My favorite stuperbity of today:

Well played, internet pranksters.

I’ve been watching most of the major RNC speeches this week, and before I launch into my rant I’d like to give credit to Mike Huckabee for a sincere, entertaining, and above-board speech. Really. I like listening to Huck and find him really interesting.  (Of course, all bets are off if he runs for President, thanks to some of his more extreme beliefs, but for now I can like him.)

But you know who could stand to take a lesson in class from Mike Huckabee?

I once gave a speech thiiiiis slimy

Rudy Giuliani.

Perhaps you’ve heard of him? Former Mayor of New York and erstwhile presidential candidate?

A lot of people think Rudy’s a pretty slimy individual, and if I thought he was more relevant I’d be one of them, but usually I’m able to shrug off his rhetoric and dismiss him.

Not tonight. Here’s why:

Policy differences I can handle, and even enjoy hearing.

But mocking Barack Obama for his community activism is both disgusting and absurd. One would think that the Republican Party would embrace someone who works toward a non-government, grass roots, locally based and executed solution, not dismiss such an effort as somehow irrelevant and frivolous.

Community organizers take up the mantle when the people they elect to represent them fail to, or when they recognize a problem in an under served community, and they help the community come together to help itself. I would venture to say that no worthy cause has gained much traction without building on the efforts of community organizers and activists. They are the giants upon whose shoulders politicians stand.

Finally, using Rudy’s logic - that the only work that counts is that done by a person once elected to office - we should ignore any mention of McCain’s military and POW experiences as irrelevant. I somehow doubt the GOP at large would agree with him on this one.

Update: Palin piled on to this theme as well, ruining what might have been otherwise a very good acceptance speech.

Update again: Jon Stewart’s brilliant response to this insulting nonsense. Brilliant. (check out about 1:30 into the video)