A recent Gallup poll found that the Republican Party is losing members from nearly every demographic group, including a 10 percent drop in college graduates. The only group that didn’t lose membership is the demo that attends church frequently. Meanwhile, national Chairman Michael Steele is threatening to quit if he doesn’t get to hold the party’s purse strings.

Nationally, the GOP is slouching toward irrelevance. But in Florida, the GOP is still a nasty, scrappy group of old white guys.

You know, I used to kick Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman pretty hard for being a dingbat. But since I’ve signed up to receive the RPOF (Republican Party of Florida) newsletter, I’ve got to say that Chairman Jim Greer makes Thurman look like a freaking Einstein.

What got Greer’s nose out of joint this time was a recent New York Times article in which freshman Democrat Florida Representative Alan Grayson was quoted voicing his opposition to the $98 billion military-spending bill before Congress:

“There is no need in the 21st century to do this, to make us safe. This is a 19th-century strategy being played out at great expense in both money and blood in the 21st century, in the wrong time at the wrong place.”

“It’s wrong,” Mr. Grayson added. “That’s why I am going to vote against it.”

So Greer released a rant-filled “press release” attacking Grayson, whom he calls “the representative from ACORN.”

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a favorite whipping target of the GOP, and last year during its voter-registration drive caught an extra load of crap when it appeared that Mickey Mouse had filled out an ACORN registration card, which was rejected. Greer cites the following video as evidence that Grayson is “the representative from ACORN”:

Shot with what I fondly call the hidden ass-cam, this unattributed video only proves that some people said some partially intelligible stuff in front of a jerk with a hidden camera in his crotch. Do we know who these people are? Nope. Is it clear that they have anything to do with Grayson? Nope. Does Greer allow the facts to get in the way of his staking an extreme position? Nope.

Here’s what Greer said in his “press release”:

“Alan Grayson supports an organization that registered Mickey Mouse as a Florida voter, but doesn’t support the efforts of our military men and women in uniform who defend that right,” said Chairman Greer.

“Regardless of his personal feelings about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as a member of the United States Congress, Alan Grayson has a responsibility to support funding for the brave men and women fighting them. Instead, the Congressman from ACORN has chosen to hang members of our military, who are putting their lives on the line to protect our freedom, out to dry, in order to make a cheap political statement.

“Newsflash Congressman Grayson — your friends at ACORN are a disgrace to our elections system, while members of our military are a tribute to it. Whose team are you on?”

I bet the folks in Iraq and Afghanistan would be gratified to know that they are fighting for the right for ACORN to register Mickey Mouse to vote, at least that’s what Greer seems to be saying. Oh, and they’re also a tribute to our elections system, which works fairly well most of the time.

Oh, and newsflash Mr. Greer — Mickey didn’t get registered because some elections official somewhere was doing her job.

In 2008 ACORN signed up 1.3-million voters nationwide and about 152,000 in Florida. The organization estimated 2 percent — about 3,000 — of its Florida registrations were problematic because they were incomplete, duplicates or just plain bogus.

Greer’s assertion that Grayson is obligated to support the military-spending bill is just nonsense. Grayson is obligated to follow his conscience and the will of his constituents. If, as a freshman congressman he wants to grandstand a little on a bill that will likely pass with full GOP support as well as moderate Democrats voting for it as well, then let him speak out.

Last time I checked, Mr. Greer, we still had freedom of speech.