Oh, When You Put it THAT Way

. . . . it's still bullshit.

When a politician says something incredibly stupid, offensive and just plain ugly, they have three choices. They can deny saying it, they can claim it was taken out of context, or they can apologize, profusely. Two of those three alternatives assure that their absurd comment will continue to live on and that their reputation for candor will take a hit.

Arkansas Republican chief Dennis Milligan doesn't get it. The other day he said that, to reverse GOP fortunes, "what we need" is another 9/11 attack. We asked him about it and, well, he didn't take door number three.

We contacted the Arkansas Republican Party and asked about their new leader's comment:

"I [ABFS] am wondering if Mr. Milligan's statement, that 'we need some attacks on American soil like we had on [9/11', is something that the Arkansas GOP would like to reject or if they are endorsing their new leader's 'strategy' for a return to GOP dominance?"

Bill Smith, editor of the official Arkansas Republican Party Blog, was kind enough to talk to Mr. Milligan and get back to us with the official Arkansas Repug position:

"Dear Big Flat Slob (what a pseudonym and blog photo){yeah, we get that a lot}, We talked with Mr. Milligan. It appears the referenced comment was taken out of context by the writer of the article. Milligan was trying to express his support both for the President, as commander-in-chief, and for the support for the troops. He made the remark trying to highlight this support for the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform fighting overseas in response to our government (including Congress) decision to do so!"

It was taken out of context? In what possible context could "all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001]" be okay?

Mr. Milligan, what you said was stupid and offensive. Instead of blaming the reporter, take responsibility. Oh, I know that George Bush has never taken responsibility for any of the stupid things he's said, or, worse, done, but modeling yourself after a politician who has lost the support of every sane person in America is not a prescription for success.

(We have invited the reporter who wrote the article to respond to Mr. Milligan's claim that the report was misleading.)

(By the way, we are still waiting for the Huckabee campaign to respond to our similar request for comment on Mr. Milligan's desire for another attack.)