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OK–I’m getting really annoyed with Hillary.

Florida had its primary yesterday–but it was really only important to the Republicans. On the Democratic side, the party had decided to punish Florida for moving the primary forward on the calendar by invalidating its delegates–and it secured a pledge from all of the candidates not to campaign there. All of the candidates obeyed that, although Hillary “bent” the pledge on the final days by doing fundraising appearances there.

The polls were still open for Democrats despite the delegate issue, even though the vote didn’t mean anything. It came in lop-sided in favor of Hillary. So she put together a hastily-assembled victory party and sent out a message to supporters declaring a “tremendous” victory, while asking for money:

I know I told you our campaign journey would be filled with high-stakes twists and turns. But I never knew it would be quite as dramatic as this. And last night we celebrated another big moment in this campaign with our resounding victory in Florida.
In a race this close, whatever you and I do now can make the difference. Every campaign stop, every voter we talk to, and every dollar you give can be the difference on Tuesday. Only our online supporters like you can act decisively enough to make sure the excitement and energy of this victory carries through on February 5.

This is really rubbing me the wrong way, since she is clearly trying to spin the non-event in Florida as a victory to try to blunt her loss to Obama in South Carolina. It’s crass, it’s annoying, it’s blatantly obvious, and it whiffs of desperation.

Keep it up Hillary–and you’re going to need Republicans to vote for you on Election Day as the constituency you’re alienating stays home.

I had no sooner finished my previous entry on Foley and his nasty emails to a 16 year old male Congressional page, when ABCNews.com posted a chilling series of sexually charged instant message exchanges between the Congressman and another teenager.

The entire instant message exchange can be found here. The full transcript just gets worse and worse–he asks the teen about how he masturbates, comments on his ass and legs, tells the teen he is horny and has an erection, tells him he’d love to take the teen’s clothes off, asks the teen’s penis size, and so on. No wonder Foley resigned so quickly!

Not only is he a hypocrite for following the “family values” pablum of the Republican party, but he is doubly so for co-sponsoring legislation for tougher registration requirements for sex offenders and being a staunch opponent of kiddie porn when he is engaging in this totally disgusting behavior with a minor! In a sweet bit of irony, though, federal officials are saying Foley could be prosecuted under the same laws prohibiting Internet exploitation of children that Foley himself championed.

Ah, yes, isn’t it lovely to see hypocrisy in action. The party of “family values” has produced yet another winner: Republican Rep. Mark Foley, co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus, has suddenly resigned his Congressional seat in a developing scandal over numerous emails he sent to a 16-year-old male page. You can see the emails here.

While the emails do not prove sexual contact with the page, they are downright lecherous. They ask for the page’s photograph, ask his age, and ask what he wants for his birthday. In another email, he comments about another boy:

“I just emailed Will…He’s such a nice guy…acts much older than his age…and hes in really great shape…i am just finished riding my bike on a 25 mile journey now heading to the gym…whats school like for you this year?”

That’s nasty, to be so brazenly making observations about the “great shape” this other boy is in.

One can’t help but wonder what else might be waiting to be discovered given Foley’s sudden decision to leave Congress.

His name will remain on the ballot, and votes for him will go to his replacement..but this does give the Democrats the opportunity for another pick-up seat.

Florida’s Democratic Senator Bill Nelson has won re-election to the Senate.

The headline may be early but the outcome is pre-ordained, in light of the fact that Republican Katherine Harris won the GOP primary for the right to challenge Nelson in November. She has, unfortunately for her, the proverbial snowball’s chance in hell of defeating him. From the campaign staff that continually fled from her, to her proclamation that there is no separation between church and state, to her caked on make up and horrendous fashion sense, Republicans had a better chance of electing a manatee than electing her.

Congrats, Bill Nelson!

Florida Republican Senate candidate Katherine Harris–the Secretary of State that certified the state for Bush in the 2000 debacle–is embarrassing religious conservatives…for being too religious:

“If you’re not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin…we have to have the faithful in government [because that is God's will. Separating religion and politics is] so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers. And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women, we’re going to have a nation of secular laws. That’s not what our Founding Fathers intended, and that certainly isn’t what God intended.”

The Religious Right is recoiling from her remarks:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said she was “disgusted” by the comments “and deeply disappointed in Representative Harris personally.”

Harris, Wasserman Schultz said, “clearly shows that she does not deserve to be a representative.”

Ruby Brooks, a veteran Tampa Bay Republican activist, said Harris’s remarks “were offensive to me as a Christian and a Republican.”

“This notion that you’ve been chosen or anointed, it’s offensive,” Brooks said. “We hurt our cause with that more than we help it.”

I don’t understand why these religious conservatives are so up in arms over what this crazy old bat is saying. At least she has the guts to show the Religious Right’s true colors and say aloud what they all believe but keep to themselves. They all act like they’re the Anointed Ones and final arbiters of morality.