A LITTLE SANITY IN TEXAS – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  We've been following this story.  In recent years Republicans have blown easily won elections by nominating goofball candidates or tolerating elements who embarrass our cause.   

We just came close in Texas, a red state that is in chronic danger of turning at least purple, as Virginia has.  If we give away Texas to the loonies, the national GOP might as well close up.  From Newsmax:

Greg Abbott's campaign for governor in Texas will not continue to use controversial rocker Ted Nugent at public events, but won't condemn controversial remarks Nugent made about President Barack Obama, CNN reports.

Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that Abbott is in a "tough spot." The GOP favorite needs to keep very conservative voters in his camp while not angering more moderate Republican women in the suburbs who are being courted by likely Democratic challenger Wendy Davis.

Many in Abbott's conservative base agree with Nugent's pro-gun views, as does Abbott. But Nugent's description of Obama as a "communist-nurtured, subhuman mongrel" in a January interview amounts to racism, critics say.

Blitzer on Tuesday went after Nugent, saying the term "subhuman mongrel" has roots in the Holocaust. Nazis described Jews with that term as a justification for genocide, he noted.

While the Abbott campaign has not so far disavowed Nugent's specific comments about Obama, it did on Monday make a more general statement.

"While he may sometimes say things or use language that Greg Abbott would not endorse or agree with, we appreciate the support of everyone who supports protecting our Constitution," Abbott spokesman Matt Hirsch told The Dallas Morning News.

COMMENT:  Frankly, Abbott, who strikes me as a decent man, should go further and clearly denounce Nugent's obnoxious comments.  We are severely critical of President Obama here, but would never use language of the kind Nugent used.

Sometimes you have to lose some support to do the right thing.  But you may well pick up support elsewhere.  The role model here is Harry S. Truman, who refused to back down in his civil rights stand in his tough 1948 election campaign, a stand that led to many Southern segregationists walking out of the Democratic National Convention and supporting Strom Thurmond for president.  Truman won without them.  He also, by the way, confronted the far left in the party, driving them to support Henry Wallace for president.  Wallace didn't make a dent.

Wendy Davis has almost self-destructed in her campaign for the Texas governorship, with her craziness, her hypocrisy, and her dishonesty about her background.  There are some on the fringe right who seem to want to resurrect her by refusing to denounce bigotry.  They are wrong.  Nugent is wrong.  We lost Senate races in Missouri, Indiana, Nevada, and Delaware in recent years because our side embraced nut jobs.  Let's not make the same mistake again.

February 21, 2014