Keep in mind as you read the following, I have nothing against everyday John and Jane Doe Republicans. A great many of my friends and family vote for Republicans and identify themselves as such. I’m happy to see they’re involved in our democracy.

But the Republican leadership — from the local to the national level — that’s another story. Republican elected officials and political appointees have had a horrible week despite the goofy happyhappyjoyjoy prognosticating of a variety of conservative partisans from John Ruberry’s silly “I think the George W. Bush gave one of the best speeches of his presidency this evening” (here’s a clue, he’s been giving the same speech since flying onto an aircraft carrier after keeping those sailors at sea an extra day for his photo op) to the Illinois Review’s defense of the indefensible claiming recent negative news about their hero, Tony Peraica, is nothing more than a political drive-by.

Let’s break it down so even the con partisans can understand:

Nationally…

• White House appointee Gen. David Petraeus offered up his “rosy scenario” testimony to Congress earlier in the week. While admitting that he didn’t know if the war on Iraq had made America any safer he neglected to point out that his “rosy scenario” testimony painting parts of the so-called “surge” as a success was actually a paint-by-numbers image … and the conservative partisans (including, apparently, himself) neglected to add several numbers and ignore the reality that almost no progress is being made. All of this makes it crystal clear that conservative partisans’ paint job is much less rosy and much more bloody. Oh, and we found out that Gen. Petraeus’ superior officer at CENTCOM, Adm. William Fallon, thinks he’s an “ass-kissing chickenshit” (which could come in handy if a certain commander-in-chief flirting with record low approval ratings needed an ass-kissing political appointee to give the same ol’ chickenshit some shiny new packaging).
• Related, a national progressive-leaning group was the target of much conservative pundit flamethrowing and mudslinging after they paid for a full-page newspaper ad pointing out that Gen. Petraeus’ dog-and-pony show was using fuzzy math. The con partisans went all out, putting every nasty word they could print and utter into the collective mouth of this group. Since the conservative partisans are apparently not too upset that 30,000 of our finest men and women have been injured in the crossfire of Iraq’s civil war and another 4,000 have offered our nation their supreme sacrifice it makes perfect sense that these partisans would be flailing their arms around and hopping mad over a newspaper ad simply because it pointed out the truth behind the half-truths coming from the White House and its hand-picked commander of coalition forces. Not. (That “coalition force”, by the way, now includes … whom? Even the Bulldogs decided enough was enough.)
• Also related, we learned that the Republicans’ House leader — Rep. John Boehner (R, Antenora) — thinks those 4,000 brave Americans who gave up their lives for the conservatives’ Iraq cause merely gave up a “small price”. Now, like most people I believe that when any member of our intrepid military loses their life in their mission they have given our nation their ultimate sacrifice. Giving your country your final heartbeat is no “small price” and being so callous and cold-hearted is beyond the pale … But given the fuzzy numbers the conservative partisans are using in order to prop up their failure to plan and execute their adventure (which was based on lies to begin with) telling the friends and family of these honorable troops that their deaths were merely a “small price” to pay is apparently par for the course for the red partisans.
• Not related, but still beyond comprehension, we learned from testimony in an Alaskan courtroom today that GOP patriarch Senator Ted Stevens (R, Bridge to Nowhere) not only loves to fork over plenty of unnecessary pork but also enjoys himself some free labor and gifts from people accused of bribery. Indeed, Sen. Stevens was able to double the size of his Alaskan home gratis… So much for being the “values party”. (Then again, this is a party that covered up the Mark Foley scandal so well and for so long that Florida prosecutors are likely going to be unable to prosecute Mr. Foley due to the statute of limitations having expired. And they also decided that Sen. David Vitter’s hypocritical call-girl fancy was pretty much jim dandy while nearly simultaneously burning Sen. Larry Craig at the stake for allegedly seeking anonymous sex from fellows in the men’s room.)

And locally…

• Still on a sour note, a certain Republican former County Board Presidential candidate and current State’s Attorney candidate seems to have a definite pattern of questionable, nigh deviant behavior. You see, back on the night of Election Day last year — indeed, in the wee hours of the morning after Election Day — conservative Board President candidate Tony Peraica led a gaggle of goofs up and down deserted Loop streets (they first headed the wrong direction on Boul Mich) as they left their election night ballroom and headed for the County Building and Clerk David Orr’s office, where the votes were being tallied overnight. When they got there, they pounded on the glass and generally acted like grizzled hooligans. As if that bizarre incident wasn’t enough, it now turns out that Mr. Peraica hired a known thug to his campaign staff (he met the guy while defending him on charges that he slashed a bunch of nuns’ tires). This fellow has since proceeded to make harassing calls to Mr. Peraica’s political opponents in drunken stupors (at 9 in the morning no less), cursing them out for voting against Mr. Peraica’s interests. He is now claiming that Mr. Peraica encouraged his supporters to make these calls. Illinois political journalist Rich Miller calls it, “A disturbing pattern” and notes that this fellow wants to represent us as our State’s Attorney. As others have pointed out, can you imagine if a supporter who slashes tires and makes obscene calls to opponents was given a job in the offices of the Board President or State’s Attorney? And, again, partisan conservatives (as opposed to honest conservatives) at Illinois Review decide to try and defend the indefensible not by explaining Mr. Peraica’s “disturbing pattern” but by … blaming other people, like reporters, for bothering to talk about it. (Of course, that same group of partisan conservatives at Ill Review counts Mr. Peraica as a contributor and an advertiser.)
• Finally, on a lighter note, and echoing the mid-season switch the State Rep. Paul Froehlich made in June — changing his red jersey in for a blue one — Kane County Board Member John Noverini announced this week that he was leaving the Republican party (and resigning all his party posts) in order to become a Democrat. A few months back, Rep. Froehlich said he left the elephants because of his strong disagreement with the Iraq War, Pres. Bush’s abuse of habeus corpus, the conservative’s immigration vitriol, and the Republicans’ anti-environmentalism (h/t Hiram). This week, Board Member Noverini declared, “[The GOP] has become a party of exclusion, not inclusion – a party where ideas and accomplishments consistently take second place to ideology and status quo,” and that the Dems better reflected his commitment to public service according to the Daily Herald. Conservative partisans (namely those at Illinois Review) immediately proved his point by calling him a name instead of trying to understand his explanation and debate his change of heart on its merits. Such is life.

So much for being a party of morals and values… With elected leaders like those nasty, naughty, bad boys noted above it’s little wonder that folks like Rep. Froehlich, County Board Member Noverini and many, many others are leaving them behind.