if Gov. Mark Sanford leaves office. And unless Sanford decides to step down soon, making Bauer his successor, the lieutenant governor will likely run for the number one job.

But since his remarks on the subject last week, Bauer has become a target -- first, accusations on a web site claiming that the 40-year-old bachelor is gay. [emphasis added]

That post has been picked up and repeated on other sites. We found at least 17 of them, all despite Bauer's previous denials. On Tuesday came strong condemnation from some of Bauer's closest advisers.

• that's all you've got?
• hello -- what is the proof?
• Put up or shut up - this is not the place to act like you have some inside knowledge without providing the facts.

Could it be divine intervention that's kept Florida safe from hurricanes since Gov. Charlie Crist took office?

Crist said he isn't trying to take credit, but he told a group of real estate agents Friday that he's had prayer notes placed in the Western Wall in Jerusalem each year and no major storms have hit Florida.

Crist noted that just before his election in 2006, Florida had been affected by a total of eight hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.

"Do you know the last time it was we had a hurricane in Florida? It's been awhile. In 2007, I took my first trade mission. Do you know where I went?" said Crist, a Methodist, referring to a trip to Israel.

He then told of going to the Western Wall and inserting a note with a prayer. He said it read, "Dear God, please protect our Florida from storms and other difficulties. Charlie."

"Time goes on -- May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December -- no hurricanes," Crist said. "Thank God."

Last year, Sen. Nan Rich was traveling to Israel and Crist asked her to put a note in the Western Wall, a holy site in Judaism and a place where written prayers are traditionally placed.

"It was the same note, by the way, the same prayer," Crist said.

This year a friend was going to Israel and he gave him a prayer to put in the Western Wall.

"You can do it on the Internet now, but I'd rather have it physically in there," Crist joked.

The note was placed in the wall in May.

"May, June, July, August -- we're getting closer," Crist said. "Knock on wood. I would ask you all to say a prayer."

Afterward, he said he's not taking credit for the lack of storms in this hurricane-prone state.

"I give that to God," Crist said. "But it's nice."

"An openly gay sheriff's deputy in South Florida who fought homophobia within the police department was actually a calculating sex offender who attacked illegal immigrants, according to court documents.

Jonathan Bleiweiss, 29, allegedly targeted the immigrants because they were afraid to go to the police, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel said, citing the records released Tuesday.

Authorities say he scared at least eight different men he pulled over during traffic stops into performing sex acts with him, and demanded their phone numbers and contact information.

He'd then put on the act of a scorned lover when they stopped returning his messages, court documents show"

From The Austin-American Statesman:

"This morning, I came across a Web site for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s gubernatorial campaign.

"A provocative twist: The site may have been juiced with the intent of drawing visitors with the help of more than 2,200 hidden phrases—including “rick perry gay.”

"On my inquiry, Hutchison’s campaign spokesman, Jeff Sadosky, initially said he’d look into the matter. He later issued a statement that didn’t indicate how the phrases landed on the site, but said they weren’t condoned and would be removed."

Also in 'Outrage's' cross hairs is former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who was busted for sexual solicitation in a Minnesota airport bathroom but continues to insist he is 100 percent heterosexual.