I mentioned yesterday the GOP's deep need to portray Al Franken as a raving madman. Another good example today as the NRSC for the second time takes a funny Franken impersonation of the late Paul Wellstone out of context and cuts the video to make it look like Franken is unhinged.

Late Update: The duplicity knows no bounds! The NRSC has responded to criticism of this latest misleading video and in its defense says it could have used a much worse image of Franken, one of him in diapers. But that photo, as we reported yesterday, has already been repeatedly shown to be doctored and not a real image of Franken. So, yes, they could have used another fake to make their bogus point.

Later Update: The NRSC now says, hey, don't blame us, we simply referred reporters to a link from the LA Times. "You'll note the link is to the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest newspapers in the country - if there's a question about the authenticity of the photo, you should direct your question to the LA Times," a NRSC flack tells us.

The saddest part of this, really, given the dismal shape of the Republican Party, is that these guys think this is truly clever. They're even smug about it.