The Outies

Political life is so much more complicated these days.

Fifty years ago, after losing his Democratic primary bid in the Alabama gubernatorial election, George Wallace said to an aide: "Seymore, you know why I lost that governor's race?... I was outniggered by [opponent] John Patterson. And I'll tell you here and now, I will never be outniggered again."

Wallace only had to worry about being outniggered. Today's candidates for the Republican presidential nomination live in endless fear of being outed: out-Jesused, outaborted, outgayed, and out-Crusaded.

This week, an Iowa pastoral supporter of Republican POTUS wannabe, ex-Arkansas governor, and ordained Baptist minister Mike Huckabee was caught e-mailing around disparaging remarks about rival Senator Sam Brownback's conversion from Methodism to Catholicism.

This comes less than two months after an Iowa field operative for Brownback was busted for sending out an e-mail talking trash about Mormonism, the faith of choice of rival Mitt Romney.

And that episode occurred only a couple of weeks after Rudy Giuilani's deputy web-campaign manager helpfully sent a blogger an article from the Utah media that tied Romney to a whacked-out prophesy asserting that a Latter Day Saint will save the Constitution.

Before even that, there was the April incident in which John McCain's campaign chairman in Warren County, Iowa, took it upon himself to share a number of illuminating tidbits about the Mormon Church (it funds Hamas, it supports Taliban-like treatment of women...) at a monthly meeting of GOP activists.

And, of course, who could forget Focus on the Family founder, conservative kingmaker, and unofficial Newt Gingrich shill James Dobson's March pronouncement that actor, lobbyist, and former Senator Fred Thompson is not a real Christian?

Deserves them right.