“I don’t exactly approve of a lot of the things [Barack Obama] stands for and I’m not sure we know enough about him … He’s got some bad connections, and he may be terrorist connected for all I can tell. It sounds kind of like he may be.”

Who said this? Was it a) Tom DeLay, b) Karl Rove, c) Dick Cheney or c) a member of the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party?
“So, yeah, Nation, please believe that there are some people down here in Tennessee who would like to elect progressive, smart, transformative leaders. It just seems to be a Sisyphean battle at times. But we’ll keep at it.”
– Alice at 10,000 Monkeys & a Camera
Sadly, the answer is d, Fred Hobbs, who in addition to sitting on the party’s executive committee is a supporter and constituent of Rep. Lincoln Davis, a “Blue Dog” Democrat, who represents Tennessee’s 4th District, which is mostly rural and white, and which Obama lost to Hillary Clinton 23 percent to 68 percent, according to Nashville City Paper.

Hobbs made this outrageous statement when asked why Rep. Davis, who reportedly hopes (hoped?) to run for governor in 2010, had not yet endorsed Obama.

These goomers dug their hole deeper when Rep. Davis’ chief of staff Beecher Frasier was asked for a response by City Paper and said that he didn’t know for sure if Obama is “terrorist connected” but assumed he was not.

Later, the Tennessee Democratic Party issued a clarification in which it attempted to blame Hobbs’ outrageous remarks on the fact that he is so stupid he actually believed Republican smears about Obama:

“The Tennessee Democratic Party is united behind our party’s nominee, Senator Barack Obama. Mr. Hobbs is obviously misinformed, and his statement highlights the perpetual efforts of the Republican Party, especially here in Tennessee, to turn Internet smears and highly offensive gossip into their party’s message against Senator Barack Obama as we head into the general election.

Instead of debating the issues, the Tennessee Republican Party continues to rely upon slanderous and salacious tall tales. They are borrowing from the playbook first written by Richard Nixon and employed in the race against Congressman Harold Ford Jr. Tennesseans of every political persuasion are tired of these tactics.”

This was followed by a clarification from Beecher Frasier, the chief of staff for Rep. Davis:

“No one in their right mind, including me, believes Senator Obama has ties to terrorism. It is truly ridiculous for anyone to try to make hay out of these comments.”

Alice at Chattanooga-based 10,000 Monkeys & a Camera spoke for thousands of sane Tennesseans when she wrote:

Has … Fred Hobbs gone completely around the bend? I have no idea what he could have been thinking when he made comments implying that Barack Obama is “terrorist-connected,” but he’s certainly an embarrassment to our state and should resign from the committee. I wish I knew why only our state’s idiots manage to get national attention.

This controversy has been roiling for a week now, and I’m not seeing anyone attempt to contain the damage that’s being done to our state’s and party’s reputation. Hobbs has since apologized, but he won’t go away, and Lincoln Davis has been annoyingly quiet through it all — if he really wants us to elect him to lead this state, it would have been a good idea for him to get out in front of this and act like a leader.

Alice followed up with a note that Rep. Davis finally condemned Hobb’s comments — even though Davis has still not endorsed Obama!

“I have no idea what happened to the state Democratic Party’s leadership on this — they seem to be satisfied to quietly sit back and watch this performance of the Keystone Cops,” Alice wrote. “Anyway, with Democrats like these, who needs Republicans?!? We’re really going to need a lot of help come November.

“So, yeah, Nation, please believe that there are some people down here in Tennessee who would like to elect progressive, smart, transformative leaders. It just seems to be a Sisyphean battle at times. But we’ll keep at it.”