GOP: unable to distinguish between their asses and a hole in the ground

Do you need more that Republicans are the most deceptive and craven people on Earth?

In a move at least politically reminiscent of Drunky McStagger's response to 9/11, when he sent our troops to Iraq after we were attacked by a bunch of Saudi nationals led by a guy hiding in Afghanistan, the Florida Republican Party is reacting to an electoral challenge to one of their stars by pouring money into ... a completely different race altogether.

Republican officials are targeting Democratic state Sen. Dave Aronberg in retaliation for Democrats' once-high-profile race against incoming Senate President Jeff Atwater.

"I've made it very clear that there was a decision to go after the leadership of our party, and our response on the Republican side was to aggressively go after some of the Democrats in their seats," said Jim Greer, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.

He wouldn't say what races the party was targeting, and specifically declined to comment on the Aronberg race.

But, months before the November election, GOP officials have paid for four negative mailers and television ads attacking Aronberg's voting record.

The revenge campaign is the result of Democrat Skip Campbell, a former state senator from Broward County, challenging Atwater in his Senate District 25 reelection race. Campbell has since dropped out and been replaced by virtual unknown Linda Bird, a Democratic activist from Fort Lauderdale.

The ads say Aronberg voted against property tax relief and nursing homes for veterans, among other things.

One of the ads features a picture of Aronberg's opponent, Matt Caldwell, as a youngster holding a dead squirrel in one hand and a gun in the other. It says Caldwell, 26, will fight against "liberals trying to take away our freedoms" and "our God-given right to bear arms."

Oh, yeah, I remember that passage in the Bible when Jesus turned the water into guns.

By the way, this may be the first time that a dead squirrel ever has appeared in a campaign ad. I think it's a metaphor for Caldwell's chances against Aronberg ... plus it has the added benefit of pissing off both the gun control types and the animal rights activists. Way to cram your heads up your asses yet again, Republicans.

So, with Skip Campbell dropping out, there's not even a serious challenger to Atwater anymore. Yet the Republicans' political bloodlust, like their lust for war and killing, cannot be quenched.

Put more succinctly:

• If the Republicans had been in charge on December 7, 1941, we would have gone to war against Australia.
• If today's Republicans had been around in April of 1865 after Lincoln's assassination, they would have chased down Gen. George B. McClellan.
• If a Republican had written Hamlet, Laertes would have killed Rosencrantz and/or Guildenstern.

You see, for Republicans, it's not about doing the right thing for the state or the country. It's all about getting even. And that's basically why we're in the mess we're in today.