ANN COULTER ENDORSES HILLARY OVER McCAIN WHILE DENNY HASTERT REMINDS VOTERS THAT McCAIN IS A BRIBE TAKER; RON PAUL OUT-RAISES THE OTHER PYGMIES

Few know as much about bribery as Denny Hastert-- and he pins the tail on the McCain

When you think of the really crazy wingnuts, the deranged ones, who are crying that McCain isn't far right enough for them, you think of drug addicts, petty criminals and delusional psychopaths like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Mark Levin, Santorum, Dobson, Michele Malkin... No one cares what they say but themselves and a few crazy toe-suckers, so when some of them claim they'd rather see Hillary in the White House than McCain... well, don't get your hopes up. Aside from each other, no one is taking any of them seriously. True, average Republican voters have been unhappy by their nominees but None of the Above is no longer an option. In the last quarter they expressed their disdain for the GOP field by staying away from the caucuses and primaries-- and by not donating any money (except for Ron Paul, who is popular and outraised the rest of the pygmies).

Clinton brought in $26.8 million, while Obama raised $22.8 million.

...McCain, the Arizona senator who has emerged as the front-runner, raised $6.8 million, but had to take out a loan to keep his campaign afloat. Romney, the wealthy former Massachusetts governor, brought in $9 million in contributions, but loaned his campaign twice that amount. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, raised $6.6 million. And topping the field with an impressive $19.7 million raised in the fourth quarter was Paul, the libertarian-leaning Texas congressman, though he barely registers in polls.

Taking into account the full year, Clinton and Obama in 2007 out-raised the four remaining Republicans $209 million to $128 million.

Still, I was somewhat surprised today when Former Planet, Denny Hastert threw off the carefully maintained disguise of a mainstreamish conservative and revealed himself as a raving lunatic on a level with the rest of these yammering imbeciles.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert questioned John McCain’s Republican credentials today, saying he was always known among the GOP as “the undependable vote” in the Senate and always “allied with Democrats.”

None of McCain's rivals have brought up McCain's days as a bribe-taking scumbag and now that he's got a lock on the nomination, it was bizarre to hear Hastert-- who may need a presidential pardon in the not too distant future-- inject McCain's lowest moment in public life, his part in the "Keating 5" corruption scandal, into the public debate.

Hastert is a political protege of another Republican criminal, Tom DeLay, who also would rather cut off his weener than see McCain become president. Hastert, a closet case and former high school wrestling coach, has a bit of a crush on Willard (who was also greatly admired by Larry Craig) and went on the attack for the sake of his man today.

Speaking later to the [Chicago] Tribune, Hastert, who retired from Congress in November of last year, said McCain changed after the Keating Five to become “more of a populist.”

“He was gearing up for a run for the presidency in 2000 so he had to change track and clean up his image, from my point of view,” Hastert said.

The former House speaker has not had a lot of good to say about McCain in recent years. He contended that on agenda items under the Republican-controlled Congress, “it just seems like everything we did, John was someplace else.”

“It was McCain-Kennedy, it was McCain-Lieberman, it was McCain-Feingold on campaign finance reform,” Hastert said, noting Democratic co-sponsors. “He was against us on tax cuts and his form of immigration reform was to open the gates and let everybody in.”

Asked if he considered McCain a conservative, Hastert said, “In my opinion, he is not.”

“He is a moderate,” the former speaker said. “In almost everything he’s done, he’s done (things) against what mainstream Republicans thought and he’s allied with Democrats. He was always the undependable vote in the Senate.”

Tomorrow NY Times reports on the split in the far right segment of the GOP, much of which is now accepting that McCain is their man, even if they don't like all his stands. First to sell out any semblance of principle, of course, were the right-wing lobbyists like Grover Norquist for whom it has always been and will always be about who shoves a buck up his ass first. Religionist charlatans like Tony Perkins and Richard Land weren't far behind. But as David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union explained, the far right is becoming "resigned" to McCain and for many of them who makes ends meet as lobbysists, like himself and Norquist, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. “There are people who don’t like the idea of a being off a campaign or being on the bad list if the guy gets into the White House. This is a town in which 90 percent of the people balance their access and income on the one hand versus their principles on the other.”

We noticed. If you missed Hillary campaigner Ann Coulter on Hannity... this is for real:




UPDATE: RICK SANTORUM AND LAURA INGRAHAM ENDORSE WILLARD

This audio is pretty bizarre and it clearly shows why Santorum was beaten so profoundly in his re-election bid in 2006. He's genuinely out of his mind. And is he filled with hatred; nice to see it directed at McCain instead of at decent Democrats trying to do what's right for America. And Obama also has some extreme right wing nuts who like him too-- even beyond the Ron Paul supporters. And moderate Republicans, recognizing McCain for the fake he is, have been endorsing and supporting Obama as well. Last week the daughter of President Kennedy endorsed Obama; today is was the granddaughter of Kennedy's predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower.

Eisenhower is one of a small but symbolically powerful group of what Obama recently called "Obamacans"--disaffected Republicans who have drifted away from their party just as Eisenhower Democrats did and, more recently, Reagan Democrats in the 1980s. They include lifelong Republican Tricia Moseley, a former staffer for the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, the one-time segregationist from South Carolina. Now a high-school teacher, Moseley says she was attracted to Obama's positions on education and the economy.

Now that is something: ex-KKK enthusiasts for Obama!