Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) made a tough accusation against the Republicans at a Sunday get-out-the-vote rally in Virginia -- openly accusing them of being like the Taliban.

"I mean, if the Republicans were running in Afghanistan, they'd be running on the Taliban ticket as far as I can see," Moran declared.

The campaign of Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell, who has been attacked by the Democrats for his staunch social conservatism -- and a hard-right college thesis written in his 30s -- called Moran's comments "negative" and "vicious."

After that initial remark, Moran doesn't appear to be keeping this up. My TPM colleague Christina Bellantoni was at last night's rally, and tells me that Moran did not say anything like that last night. So he definitely toned it down after Sunday.