Today, my representative rendered Nancy Pelosi speechless. 

The other day, on our regular Michelle Bachmann Freakshow Thread, I said, with complete, yet not necessarily evident, sincerity that I didn't understand why everyone thought she was such a freak.  I said that Bachmann was, in fact, the perfect modern Republican, a woman who had so fully internalized the GOP's post-modern anti-intellectualism and anti-objectivism, that she had become one of the party's leading orators. 

I really meant it.  One of the reasons I meant it was that I am "represented" by Virginia Foxx.

Last summer, I wrote a fundraising plea for her opponent, Roy Carter. 

Coach Carter is running against Rep. Virginia Foxx here in North Carolina's Fifth District. Most of you have probably never heard of Foxx before because, by and large, she stays out of the national limelight and this District is supposedly so gerrymandered that she's deemed unshakable by the party bigwigs. Foxx succeeded the comparatively benign Richard Burr when he took over John Edwards' Senate seat in '04.

The Fifth District being what it is, the whole '04 race essentially boiled down to a runoff in the Republican primary between her and Vernon Robinson--who some of you may have heard of. Essentially, it was a race to see which of them was the worst, knuckle-dragging, rabble-rousing, hatemongering, acid-spewing, xenophobic, homophobic, Cristofascistic, Bushloving, warmongering monster. Foxx won that competition hands down, which was no mean feat against Vernon Robinson.

Since then, she has proven it wasn't just campaign rhetoric. She has distinguished herself by her 100% support for each and every little thing George W. Bush wants, other than immigration reform, for being one of the worst abusers of the Congressional franking privilege, and for amassing a ridiculously bloated warchest of contributions from the vilest people and PACs in the nation, which she uses to support and buy influence with other Republican members of Congress. She is a steadfast supporter of endless war in Iraq. She was one of eleven to vote against Katrina relief in September, '05 and one of 31 to vote against extension of the Voting Rights Act. She never saw an pro-environment bill she was for or an environmental atrocity she would not actively advocate. In April, 2006, she conducted a "field hearing" here in the district called Gangs, Fraud and Sexual Predators: Struggling with the Consequences of Illegal Immigration. No,really, that's what she called it.

Yeah, our Ginny's a real peach. And, worse, she's quiet and unsplashy and she's accumulating favors, all of which makes her twice as dangerous as some of the cartoonish buffoons who are being targeted by the DCCC and the DNC.

Whenever I make fun of the Republican Party's more high-profile assclowns like Bachmann, DeMint or, hell, practically anybody Oklahoma sends to Congress, I do it knowing that my own district has been sending this evil old battleaxe who's as bad as any of them and worse than most of them, Bachmann included, to Congress since 2004.

Coach Carter got beaten pretty handily.  Foxx has won all of her races pretty handily.  It's that kind of District, is NC-05.  But here's the thing.  Given that she always has a ginormous money  advantage, that there's never a really well-known Democrat running against her, that  the DCCC does bupkis here, and that most people consider whoever is running against her to be a sacrificial lamb, she never seems to do quite as well as she's supposed to. 

It was 59%-41% in 2004, a big year for Republicans here, certainly.  Her opponent was Jim Harrell, a dentist from ruralish Surry County (where Andy Griffith came from) and scion of a local political family active in Surry County politics but, frankly, little known outside that county.  In 2006, her opponent was Roger Sharpe. I'll let you check out his Wikipedia profile yourself.  She won that one 57-43. In 2008, she beat Roy Carter 58%-42%.  In every case, she had millions and her opponents had spare change they found under seat cushions. 

The Democrats have our General Assembly under pretty good control.  I'd like to think the Fifth's boundaries might show a little judicious adjustment in 2010, though possibly this will one where they'll try to pack as many Republicans as possible to minimize the number of seats they can get. 

Regardless, my gut says she's vulnerable.  If we can get a candidate with some recognition, existing organization and a little clout and fund him or her adequately, I really think we can send her back to whatever cave ceiling she used to hang from before she went to DC. 

Please, folks, take this opportunity, this moment when she has emerged from her usual abode in the shadows and gotten her fifeen minuts this year, and make a little note to keep an eye on her.  If she gets a serious challenger next year, please consider digging into your pockets for whoever runs against her.  You'll do a service to your country and, not that it means much, allow me to contemplate writing a letter to my representative without a derisive snort.  The normally unobtrusive ones like her are, in many ways, a lot more dangerous than the camera-whore twits like Bachmann.