ALMOST FIGURING IT OUT

The New Republic's Jazon Zengerle looks at that North Carolina ad and nearly grasps what's going on:

Is That NC GOP Ad Really That Hard to Figure Out?

... the North Carolina GOP ad is intended to help Hillary in the May 6 primary. I mean, if the NC GOP really wanted the ad to help McCain, wouldn't they be running this ad in October or November? This is clearly an attempt to play the race and the Wright card against Obama in the hopes of hurting him in the Democratic Primary. Which suggests that there are at least some Republicans out there who still think Obama is the more formidable general election candidate....

I don't think the GOP is making any judgment about who is the more formidable candidate. I think the GOP just wants to keep this thing going as long as possible, by motivating crossover voters and the people Zengerle calls "Jessecrats" ("conservative[s] in the eastern part of the state ... who are still nominally Democrats") to come out for Hillary. The GOP, in other words, is letting Rush Limbaugh play party chairman; it's participating in his Operation Chaos.

(And I say "the GOP," not "the North Carolina GOP," because any idiot knows this is coming straight from the top, and it's high time the press called bullshit on the shocked, shocked reactions from McCain and the national party to this ad.)

Incidentally, Rush literally wants all this to lead to bloodshed:

...The dream end... I mean, if people say what's your exit strategery, the dream end of this is that this keeps up to the convention and that we have a replay of Chicago 1968, with burning cars, protests, fires, literal riots, and all of that. That's the objective here....

And note that he's not trying to guess which Democratic nominee will be easier to beat because he thinks he and the process can help decide that:

We need [Obama] to limp across the finish line with his meager little lead in delegates. We need this guy having not won a significant primary since February 22nd. I know what many of you are saying, "No. That's the guy we want to get the nomination, Rush." They're both bloodied. They're both weakened. Mrs. Clinton, as I said, is already hated by half the country. We're on the way here now with Obama....

The purpose of Operation Chaos is not to secure the nomination for either of these two candidates. That's not the point. The point of Operation Chaos is chaos....

That's the GOP's point, too.

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UPDATE: Via Memeorandum, I see that Limbaugh's blood lust is making the news in Denver:

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments calling for riots in Denver during the Democratic National Convention this summer....

"Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don't elect Democrats," Limbaugh said during Wednesday's radio broadcast. He then went on to say that's the best thing that could happen to the country....

Several callers called in to the radio show to denounce Limbaugh's comments, when he later stated, "I am not inspiring or inciting riots, I am dreaming of riots in Denver."...

Next time a right-winger dies and two random commenters at Democratic Underground or Daily Kos or the Huffington Post say something less than sympathetic, please remember this.

MORE: Crooks and Liars has audio of the call for riots, and much more on this.