Will Hoosier Repugs Bounce Burton At Last?

Ordinarily I really wouldn’t care about what goes on in a Republican primary election, but today could be a historic day in Indiana; longtime U.S. House scumbag Dan Burton is up against challenger Dr. John McGoff, with the winner facing a Dem opponent in November, as McClatchy tells us here…

The key issue is ethics, as McGoff hammers Burton for skipping House votes to attend a golf tournament and for casting the only no vote against a bill banning gifts from lobbyists. He's said he wanted a stronger bill.

"He's being badgered because of absenteeism and arrogance, and he finally has a quality opponent," said Jim McDowell, a political scientist at Indiana State University.

Burton has been forced to spend more than $1 million, a career high, to fight off McGoff's challenge. McGoff has spent less than $400,000.

Where to begin with this guy? Well, let’s start with the Helms-Burton act then, a truly odious piece of legislation that tried to punish non-U.S. corporations and non-U.S. investors who have economic interests in Cuba, as noted here; it earned such international ridicule that Canada passed a similar law calling for the return of Canadian property in this country seized during the American Revolution (the law was never enforced), and the EU passed a law making it a crime to comply with Helms-Burton (a crime to comply with a U.S. law – think about how mind boggling that is).

Oh, and the “Helms” in the Act is a certain race-baiting tyrannical demagogue who once represented North Carolina in the U.S. Senate (apparently, he’s still out there drawing a breath somewhere).

And as noted here about Burton…

In 1997, Burton was accused of demanding a $5,000 contribution from a Pakistani lobbyist. When the lobbyist was unable to raise the funds, Burton complained to the ambassador for the Bhutto government and later threatened to make sure "none of his friends or colleagues" would meet with the lobbyist or his associates.

In 1998, Burton admitted to fathering a child outside of his marriage.

That same year, his investigation of campaign fundraising irregularities during the 1996 Presidential campaign ground to a halt when it was revealed that his staff had doctored transcripts of prison phone calls made by former Clinton administration official Webster Hubbell.

In 2006, he fought against extending the Voting Rights Act for minorities.

So do your duty, any Repug Hoosiers who may be reading this (I can dream). Make sure this isn’t the “right place, wrong time” for Dr. John (snark).

And though I obviously want Obama to walk away with that state’s primary, it would be apropos in a way given Burton’s pathological Clinton hatred (as McClatchy tells us, Burton even shot a melon to try and prove that Vince Foster was murdered, a crime against produce everywhere) that the 26-year incumbent’s House career ended on the same day Hillary won.

Update 5/7/08: Indiana re-upped Burton, sadly, but with only 52 percent of the vote (wearing out his welcome, maybe?).