REPUBLICAN LEADER OF THE DAY-- MEET TED KLAUDT, SERIAL CHILD RAPIST AND RIGHT-WING EVANGELICAL LOON

I just subjected myself to a few minutes of a radio conversation between hate talk radio loon Laura Ingraham and religionist charlatan and highway robber Jimmy Dobson, two self-satisfied hypocrites celebrating their foul and reactionary vision for America. And they couch it all in the moral superiority the religionists and the Nazis always use to establish themselves as somehow superior to everyone else. No one mentioned Tom DeLay, "Duke" Cunningham, Bob Ney, John Doolittle, Mark Foley or the other paragons of GOP virtue who have led their contemptible movement. Not a word about Alberto Gonzales, Patrick McHenry, Paul Wolfowitz, or Dobson's pal and fellow fake-"Reverend" Larry Haggard. And no one mentioned today's Republican Elected Official of the Day, Ted Klaudt, 49 year old former South Dakota state representative and, like Ingraham and Dobson, right-wing hate-monger.

Like so many tightly wound repressed and mentally ill Republicans, Klaudt was preaching the moral superiority of the far right while he was abusing molesting children-- his own foster daughters and 2 state legislative pages! He "faces a long list of charges: eight counts of rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of witness tampering, sexual contact with a person under 16, and stalking."

Court documents mention five possible victims. Three were foster children between the ages of 15 and 19 who lived with Klaudt's family. One is a cousin of one of those girls, and the fifth is a friend of Klaudt's daughter.

In the most disturbing accusation, the girls say Klaudt had them convinced they could earn up to $20,000 by donating their eggs to a fertility clinic. And even though he has no medical training, the girls say Klaudt did all the supposed "exams" and "procedures" himself.

Klaudt fancied himself a radical right Republican (and an evangelical) and in 2005 was a leader against the formation of the South Dakota Mainstream Coalition, meant to turn Republicans back towards mainstream conservatism.


He was arrested Friday and was in handcuffs and chains during his court appearance in Pierre. He refused to comment on the charges and was represented by another lunatic wingnut, South Dakota House Speaker Thomas Deadrick, R-Platte, a close friend. A written affidavit filed in court said Klaudt initially denied that he performed any "tests" on the girls, but he later changed his story after investigators confronted him with some e-mails he sent to them. Then he admitted that "maybe I did some things I shouldn't have." Maybe.

Klaudt was term-limited out of the legislature last year and ran for Senate and was defeated because of his radical right-wing record by Democrat Ryan Maher.