GOP: Better off with shooting?

Perhaps the message from Democrats to Republicans this fall should be “FORE!!!!”

With Republicans eager to look like ordinary Americans in an effort to keep the House come November, they’re taking their campaign to … the golf course?!?

According to Ohio’s Hamilton Journal-News in Butler County (north of Cincinnati), Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Blackwell and “some state-level Republican candidates” are meeting to coordinate their campaign efforts Saturday. They’ll be meeting their volunteers at the party headquarters on — no joke — Golf Club Lane.

One observer of Ohio politics tells Yeas & Nays, “Now here’s my question: With GOP vulnerabilities this year, and concerns about the GOP being out of touch with the average guy ... should they be touting the fact that the Butler County, Ohio, Republican Headquarters is located on a street called GOLF CLUB LANE?”

Well, Boehner is one of the Congress’s better golfers.

But perhaps Boehner is also taking a cue from Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo. Next Thursday, Blunt is hosting a Friends of Roy Blunt Golf Outing at the Fred Couples-designed Westfields Golf Club in Clifton, Va., for $2,000 per PAC or $1,000 per individual.

Then, on the weekend of Nov. 10 — after the die for the 110th Congress is already cast, we should note — Blunt hosts a three-day fall retreat on Kiawah Island in South Carolina, a location known for, you guessed it, golf. That event is open to donors who have contributed $5,000 to his committee this year.

“That’s typical for any member of Congress to hold fundraisers in that vein,” said an active Republican lobbyist, asking that his name not be used. “At the same time, when they hold an event, they increase their profile among voters.

“Both Boehner and Blunt are very good at reaching out to middle America,” the lobbyist added.

Maybe that’s why Blunt today is also hosting a bird hunt at Strawberry Hill Farm in Maryland. For $2,500 per PAC or $1,000 for individuals, you too can blast away at the fowl. Dick Cheney is not supposed to attend, so it should be safe.

New books list most infamous party putdowns

Is the GOP subject to more nastiness from its opponents than Democrats?

That could be the conclusion from two new books — “The Nastiest Things Ever Said About Republicans” and “The Nastiest Things Ever Said About Democrats” — from filmmaker and stand-up comic Martin Higgins.

The insults aimed at Democrats run 196 pages, while the shots taken at the GOP tally 225 pages.

“I knew that could become an issue!” Higgins told Yeas & Nays on Wednesday. “There is an inequality,” he said, not just in the final edits, but in the amount of material he and collaborator Bill Katovsky mined.

“The contemporary stuff swings anti-Republican,” Higgins said. “Dennis Miller is one of only a few out there beating the conservative comedy path. When you go back in history, it’s more even, or even pro-Republican. You can plot that change right around the ’60s.”

Among the anti-Democrat material:

» “Jimmy Carter as president is like Truman Capote marrying Dolly Parton. The job is just too big for him.” (Rich Little)

» “Bill and Hillary Clinton both suffer from a variety of attention-deficit disorders. When they don’t get enough attention, they become disordered.” (Dick Morris)

And on Republicans:

» “Avoid all needle drugs. The only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon.” (Abbie Hoffman)

» “Reagan is the triumph of the embalmer’s art.” (Gore Vidal)

Kim Jong Il should dress Fox-ier

It’s the clothes, not the bomb, that make the man.

During Fox News Channel’s 10th anniversary lunch Wednesday, the always-quotable Fox News Channel President Roger Ailes light-heartedly joked about North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Il’s fashion tastes, joking that “his pants were a little bit off the shoes.”

“This is a guy whose pants don’t fit,” said Ailes to a laughing audience at Charlie Palmer Steak. “You’d think he could afford to dress a little better. ... If he came in to work for me, I’d tell him, ‘You can’t come in here looking like that!’ ”

And, for the record, Ailes was dressed impeccably.

Allen gives Foley cash to Donna Rice

One good scandal deserves another. The New York Daily News reports that Sen. George Allen, R-Va., has given a $5,000 campaign contribution from disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., to an anti-porn group called Enough Is Enough. In a curious twist, that organization is headed by none other than Donna Rice-Hughes, whose affair with former Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., ended his presidential bid in 1988.

Think Tank

Question: Will Speaker Hastert resign? Should he?

“It would set a bad example to cut and run.” - Danielle Decker Jones, senior editor, “The Hotline”

“If the speaker steps down, the Democrats will make a campaign issue out of it. If he doesn’t step down, the Democrats will make a campaign issue out of it. So, what difference does it make?” – Ron Nessen, journalist-in-residence, The Brookings Institution

If “Coach” Hastert resigns, thereby prematurely concluding one of the most enjoyable political scandals this month, it will be just one more sign that the Republicans don’t know how to lead. – Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief, Reason magazine