New Hampshire state representative Timothy Horrigan has stepped down in the midst of outrage over the following Facebook comment:

Just for the record, I don’t wish Sarah Palin dead… but not merely for compassionate reasons. I also want her to live because a living Sarah Palin is less dangerous than a dead one. Her rise to the status of Head Tea Partier had nothing to do with anything she ever said, did or accomplished— but as long as she lives she might be able to say or do things which could serve as a moderating influence. And she also might also commit a gaffe bad enough to shock her followers, though that is unlikely. Unless of course she endorses Obama for President in 2012.

It’s funny how a joke that merely speculates about someone dying costs a politician his job, while failed policies that lead to hundreds and thousands of actual deaths do not.

And why does Horrigan only have 301 Facebook friends? Is he that bad at networking?

What’s on your mind tonight?

So the Blagojevich jury sent out a note saying they had reached a verdict on two counts and had deadlocked on some others. Some guy over at Esquire jumped to all kinds of conclusions and had a daydream wherein U.S. Attorney Pat Fitzgerald somehow morphs into Rahm Emanuel and starts F-bombing his staff.

First of all, anybody who knows PatFitz, even slightly, knows that he does not verbally abuse his colleagues or staff, except when there is a practical joke to be had.  It’s safe to assume the guy at Esquire has not had much personal contact with the tall man in the rumpled suit.

Second, things are not quite as dire for the prosecution as the first few breathless headlines published by multiple media outlets have suggested. From Chicago Tribune:

Prosecution and defense lawyers took a few minutes to mull over Zagel’s proposed response to jurors and made one minor change. Shortly before noon, Zagel said the jury was at lunch but would receive the agreed upon response when they returned.

It will read: "You should deliberate on wire fraud counts to the extent necessary to enable you to decide on those counts. We recognize that your stated inability to reach agreement on other counts may establish to your satisfaction that you will be similarly unable to reach unanimity on the wire fraud counts. Nonetheless, a deliberative decision on those counts should be made even if it is a decision that you can’t reach agreement."

There is no way to tell from the jury’s communication which two of the 24 counts faced by Blagojevich they have agreed on. The only thing that is clear is that the two counts on which they’ve agreed do not include the 11 counts in which the governor is charged with wire fraud because the jury said it had not yet voted on those counts.

Robert Blagojevich, the governor’s brother, is charged in only four counts and just one of those involves wire fraud.

Blago and his brother Robert have 30 counts pending between them. Two counts have been decided by the jury. The jury has NOT EVEN TAKEN A VOTE on the wire fraud counts. There are 11 of those, which means they are deadlocked on only 17 counts. The final verdict COULD involve convictions on 13 counts.

I have not been at this trial, but tried to keep up with the press reports; I understand from those reports that the wire fraud counts were supposed to be the strongest part of the prosecution’s case.

I have no clue what the final verdict will be, or even what the verdict is on the 2 counts already decided. However, I do know that today’s developments do not support jumping to the conclusion that there has been some epic fail on the part of the prosecution.  It doesn’t support the theory that they won either. So everybody jumping to conclusions should just cool their jets and stop making up wild shit.

Gibbs. Dude.

Really. You need to quit talking smack, sit up and pay attention. You lost my vote last week and it won’t be the first time, either.

You see, Michigan had its primary last week, where the biggest fight on the ballot is for the governor’s office. The voters in this state had a choice between a large field of mostly social conservative wingnuts on the right, and two DINOs on the left — and from this spread voters were supposed to pick someone who would dig this state out of the depression it’s been in for years.

Oh, I voted — for all the nonpartisan races like judgeships and county commissioners. I voted for ballot initiatives. I even voted for myself as precinct delegate.

But I didn’t vote for either Democratic gubernatorial candidate because they are both dirtbag DINOs, just slightly different flavors of the same crap, the kind of over-promising spin masters of which we have too many in DC. The one who needs a haircut has a hideous perspective on women’s reproductive rights, and the other one has a very ugly temper and uglier mouth unsuited to the top job in the state. Don’t get me started on the fibs they’ve told along the duration of their careers and during their primary campaigns.

This is the best we can do? And one of these two campaigns has been trying to claim the approval of the White House for 6-plus months, suggesting this is the best the administration and the Democratic National Committee can muster.

Come November, I’m absolutely not voting for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate. I may even commit heresy as a Democratic precinct delegate and split my ticket; my vote is very much a toss between a Republican moderate or None-Of-The-Above.

Before you just roll your eyes and hit the back button, you need to know I’m not merely the base or the "professional left." I’m an elected party official, a chair of a Democratic committee at local level. I’m a co-founder of a local Democratic organization and I’ve spent days-weeks-months of time and a lot of resources on behalf of Democratic candidates.

In short, I AM the Democratic Party and I am finding it impossible to vote for a Democrat. . . .