I Founded a SuperPAC!

I realized that shockingly, not one political action committee was taking on the Ted Cruz zodiac killer allegations. That had to change, so I filed To Eliminate Doubt: Committee to Reveal the Unknown Zodiac Killer with the Federal Election Commission. We are live and accepting donations at T.E.D. C.R.U.Z. Killer PAC now. Go donate!

David Duke Wanted to Secure the Border Before It Was Cool

Back in 1977, citizens securing the border from illegal immigrants was the province of the Ku Klux Klan, led by one David Duke. Prescott Courier, October 26, 1977

David Duke, Grand Dragon of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Tuesday announced the official beginning of the "Klan Border Watch." "We will be here as long as it takes to meet the response" of the illegal alien problem, said the 27-year-old leader of the white supremacist group. Duke said about 230 Klan members will patrol the border in Southern California, with another 150 in Texas ... Duke, of Metairie, La., claimed the Klan "has the support of the American people" in helping the border patrol stem the influx of illegal aliens into this country. He claimed the illegal aliens take jobs away from U.S. citizens.

30 years later, when the Minutemen of Jim Gilchrist began doing the same thing, it was mainstream enough so that the foreword to his book (written with Jerome Corsi, of birther conspiracies) was written by sitting Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. 10 years after that, even the establishment Cuban Republican in the presidential race is focusing on "securing the border," while we have a half-Cuban man born in Canada having recently taken the position of urging deportation of all illegal immigrants. I think the GOP protests too much about the KKK.

Party Claimed Disavowal But Eventually Accepted David Duke

Vis a vis the whole Trump and David Duke/KKK thing, let's remember that David Duke himself was once an elected Republican legislator. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 1989:

Duke said Sunday that he was extending a hand in friendship to Jews and was inviting his opponents to talk with him. But he did not mince words on where he stood on civil rights and affirmative action: ''I'm for getting the government out of our personal lives,'' he said. ''I'm not for any law for segregation or integration. The right not to associate is just as precious as the right to associate.'' In Washington, Republican National Chairman Lee Atwater pledged to have Duke censured and barred from using the GOP's name. ''David Duke is not a Republican,'' Atwater said in a statement. ''He's a pretender, a charlatan and a political opportunist who is looking for any organization he can find to try to legitimize his views of racial and religious bigotry and intolerance. ''We repudiate him in his views, and we are taking immediate steps to see that he is disenfranchised from our party.'' ... But Duke scoffed at the notion that he would be banned from the GOP. ''Is (Atwater) going to censure me for my past?'' he asked at Sunday's news conference. ''How many Republicans, how many Democrats have done controversial things in the past? The actions of Mr. Atwater are really un-American.''

And what happened? Why, the Republicans accepted Duke as one of their own. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 22, 1989:

Newly elected state Rep. David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, probably will be accepted by Republicans as one of their own if he's seated in the House, GOP legislative leaders said Tuesday. A freshman independent has said he would challenge Duke's seating, but Democrats and Republicans alike said they expected the move to fail. If the Republican Legislative Caucus lets him in, Duke will be one of 18 Republicans in the 105-member House.

The KKK Endorsed Ronald Reagan-Twice

From a column by the late great scoop reporter Jack Anderson in the Ellensburg Daily Record on Sept 15, 1980 (elsewhere one can confirm that the specific date of the KKK endorsement was on July 30, 1980

In 1984, it took the Reagan adminstration a full month before they would even comment on the KKK endorsement. From the Pittsburgh Press UPI feed in May, 1984

Of course, it's not surprising Ronald Reagan would have been endorsed by the Klan. After all, just days after that initial Ku Klan Klan endorsement, Reagan, in his first major appearance after the Republican convention, went to the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Mississippi to talk about his belief in "state's rights." (a well-known code word for letting states segregate and such). Philadelphia, Mississippi of course, was known for only one thing: the murder of 1 African-American and 2 Jews working on voter registration by, you guessed it, members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Trump Was the #1 Target of Super PAC Attack Ads in 3 of the First 4 States

An oft-repeated claim in the media is that the party went easy on Donald Trump in terms of attack ads in the early contests and until very recently. Based on SuperPAC spending data from the FEC, this appears to be false. 

Except in New Hampshire, Trump was the #1 target of SuperPAC attack ads. In New Hampshire, the biggest target was Chris Christie. The vast majority of that anti-Christie spending in New Hampshire was by the pro-Rubio super PAC, which may be part of the reason why Christie was particularly angry at Rubio and decided to go with Trump to dispel with the fiction that Rubio has a chance to win.

Rubio is actually the one who's had it relatively easy in terms of attack ads, and he's had tons of money spent on his behalf in pro-Rubio ads. Trump has had very little SuperPAC spending (I haven't managed to compute it out yet). Yet Trump's been winning.

The Party Hasn't Decided s