House Republicans got a rare bit of encouraging news today when Rep. Bud Cramer (D-Ala.) announced he would be stepping down after nine terms in Congress, opening up a conservative-minded seat in northern Alabama.“I have been truly blessed to be able to serve this district in Washington,” Cramer said in a statement. “While I am closing my career as a member of Congress I will continue to be active in the life, growth and development of the community that I, my parents and my grandchildren will always call home.”A founder of the conservative-leaning Blue Dog Democrats, Cramer has maintained a centrist voting record during his 18 years in Congress. He has been a leading advocate for the district’s sizable aerospace industry, concentrated at the Marshall Space Flight Center.

The district, centered in Huntsville, has leaned Republican in federal races, but has a history of supporting Democrats as well. It gave President Bush 60 percent of the vote in 2004, and 54 percent in 2000.

CBS News

This should be a lean Republican race now. As long as the Alabama GOP doesn’t screw it up like they did in Illinois last week by nominating a candidate who has lost every election he has ever ran in or someone who is a complete RINO, we should end up with this seat and produce a strong Reagan conservative. We still have a few of these districts lingering around the south, occupied by old school Democrat incumbents who are keeping us from flipping these seats red: GA-12, GA-8, and SC-5 come to mind immediately.

First of all, I think we can all agree that the guy is a loony tune.

I’m having a hard time reconciling Sen. Obama’s “post-racial campaign” with his attendance of this man’s church for over 20 years. Though Sen. Obama tries to duck from any flak by referring to his minister as an “old uncle who sometimes says things I disagree with,” it is just inconceivable to me that any reasonable-thinking person, which for all his political faults Obama appears to be, would continue to support a church with such rdiculous, hateful sermons (not to mention, as another blogger notes [see the hat tip], that he would subject his two daughters to such insane diatribe).

Either Sen. Obama is not as “post-racial” as he claims to be, or he knew his minister was spouting ridiculousness but continued to attend the church to curry political favor from the minister and likeminded people. I would lean towards the latter reasoning, as we’ve seen Congressional Democrats pander their hearts out to the Kossites and lefty bloggers’ dreams during electoin season then refuse to put their votes where their mouths were time and time again.

Hat Tip to Stop The ACLU.

Fred Dicker spells out the many transgressions of Eliot Spitzer, even before he got caught with his hand in the prostitution cookie jar.

More: Pejman Yousefzadeh at RedState gives some more excellent background of “Spitzenfreude.”

From Stephen Green at VodkaPundit:

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. And suffering leads to the government screwing around with our economy.

Yeah, I know, the post is from March 6… but I just saw it today and I like Yoda-isms being transformed.