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A right-wing radio host dismissed the prayers Democrats offered after last weeks shooting during a Republican baseball practicein Alexandria, Virginia.

Why would you want to pray with the children of Satan? Jesse Lee Peterson said in comments posted online by Right Wing Watch. They serve a different God than you. Thats reality.

Last weeks attack left six people injured, including two lawmakers. One of those wounded, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), remains hospitalized after multiple surgeries and was upgraded from critical to serious condition over the weekend.

The violence led to numerous displays of unity among lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including shared prayers.But Peterson said Republicans shouldnt join them.

What are the Democrats praying for? The Democrats are not of God, Peterson said. All of a sudden when Scalise gets shot, when they hear about the shooting, all the children of Satan are going to come together and pray? Please!

In the past, Peterson,who is black, has said he would like to take all black people back to the South and put them on the plantation so they would understand the ethic of working. He also said that giving women the right to vote was one of the greatest mistakes America made. His self-titled radio show has featured interviews with other divisive right-wing figures, including Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke and Rafael Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Over the years, Peterson has also been a guest on Sean Hannitys show on Fox News as well as Hannitys radio program, where he once claimed that there was no such thing as racism. Hannity, it should be noted, disputed that.

Listen to Petersons latest comments, as posted online by Right Wing Watch, here:

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Democrats Are 'Children Of Satan,' Right-Wing Radio Host Says - HuffPost

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is launching digital takeover ads against three Senate Republicans and a governor to increase the pressure on the Senates health-care bill at a time when activists worry that the closed-door drafting process has granted it momentum.

The buy features The Price, a spot the DSCC began running when the American Health Care Act first moved through the House. In it, parents hock their valuables to pay for a childs hospital stay. The anonymous setting of the spot has made it easy to repurpose; in this case, its being aimed at Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Dean Heller (Nev.) and Ted Cruz (Tex.), and Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R).

Heller is the one Republican senator up for reelection in 2018 from a state that backed Hillary Clinton for president last year. Flake, who narrowly won a first term in an increasingly blue state, remains a target. Scott, who has hinted at a 2018 run, is perhaps the most threatening self-funder who might seek a seat held by a Democrat. And Cruz is being challenged by Rep. Beto ORourke (D), whos seen as a long shot but has won fans in the national Democratic orbit.

If Senators Heller, Flake and Cruz, along with Governor Scott, get their way, hard-working Americans will pay the price while insurance companies and the rich get a tax break, DSCC spokesman David Bergstein said.

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Democrats target three Senate Republicans with health-care ads - Washington Post

Miami Herald

Big night for Florida Democrats ends in acrimony over chairman's racial remarks Miami Herald The Florida Democratic Party's big annual fundraiser ended in acrimony Saturday night after Stephen Bittel, the party chairman, dismissed anger from lawmakers who didn't get introduced on stage as a childish complaint from African-American legislators. and more »

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Big night for Florida Democrats ends in acrimony over chairman's racial remarks - Miami Herald

Serious political crimes arent the same as regular ones: They require not just punishment for lawbreakers, but also political fixes. Thats why the Democratic Party cant rely on the likes of Rosenstein and Mueller. In fact, since Republicans largely remain loyal to Trump, Democrats are the only ones capable of truly solving this crisisif theyre given the power to do so. They just have to convince voters of it.

Watergate is often seen as the zenith of modern political scandal. Yet there was only a minimal attempt by Congress back then to solve the problem of the imperial presidency. Instead, almost every subsequent presidency has gotten bogged down in legal quagmires, as Congress uses law enforcement as a Band-Aid, without grappling with the real problem of presidential power. To criminalize the political process is to evade checks and balances, and it has resulted in a never-ending tit-for-tat, where one party seeks revenge by scandalizing the other.

Gerald Ford poisoned his own presidency from the start by pardoning Richard Nixon, thereby setting a precedent for protecting executive branch lawbreaking. Ronald Reagans presidency nearly capsized because of the Iran-Contra affair, which stained his successor, too; George H. W. Bush pardoned many leading figures, including Caspar Weinberger and Robert McFarlane, which broadened the precedent by showing how a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy could be shielded after the fact. Bushs son followed this tradition by commuting the sentence of Scooter Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, who had been guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. Democrats got a taste of the criminalization of politics with various ginned up scandals against the Clintons, ranging from Bill Clintons perjury during the Monica Lewinsky affair to Hillary Clintons use of a private email server.

President Barack Obama seems to have escaped this pattern, since his administration was notably squeaky clean. The public largely saw the Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and IRS controversies for what they were: Desperate, partisan attempts by Republicans to damage a popular president. Yet in a different way, Obama contributed to the larger constitutional crisis that has gone unresolved. Obama greatly expanded the power of the president to operate unilaterally, notably through drone strikes and executive orders on domestic policy. This left a dangerous set of tools to be abused by future presidents, beginning with Donald Trump.

In all the major modern presidential scandals, prosecutors and law enforcement officials have played a central rolefrom Lawrence Walsh to Ken Starr to Patrick Fitzgerald to James Comey to Robert Mueller. Its easy to see why both liberals and conservatives look to these lawmen as the solution to scandals real or imagined. They fit a familiar cultural pattern found in Law and Order and many other shows: the heroic prosecutor, often an overgrown Boy Scout with a crew-cut, who works relentlessly to put the bad guys behind bars. Prosecutorial liberalism is the dream that the messiness of politics can be replaced with the moral clarity of a cop show.

