Teabaggers, Muslims and other name-calling in Jane Norton's Senate race

Based on early returns, the U.S. Senate race in Colorado this year is shaping up to be one gloriously ugly mudwallow, with GOP candidate Jane Norton painting the opposition as terrorist-loving pansies and the Dems firing back with clips that depict Norton as a Tea Party nutjob.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has been collecting video of Norton's more "outrageous" moments on the campaign trail and recently released the compilation presented above. In the first segment, Norton listens with seeming approval at a December coffee klatsch while Barack Obama is called an "idiot" and a Muslim (clearly, a sinister code word) and then describes the Tea Party movement and Glenn Beck's 9/12 groups as a "huge strength" of the GOP. Other clips and sound bites feature Norton declaring that the Obama administration shouldn't meddle in health care and cares more about "the rights of terrorists" than the lives of Americans.

All of which prompts the DSCC to shriek that Norton is "revealing her true exteme colors." One posting even lists her affiliation as "R-Tea Bag."

Ouch. Haven't the Dems learned yet that "teabagger" is an offensive term? Senator Mark Udall found that out recently, when he fired off an e-mail denouncing "far-right tea-baggers across the country," only to learn that tea-bagging and tea-partying are really entirely separate and rarely compatible activities.

Then again, maybe it's the teabaggers who should be most offended by all of this. What's a little harmless sexual deviancy compared to the seriously twisted practices of political campaigns?