Let us be fair--the tactics being discussed (and rightly criticized) are not the stuff of all Republicans, nor even of all Republican politicians nor all Republican leaders. But the seemingly most influential members of the Republican Party do seem to have adopted an extreme form of partisan-ship that caters to the worst in the American body politic.
And I'll give examples...
The incredibly vicious things coming out of
Anne Coulter's mouth, including a call to murder the staff of the New York Times, publicly fantasizing about denying women the vote, her call for racial profiling and for a World War aimed at conquering the Middle East to force its inhabitants to convert to Christianity--which, given her nonsense about "perfecting the Jews" I think might just include Israel, etc.
Rush Limbaugh and others like
Lou Dobbs who actually encourage the Birther nonsense (there's a whole thread about that on this forum). I would also like to point out Limbaugh scoffed at the idea that Colin Powell could possibly have supported Barack Obama for any reason other than race. Think about that for a moment.
Bill O'Reilly--a man who evinced surprise that a restaurant in Harlem was just like an eatery anywhere else (!?!?). Although not nearly as conservative as many believe (he accepts global warming, for instance, and is in favor of gay adoption), this man also has a history of telling lies (although he might well believe his fantasies) about a range of subjects including a notorious incident during WWII in which he claims US soldiers tortured SS POWs, when in fact it was the SS who murdered a bunch of GIs who had surrendered.
Months ago, I watched an interview on
The Young Turks in which someone on Buchanan's Presidential campaign staff insist the way to have a real dialog on racial issues in this country is for minorities to stop complaining or even talking about it(!)
Congresswoman
Michelle Bachmann. OMG, what can we say about her? She called for investigations into "un-Americanism" on the part of members of Congress, then denied it. She urges her constituents not fill out census forms because the government will...I dunno, have accurate facts about the country to go on? There's more. Look her up.
Congresswoman
Virginia Fox, who denied in front of Matthew Shepherd's mother that her son had been murdered because he was gay, and when confronted by the facts in an interview refused to admit she was wrong--and has also been on the bandwagon of telling lies about Health Care Reform (she actually said the Democratic plan would have the government putting old people to death). Plus she voted not to extend the Voting Rights Act and voted against federal aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Sarah Palin. Dear god. Her and her "death panels" and her "real America" and so on.
Dick Cheney, the former vice president who--it turns out--not only thought torture was just find and dandy, wanted to use US troops to arrest suspects on American soil. Who thought it shameful that a member of his staff who broke the law should only get a commuted sentence rather than a full pardon! Oh, and who decries all the "tell all" books about the Bush administration (except for his own of course).
When the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress just a few years ago, they treated the Democrats as poor cousins whose opinions and votes didn't count. They had a majority, and pushed through bill after bill that many objected to. Now that they are a much smaller minority than the Democrats ever were,
GOP members of Congress are demanding
80 votes in the Senate to pass Health Care Reform. Meanwhile, as a group they are telling lie after lie after lie about the proposals on the table. "Death Panels" and benefits for illegal immigrants are just two of their popular deceits.
For the record, I am not claiming the Democrats are saints. Nor do I deny that the Opposition is supposed to serve as a counter-balance to the Majority. What I am pointing out is that some (if not most) of the loudest voices in the Republican Party at the moment are spewing lies and hatred and acting in anything but good faith.
