YOU WANNA SEE SOME REAL FILTH? LOOK NO FURTHER THAN GOP PRIMARIES. TAKE FLORIDA FOR INSTANCE...

I have to apol-ogize to the good Demo-crats of Florida for the sparse coverage DWT has given to the crucial races in your state ever since Rahm Emanuel of the DCCC successfully torpedoed the FL-16 primary, driving Dave Lutrin out of the race (in favor of some wealthy Republican who switched his registration a few months ago), thus ceding the district to the GOP's runner-up (with David Dreier) for most hypocritical gay closet case in Congress, incumbent Mark Foley. (This was part of Emanuel's tragic and largely successful war against independent-minded progressives and grassroots Democrats and part of his strategy to make sure that rubber-stamp Republicans are replaced in the House with rubber-stamp Democrats.)

He is still viciously waging that war-- with his Inside-the-Beltway allies, some consciously power-crazed like Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi and some too stupid to know any better than to follow Rahm, like John Kerry and Barbara Boxer-- against the grassroots candidates still standing, of which Jan Schneider in FL-13 is still standing and still fighting back. (This weekend's best news was that the California Democratic Party told Emanuel to go shove his head where the sun don't shine, overwhelmingly endorsing grassroots progressive Jerry McNerney over the Beltway shill Steve Filson to take on Richard Pombo in CA-11.)

Apart from supporting Schneider's valient struggle against Emanuel's attempt to impose a Stalinist regime on the Democratic congressional caucus, DWT has tried to provide a bit of coverage for some of the Florida congressional districts in play-- particularly FL-05, where Rick Penberthy's under-the-radar grassroots campaign looks like it's shaping up into a possible upset for nutcase/rubber-stamper Ginny Brown-Waite.

But, of course, the gift that just keeps on giving (at least for bloggers and late night comedians) is the doomed senate "campaign" being waged by Florida's best known, most despised and craziest politician, the very corrupt and very off the deep end, Katherine Harris. I don't want to recount all the instances of Harris' bribe-taking or of her amusing-- albeit frightening-- ventures into never-neverland (although the link above makes the attempt). Today I want to talk about the Republican primary in Florida. (Although, I will mention before moving on from Harris that her absurd campaign is facing more abysmal news today: Common Cause has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the bribery Harris has been taking from confessed briber Mitchell Wade (who had also been bribing Randy "Duke" Cunningham, an extreme right-wing  Republican congressman from San Diego currently serving 8 years and change in prison, as well as at least 4 other extreme right wing Republican congressmen, Virgil Goode, Jr or Virginia and John Doolittle, Duncan Hunter and Jerry Lewis of California, none of whom are in prison yet).


It also looks like the Florida GOP is going to finally quit Harris. Most observers expect State House Speaker Allan Bense to announce his challenge to Harris for the Republican nomination to face conservative Democrat Bill Nelson sometime in the next week. Rumors have been spurred by Jeb Bush prematurely endorsing Bense. Taking a few minutes out of his 24/7 eating regime, the rotund governor stabbed his old girlfriend in the back (again) by mentioning, between gigantic bites of cane-glazed pork chops with apple chutney, that Bense "would be a great U.S. Senator."

And that brings us to more grotesque filth inside the Florida GOP. Like Ohio, much of Florida suffers a largely a one-party, semi-feudal system of mis-government. And, like Ohio, the in-fighting within that party, the GOP, is nasty beyond belief. The governor's race in Florida is between two far right lunatics, neither fit to be involved with government, Attorney General Charlie Crist and State CFO Tom Gallagher. Although, of course, Gallagher professes to to know nothing about anything, some of Gallagher's Karl Rove-influenced thugs supporters have started a web site designed to slander Crist. If you have the stomach for this kind of Republican garbage, take a look at SorryCharlie.com, where Crist is castigated as the two worst things in right-wing loonyland: a liberal and a homo. For those who keep track of this kind of minutiae, Crist is a right wing loon and Gallagher is an actual fascist monstrosity, so far right that he is genuinely dangerous. What a political party-- when you have to measure its candidates suitability based on whether they are to the right or left of Hitler and Atilla the Hun.