Has The GOP Lost Its Collective Mind? And What The Hell Is Going On In Delaware?

You may think Sharron Angle, Joe Miller, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey are the biggest crackpots running for the Senate this year? (Please don't get me started on the batch of drooling miscreants they have running for the House and other positions, like the Ohio meth freak in the video above). Well, who could argue? At least today... but let's revisit this after Tuesday's GOP primary in Delaware. There's a chance-- a small one-- that the Tea Bag Express could take out mainstream conservative corporate shill Mike Castle (a major Wall Street darling) and replace him with someone on a Sharron Angle/Rand Paul level, Christine O'Donnell. In fact, a friend of mine described her as "like a less polished Sharron Angle." Chew on that!

Short version: O'Donnell is another extremist and radical far removed from the American mainstream, almost like Joe Miller. Her latest tactic is to question Mike Castle's sexuality and imply that he's a closet case-- a possible Lindsey Graham, Larry Craig or Mitch McConnell type of character. That's the rumor... ha, ha, ha. Any proof? Conservatives usually attack Democrats with the smears and they're used to not bothering with proof. Now they're turning it on their own. (Not that Castle hasn't fought back-- with a website painting O'Donnell as a crook and a kook, who plays fast and loose with her campaign contributions.)

O'Donnell's got Castle so scared that he's spending money hand over fist in a primary he never thought he would have to spend a nickel on. And the Tea Party Express is putting their money into the race. Both sides are being financed by shady financiers of right-wing causes, Wall Street in Castle's case, power-mad and dangerous plutocratic families in O'Donnell's case, the same families that just replaced mainstream conservative Lisa Murkowski with lunatic fringe Joe Miller in Alaska. In fact, Sarah Palin has weighed in on O'Donnell's side against Castle, who voted-- twice-- for Bush's no-strings-attached Wall Street bailout (TARP) and for all the horrible trade policies that have sent U.S. jobs overseas. Yesterday the NRA also endorsed her. And yesterday evening:



The Delaware Republican Party is panicking that there one chance for a Senate seat in years is in jeopardy because of the perception most people in the state-- including many Republicans-- is that O'Donnell is out of her mind. Now-- not unlike the Tallahassee GOP bosses down in Florida and that state's Tea Party, the Delaware GOP Establishment and the teabaggers are taking each other to court.

The Republican Party of Delaware has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accusing one of its own Senate candidates of illegally collaborating with the Tea Party Express.

Attorneys for the state party asked the FEC to launch an immediate and thorough investigation into conservative GOP candidate Christine O'Donnell "to remedy the alleged violations and to ensure that these violations immediately cease and do not reoccur," according to the complaint filed Thursday.

O'Donnell, who faces Rep. Mike Castle in Tuesday's primary, came under fire from the state party shortly after tea-party backed candidate Joe Miller upset Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska GOP primary.

Following the Alaska race, the Tea Party Express redirected its efforts to Delaware. The organization's chairwoman Amy Kremer noted that 10 staffers are on site and vowed to spend $250,000 to help O'Donnell before the primary.

The complaint alleges that the O'Donnell campaign is "knowingly accepting illegal campaign contributions from the Tea Party Express PAC." It cites two "alarming" instances:

-- O'Donnell has knowingly accepted excessive contributions from the Tea Party Express that were directly solicited on behalf of the O'Donnell campaign, according to the filing.

-- O'Donnell has accepted illegal excessive contributions from the Tea Party Express by engaging in a statewide coordinated communications effort in support of her campaign. This means, according to the complaint, that every advertisement that is being run by the Tea Party Express in support of Ms. O'Donnell is a violation of Federal law.

The issue won't be resolved before Tuesday.

An FEC spokeswoman said it was "highly unlikely that the case could be expedited before the primary."

Delaware State GOP Chairman Tom Ross offered this statement:

"Christine O'Donnell needs to immediately call upon her third party supporters to cease and desist this illegal behavior," he said. "This type of behavior has no place in our political process, and O'Donnell should denounce these illegal ads. Donors deserve to know whether they made an illegal donation so they can demand a refund and get their money back."

This sets up the grounds in advance to challenge O'Donnell's victory on Tuesday if enough crazed Fox viewers and Limbaugh listeners turn out for the vote-- it's a closed primary; only Republicans can vote-- and get her nominated. Few know that she's adamantly opposed to extramarital sex and masturbation or that she's a "movement conservative." Polling shows that Castle and O'Donnell are in a statistical dead heat among likely voters-- and that conservative Democrat Chris Coons would beat O'Donnell by double digits.