9/11 won't protect you from the fetus fetishists

I hope Rudy Giuliani is happy with what his party has wrought:

"National anti-abortion activist and Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry was one of 11 people arrested outside Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's campaign office yesterday." [...]

"Yesterday morning, police officers told protesters they would be arrested if they did not move out of the way. Police say the protesters said they would not leave, so they were arrested.

The police were called to the building by the property manager because the protesters were blocking the entrance to the building that is home to several businesses as well as Giuliani's campaign office. Campaign officials said they did not call police about the protesters.

According to a press release from Terry, the group came to New Hampshire to expose "the real Rudy."

"We will tear down the conservative facade that Rudy has built - to keep him from lying and seducing his way to the White House," Terry said in the press release. The release says the group of out-of-state activists will join with New Hampshire residents to target Giuliani's campaign offices in Manchester, Portsmouth and Concord through tomorrow."

Oh yeah... Karl Rove thought it was a grand idea to scrounge up a few more votes by cultivating the nut hatchery. All it took was shaking in a few pellets like conservative judicial appointments, late-term abortion legislation and the Terri Schiavo travesty and they swarmed to the surface of the electoral fishtank, voracious and demanding:

"Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos," DeLay aide Mike Scanlon wrote in an e-mail obtained by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee three years ago. "The wackos get their information from the Christian Right, Christian radio, the internet, and telephone trees." The idea was to bring out the wackos every two years, then work to placate them between elections."

Rove will soon be followed into the dustbin of history by his presidential creation, but the feeding frenzy goes on. Rudy appears to be next on the menu.

$9.11 for Rudy

It's no surprise that GOP preznitial nominee Rudy Giuliani has been flogging the 9/11 horse all through his campaign, but it may have reached past the ridiculous and into the realm of the absurd with this latest gimmick: a fundraising party that asks attendees for -- are you ready for it -- $9.11 per person. Shame, shame. How tacky can you get?:

"A supporter of Rudy Giuliani's is throwing a party that aims to raise $9.11 per person for the Republican's presidential campaign. Abraham Sofaer is having a fundraiser at his Palo Alto, Calif., home on Wednesday, when Giuliani backers across the country are participating in the campaign's national house party night." [...]

"According to the invitation, "$9.11 for Rudy" is an "independent, non-denominational grass-roots campaign to raise $10,000 in small increments to show how many individual, everyday Americans support `America's Mayor.'""

I've always felt that the Republicans' ongoing exploitation of the 9/11 tragedy for political gain is sick and sad, twisted and macabre, but that feeling has really reached critical mass with Giuliani's campaign, and especially this tacky idea for a party. Here's someone else who's disgusted:

"The International Association of Fire Fighters accused Republican Rudy Giuliani of exploiting the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because a supporter is holding a $9.11-per-person fundraiser for the presidential candidate. The union — already a vocal critic of Giuliani's — said Tuesday that the fundraiser's "$9.11 for Rudy" theme is an abuse of the image and symbols of the 2001 attacks.

"It is nothing short of disrespectful to the legacy of the thousands of civilians and 343 brave firefighters who died at ground zero," IAFF president Harold Schaitberger said.

The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd called the theme "unconscionable, shameless and sickening." The firefighters' union has endorsed Dodd."

Why doesn't he just change his middle name to "9/11"? Then it's right there in bold type for everyone to see, no fancy fundraising parties or slick ad campaigns required. Cut out the middleman, so to speak -- wouldn't that be the fiscally conservative thing to do?!