YOU MAY THINK REPUBLICANS IN NEBRASKA ARE JUST A BUNCH OF NARROW-MINDED HICKS BUT DID YOU EVER CONSIDER THEY ARE ACTUALLY WARMONGERS TO BOOT?

Nebraska is one screwed up place politically. You want to talk about backward? The Republicans there are almost on a Utah level. The 3 congressmen are all extremist right wing loons, the governor is a kook and of the two "moderate" US Senators, one is a Democrat-- Ben Nelson-- who votes with the Republicans more than with the Democrats (and almost makes Lieberman look moderate!) and the other-- Chuck Hagel-- has a voting record that is so extreme right wing that it boggles the mind ... but he's in trouble back home because he isn't perceived as extreme enough!

Trouble? Oh yes. But not in trouble for that godawful voting record. He's in trouble because it isn't godawful enough and because he hasn't been supportive enough of Bush and Cheney for the tastes of Nebraska Republicans. Another extremist, Nebraska's lunatic Attorney General. Jon Bruning, is promising to be an even bigger right-wing rubber stamp than Hagel has been. One could hardly be a worse rubber stamp voting wise, but I guess you could just send the Democrats bad vibes and say nice things about Cheney on TV.

Bruning is challenging Hagel in the upcoming GOP primary. "Tying Hagel to Democratic opponents of the Iraq war and peace activist Cindy Sheehan, Bruning said he’s preparing to challenge the two-term senator in next year’s Republican primary election." If Bruning is elected he'll feel right at home in the GOP caucus and on the Republican propaganda outlets like Hannity and Limbaugh:

“Hagel has voted with Democrats on every major issue dealing with Iraq” during the past month, the attorney general said in a telephone interview after returning to Nebraska from a fundraising trip to Washington.

“When he suggested impeachment as a remedy, that crossed the line,” Bruning said.  “Impeachment smacks of vengeance and anger.

“The only other person I’ve heard talking about that is Cindy Sheehan.”

He echoes all the Rove talks points, especially about how the war in Iraq is being won. On top of that, he's a vicious xenophobe and racist and wants to take on Hagel as not being anti-Latino enough. "The Hagel plan," he says, "rewards those who came here illegally. We need to be very careful about a plan that encourages people to break the law. We cannot have amnesty as part of the plan."

Today Bruning released a survey claiming he'd beat Hagel by 9 points among likely Republican primary voters. There's not usually much drama in Nebraska politics; that may change this year. There's even a little tiny chance that ex-Senator Bob Kerrey, currently president of the New School in NYC, might run. That doesn't sound likely to me.