Last Call

The Great Conserva-schism I talked about over the weekend is now a war in earnest.  The corporate wing of the GOP has decided enough is enough with Tea Party anchors around the GOP's collective necks when it comes to trying to win back the Senate.  They've formed the Conservative Victory Project to push the Tea party loonies out the back door.  The problem is that the Tea Party isn't taking this lying down, and they have plenty of money backing them too.

Both the Club for Growth and the Senate Conservatives Fund – two of the most prominent groups that have boosted candidates on the right – mocked the new initiative as yet another hapless establishment-side attempt to muzzle the GOP base.

Matt Hoskins, executive director of the Senate Conservatives Fund, branded it the “Conservative Defeat Project.”

“The Conservative Defeat Project is yet another example of the Republican establishment’s hostility toward its conservative base. Rather than listening to the grassroots and working to advance their principles, the establishment has chosen to declare war on the party’s most loyal supporters,” Hoskins said. “If they keep this up, the party will remain in the wilderness for decades to come.”

Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller essentially responded by pointing to the scoreboard in recent primaries in which conservative insurgents have prevailed and emerged as influential GOP leaders.

“They are welcome to support the likes of Arlen Specter, Charlie Crist and David Dewhurst,” Keller said of the new Crossroads group. “We will continue to proudly support the likes of Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.”

Them's fightin' words, kids.  The war over the direction of the GOP is finally on.  Both sides are now drawing lines and taking up battle positions ahead of the 2014 primaries.  Each side is convinced the other will lead the GOP to total defeat and domination by the Democrats.

The funny part is this:  both of them are right.  The GOP is screwed either way.  They can't win national elections with the reactionary right, and they can't win primaries without them.  It's going to be awfully fun watching these guys rip each other to shreds to see who's left standing...

...because it'll be the Democrats, either way.

Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammu-Nation

The nation's largest semi-automatic rifle dealer (that would be your local Wal-Mart, by the way) is instituting a national limit on ammunition to three boxes a day as paranoia over "Obama's gun grab" ramps up towards a fever pitch.

"In order to take care of as many customers as possible, starting Thursday, January 24, all ammunition sales were limited to three boxes per customer, per day as supply is limited at this time," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Ashley Hardie Read said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is the world's largest retailer and the United States' largest gun seller, a position that comes with a lot of responsibility. In the past, the company has said it tries to provide firearms and accessories in a responsible manner without interfering on the customers' right to own firearms, Christian Post reported.

According to data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, nine of the top 10 days for firearms checks in the U.S. from Nov. 30, 1998 to Jan. 27 2013, occurred since the shooting at Newtown Elementary School, Dispatch noted. 

In other words, gun and ammo sales are at record highs since Newtown.  As I said earlier today, Wayne LaPierre and the NRA know exactly what they are doing.  Gun makers are suffering shortages in firearms and now ammunition because they believe armed fascist government agents are going to come and take their guns from them, and by God they will water that Tree Of Liberty if they have to.  The reality of that is nowhere near that, but the NRA isn't going to do a thing to moderate its rhetoric when the NRA's job is to lobby for the gun industry, and the gun industry has never had better sales.

At some point we're going to have something like Ruby Ridge on our hands.

Midnight In The Garden Of Dumb And Dumber

If the NRA's Wayne LaPierre can't go to FOX News Sunday to get a free platform for his paranoid fantasies without being called out by host Chris Wallace, where can he go?

Wallace asked his guest on "Fox News Sunday" if he regretted airing a controversial TV ad in which the NRA went after President Obama for providing armed security to his daughters but not supporting their proposal to put armed guards in all schools.

"They also face a threat that most children do not face," Wallace said of Obama's daughters.

"Tell that to the people in Newtown," LaPierre responded.

"You really think that the president's children are the same kind of target as every other school child in America?" Wallace said. "That's ridiculous and you know it, sir."

Of course he does.  That's the point.  He knows there's tens of millions of paranoid fellow-travelers out there.

Wayne LaPierre, chief executive of the NRA, accused the Obama administration of wanting to seek more restrictions on guns than they currently are saying, arguing that the White House was similarly deceptive on the president's healthcare law.

"I think what they'll do is they'll turn this universal [background] check on the law-abiding into a universal registry on law-abiding people," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

When pressed by host Chris Wallace on the fact that the White House has said nothing about a universal registry, LaPierre responded, "And 'ObamaCare' wasn't a tax until they needed it to be a tax. I don't think you can trust these people."

And Wallace didn't call him out and that one.  "Fair and balanced" is a much better slogan than "dangerous and paranoid", don't you think?  The NRA has been playing the "You can't trust them, you can only trust your guns and ammo" card for years now.  Eventually, someone's going to take them up on that offer.

StupidiNews!

• A 33-minute blackout in the Superdome, a record 109-yard touchdown return, and a Destiny's Child reunion highlighted a Baltimore Ravens win over the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII.
• In an interview aired by CBS before the game, President Obama confirmed that he would like to see the Boy Scouts of America end its ban on gays in the organization.
• Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villiaragosa is denying rumors he has been tapped as President Obama's new Transportation Secretary, saying he will stay on as mayor through his term ending June 30.
• California heiress Lynsi Torres is now America's youngest female billionaire, having inherited sole ownership of the west coast's In-N-Out Burger chain on her recent 30th birthday.
• After 20 years, Sony will make the last Minidisc in March, putting an end to the audio format that found a niche among journalists and music fans alike.