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Only Democrats Can Restore Faith in the Political Process - New Republic

RICHMOND - Days after Ralph Northam defeated former congressman Tom Perriello for the Democratic partys nomination in the race for Virginia governor, the victor and the vanquished came together Saturday in their first joint appearance and declared a united party heading into the November election.

The men embraced at the annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, the state Democratic partys biggest fundraiser of the year, and Perriello pledged to work hard to see Northam defeat the Republican nominee, former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie.

Former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who delivered the keynote address, said Virginia finds itself at the epicenter of the political universe in 2017.

In November, the commonwealth will have the first opportunity to send a message to the present occupant of the White House and the extreme right wingers who surround him, Holder said.

As one of just two gubernatorial contests across the country this year, Virginias election is expected to draw tens of millions in outside spending and will be carefully watched as an early test of the political landscape in the Trump era. The other race, in New Jersey, is seen as less competitive.

[Democratic push to end gerrymandering to begin in Virginia]

Holder is leading an initiative to end gerrymandering that Democrats say have allowed Republicans to lock in control over statehouses and congressional districts. The effort, which former President Barack Obama has embraced as a priority upon leaving office, will focus on Virginia and other states.

In Virginia, Republicans hold 66 of 100 state House of Delegates seats and seven of 11 seats in the Congressional delegation while Democrats have prevailed in statewide contests in recent years. The next governor will have sway over how state and federal legislative maps are drawn in 2021, shaping politics for the next decade.

Critics say the national Democratic party neglected state races, leading to the partys decimation down-ballot, with Republicans now controlling 33 governors mansions and 32 state legislatures.

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), chaired by Holder, is trying to change that. The group plans to support Democrats in gubernatorial and state legislative races, in addition to funding ballot initiatives to create independent redistricting commissions and legal challenges to GOP-drawn legislative maps.

For the Virginia contest, the NDRC plans to steer money to elect Northam and draw a national spotlight - and national donors and activists - to the race. Holder said prominent national Democratic leaders would hit the campaign trail, though he declined to identify them or say whether Obama would stump for Northam.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who cannot seek consecutive terms under the state constitution, is also fundraising for the group and helping shape its strategy.

Our goal is not to gerrymander for Democrats, said Holder in an interview after his speech. Our focus is really on making sure that throughout this country we have fair districts drawn and a contest between parties on their philopsophies, as opposed to their line drawing capabilities.

Holder urged Democrats at Saturdays dinner to avoid intra-party conflict, a marked contrast from progressive leader Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who last week called the Democratic Partys strategy an absolute failure at a gathering of activists in Chicago.

Now is not a time for this party to be beholden to ideological litmus tests, said Holder. Our party is made up of disparate parts, but it is held together by common goals.

[Was Perriellos loss a defeat for progressives? Not quite]

The primary fight between Perriello and Northam echoed the ideological divide within the Democratic Party nationally: Perriello pushed for greater focus on economic populism to win back rural and other disaffected voters, while Northam urged a pragmatic approach and reaching compromise with Republicans.

But on Saturday, they seemed to embrace Holders advice and presented a united front.

We have a champion who is going to fight tirelessly and endlessly for economic justice and racial justice here in the state of Virginia in the form of Ralph Northam, said Perriello, drawing a standing ovation as he vowed to stop at nothing to help elect the Democratic ticket.

[Democrats look united, GOP in disarray after Virginia primary]

His one-time rival returned the praise in his remarks.

The Democratic Party of Virginia is stronger tonight because of Tom Perriello, said Northam in a fiery speech condemning Republicans in Washington and Gillespie.

They drew a contrast to disarray on the Republican side of the race. Gillespie barely beat Corey Stewart, a Prince William county supervisor who fashioned himself after Trump in espousing hardline conservative about immigration and calling for a need to protect Confederate monuments. Stewart has withheld support for Gillespie, saying after the returns came in that he didnt recognize the word unity.

Stewart has subsequently hinted that hes interested in challenging Sen. Tim Kaine, whos up for re-election in 2018, and that he would be meeting with Gillespie to discuss conditions for an endorsement. He said he would only offer support if Gillespie moved to the right to support aspects of Stewarts platform.

Gillespie campaigned over the weekend with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, not Stewart.

Defeating Gillespie would be a particularly fitting start to his groups electoral efforts, Holder said. As chair of the Republican State Leadership Committee, Gillespie was among the Republican strategists behind the successful takeover of state houses in 2010 to influence redistricting.

He is the founder of the Freedom Caucus, said Holder, referring to the group of deeply conservative House Republicans in safely GOP districts. We want to hang around his neck exactly what he did in 2010 that resulted in the decade we are now having to endure.

In an earlier interview with The Washington Post, Gillespie said he was proud of his work and a smart plan to flip state legislatures to influence redistricting.

In addition to the gubernatorial contest in November, Attorney General Mark Herring is running for a second term against Republican lawyer John Adams, Democrat Justin Fairfax faces state Sen. Jill Vogel (R-Fauquier) for lieutenant governor and 100 House of Delegates seats are on the ballot.

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In Va. governor's race, Democrats pledge unity and say they will send message to Trump - Washington Post