Interesting:
No less an authority figure than Karl Rove has warned Republican operatives from demagoguing Barack Obama's middle name.
At a closed door meeting of GOP state executive directors in late January, Rove said the safest way to refer to Obama would be to use his honorific, "Sen. Obama."
"The context was, you're not going to stimatize this guy. You shouldn't underestimate him," one of the executive directors said. Rove said that the use of "Barack Hussein Obama" would perpetuate the notion that Republicans were bigoted and would hurt the party.
Rove also said that Republicans should refer to Hillary Clinton as "Sen. Clinton," rather than "Hillary."
Rove also urged the GOP to support comprehensive immigration reform or risk losing the Latino vote for generations. He failed there as well.
It says something when the voice of reason within the GOP on demonizing entire groups of people is Karl Rove. But it doesn't matter. His party is dead-set on its "hate pretty much everyone" strategy -- blacks, gays, San Francisco, Muslims, Hollywood, Massachusetts, New York, latte-drinkers, Volvo drivers, and any woman who thinks medical decisions should be left between her and her doctor.
And like Rove knows full well, that strategy is a sure bet for electoral defeat.
Update: And at least one state party -- that of Tennessee -- refuses to play ball.