Apology to Mandela Barnes could put R. Kleefisch on 'slippery slope'

The transparently ugly smear by GOP Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch 

of her Democratic opponent Mandala Barnes is not the first time she threw rhetorical red meat to her base voters' red core late in a statewide campaign.

Update - - with the damage done, Kleefisch uses the AM 620 WTMJ righty-radio show which replaced the Sykes program to issue an apology.

In the closing days of her 2010 campaign, Kleefisch smeared gay citizens with inflammatory language as tailored for that era as was her more recent allegation based on gossip from persons unnamed and unknown that Barnes had taken a protesting knee Colin Kaepernick-style when the Wisconsin State Fair opened last month.

Here's how Kleefisch played attack dog back in 2010:

In response to a question about the extension of benefits to domestic partners, the Republican from Oconomowoc said: "We can’t at this point afford to just be handing out money to anyone. This is a slippery slope in addition to that -- at what point are we going to OK marrying inanimate objects? Can I marry this table, or this, you know, clock? Can we marry dogs? This is ridiculous.”

Kleefisch did apologize for those remarks.

But that was then, and this is now, and Donald Trump and Scott Walker eschew the apology and its civility, so Kleefisch, to date, has not told Barnes she's sorry.

I mean, these Republicans are incumbents now. Imagine the slippery slope.