So, last week, we had some fun and games when a Tea Party candidate in Texas basically revealed herself to be somewhat 9/11 truther-ish (a possible understatement) totally blowing her credibility as a sane, non-tinfoil hat wearing individual, so far as I am concerned.

There has also been a spate of birther and truther bannings that top conservative blog RedState has been forced to carry out.

Last year and this year, a couple of self-described conservatives (nope, I'm not naming them) got tagged as being either full-on birther-ish or birther-lite because of some ill-advised statements that I seriously hope none of them believed.

Now, in Washington, we have a lady at what (Huffington Post says, at least) was a Tea Party gathering saying that they should all do to Patty Murray what people did to Jake in Lonesome Dove (which I guess she paid a lot more attention to than I did, for one thing). So, uh, yeah, what did they do to Jake? Oh, they hung him...

"How many of you have watched the movie Lonesome Dove?," asked an unidentified female speaker from the podium. "What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd. He got hung. And that's what I want to do with Patty Murray."

Mmmm-kay...

Sam Stein, who writes the incident up, says that "That a sanctioned speaker called for a hanging of an elected official, however, seriously pushes the boundaries of First Amendment freedom." I'm enough of a big libertarian that I'm not thoroughly convinced that some crazy lady's idiotic comment involving the word "hang" quite rises to the level of "pushing the boundaries of First Amendment freedom." But it certainly goes way beyond the boundaries of a) class b) intelligent political discourse and c) hard-hitting, but fair, attacks and commentary regarding an opponent. ...

If JD Hayworth thought that primarying John McCain was going to be fun, well, it looks like it may not be all that.

From McCainland today:

“This is Michael Medved for Townhall.com. The scandal-scarred background of former Congressman J.D. Hayworth makes him an unworthy primary challenger to Senator John McCain. His deep involvement in the Abramoff lobbying disaster, and six-figure payments to his wife more through a Political Action Committee, led voters to scorn Hayworth in 2006 -- despite a GOP registration edge of more than 60% in his solidly Republican district. Hayworth’s controversial book on immigration quoted approvingly from racial theories of Henry Ford during Ford’s pro-Nazi phase; the publisher reported sales of less than a thousand. On the key issue of spending, McCain has always been a deficit hawk and never sponsored an earmark; Hayworth was a notorious pork barrel spender. In the unlikely event that Hayworth won the primary he’d be unelectable in the fall -- just as in his last Congressional race -- handing a crucial Senate seat to Democrats.” – Michael Medved, 2/15/10

This will be the McCain campaign argument that you will hear over, and over and over, and to my mind, it's a good one: Abramoff ties + extremism (as opposed to mere toughness) on immigration and immigration-related issues + big spending instincts and track record = FAIL.  [intro]

Bellingham businessman Paul Akers only just jumped into the race to replace Patty Murray in the US Senate, but he seems to be going all in, and quickly.  Yesterday, I got word that Akers had produced a new ad-- a positive, biography-focused piece.  That ad is now up on his website, but I am told it will also start airing Monday on FOX News.  Here it is:

My source says that avid FOX viewers in Washington could potentially see this ad a couple of times a day over the next several weeks.  Assuming that means it will make at least a few appearances when large numbers of viewers are tuned in, it should help raise Akers' name ID quite a bit-- something he'll need, especially should a better known name like Hutchison, Reichert or Rossi jump into the race.

Right now, Murray has a 52 percent approval rating according to Survey USA-- lower than she'd like, and indicative that the right Republican could have a shot at beating her.  Akers is smart to be getting his name out there beyond Republican insider circles now-- even if it's going to cost him some dough upfront. [intro]