Today, from our good friends at Fired Up!:

Smith Still Doesn’t Want To Talk About His Deceptive Robocalls Questioning Democrats’ Faith

….St. Luke’s sued the company hired by the HRCC to make the calls, Survey Saint Louis, which just happens to be owned by Speaker Ron Richard’s legislative director, Tom Smith. Last week, the AP reported that Smith claimed no knowledge of the bogus caller IDs until he learned about them in the media, but was nevertheless paying St. Luke’s legal bills in their lawsuit against him.

Wagman reports today that Smith still isn’t interested in explaining why his company lied to voters.  And incredibly, HRCC Chairman and Speaker-elect Steve Tilley (R-Perryville) claims that he hasn’t even talked about issue with Smith.  Even though he’s in charge of the caucus and professes to dismayed by the calls, he says he hasn’t actually talked to the government/campaign staffer in charge of the calls.  (Maybe he’s been too busy moving into his new Las Vegas mansion?)  In fact, Tilley hasn’t even pretended that he’s taken any action to stop this sort of garbage in the future, except to condemn it in the media after the fact.

Impressive stuff from the Party of Personal Responsibility.

Previously on the republican robocalls:

HRCC robocall in the 121st Legislative District: desperation and homophobia (October 27, 2010)

The Missouri HRCC steps in it with homophobic robocalls (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: Uh, that didn’t go very well, did it? (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: “But, but, the Democrats are mean to us…” (October 29, 2010)

Tilley (r), the HRCC robocalls, and the media: “…testing, testing, testing, is this thing on?” (October 29, 2010)

Warrensburg Daily Star-Journal Headline: “GOP robocall attacks Cole’s ‘family values'” (October 29, 2010)

Campaign Finance: old media needs to learn to do some freakin’ research (October 29, 2010)

I guess I’m going to have to go with “No Comment” (October 29, 2010)

Another Democrat fights sleazy robocalls (October 30, 2010)

HRCC? What HRCC? I just like their swag… (October 30, 2010)

Missouri’s HRCC and the robocalls: follow the money (October 31, 2010)

HRCC? What HRCC? I’ve never heard of them… (November 1, 2010)

You can smell the republican flop sweat.

Today the House republican Campaign Committee ran a robocall in the 121st Legislative District attacking Courtney Cole (D) in terms that have never been seen before in this district:

Female voice: This is an urgent alert for all Christian families. Before you vote you should know that state representative candidate Courtney Cole has taken hundreds in campaign donations from a representative of the hard core pornography industry, including gay pornography. By allowing her Democratic campaign to be funded by those who are involved with and support hard core pornography Courtney Cole clearly does not share our Christian family values. On election day stand up for what’s right and decent by voting no on Courtney Cole. Paid for by House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc.

Evidently they don’t care about the Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, or Wiccan (among many others) families in the district. Or maybe the HRCC feels less urgency for those families. Are they saying their favorite candidate feels the same way? Just asking. They know him better than we do.

A baseless accusation with no substance. Check. Exploiting religion. Check. Homophobia. Check. That’s the Missouri republican party for you. And those ain’t exactly family values.

The folks in the HRCC who paid for this robocall were walking with Denny Hoskins (r-noun, verb, CPA) and wearing his campaign t-shirt in last weekend’s homecoming parade in Warrensburg:

Dave Hageman, Missouri Executive Director of Victory Enterprises (left) and

Robert Knodell, Executive Director of the House Republican Campaign Committee (right)

That makes it difficult for Denny Hoskins (r-noun, verb, CPA) to distance himself from the HRCC, don’t you think?

Do you think he cares? Just asking.

Tonight (July 20) Rep. Todd Akin (R-2nd), along with fellow travelers Ollie North, Tony Perkins, the hysterically funny Senator James Inhofe, and a few others, will participate in a Webcast to demagogue against the Defense Authorization Act, specifically efforts to lay Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) to rest. The Webcast is sponsored by an organization which shares its name with a turgid thriller by Ollie North, Mission Compromised, and proclaims that its goal is to insure that we not “use the military to advance a political agenda” – which some might view as a novel sentiment coming from the patriotism and warmongers on the right.

What specific political agenda are they worried about?  According to the overheated rhetoric on the Mission Compromised Website, we must “protect our military,” vulnerable and fragile institution that it is, from efforts to repeal DADT, a misguided exercise in “social engineering” that is being used to advance the homosexual “agenda” and secure “special protection for homosexuals.” You name a right-wing, anti-gay buzz word, and you’ll find it on the Website, I guarantee.

Interestingly enough, Igor Volsky over at the Wonk Room suggests that there is another agenda in play here – that of the religious right which seeks to “manufacture fear to make money and hold on to what’s left of their constituency.” Volsky quotes “former AFA insider,” Joe Murray:

The battle for marriage, the fight against Heather and her two mommies, and the fictional “homosexual agenda” were created for one reason – it produced a cash cow. […] Need to see how the cow works? Look no further than the American Family Association (AFA).

In its battle to keep patriots from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces for no other reason than their sexual orientation, the AFA is preparing to educate supporters about the importance of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT)….When the reader opens the AFA email, he cannot help but see a picture of what appears to be a U.S. soldier sitting alone on a Middle Eastern street. The solider looks exhausted, isolated, and desperate. His picture is centered and on his right (viewer’s left), are the words “DON’T ASK” and on his left (viewer’s right) are the words “DON’T TELL.”

The insinuation is clear – thanks to the power of the “homosexual” lobby and a complacent administration, U.S. soldiers are left stranded on the battlefield as a new batch of recruits are soon to be inducted into the military under the rainbow flag. In other words, the image is an unfortunate manipulation of U.S. troops to further a profitable political message.

I am not suggesting that Akin is anything but sincere in his homophobia. Not to put too fine a point on it, he doesn’t seem clever enough by half to game the believers like, for instance, one suspects Roy Blunt does with regularity.

Sincere or not, though, I also fervently believe that he is quite aware that ginned up fear of “the homosexual agenda” is a profitable and useful political tool. And it is exactly this awkward combination of stupidity and cupidity mendacity that makes me despair when I drive around my conservative neighborhood and see all the Vote for Akin signs – how, in a just world, could such crude manipulators ever prevail?