September 11, 2009

GOP being defined by crackpots

Being?

Republicans are worried that their party is being defined by their legions of loony, ignorant trolls. But enough about DC lawmakers.

Joe Wilson’s outburst Wednesday night earned more than a personal rebuke from the president and a dagger-eyed gasp from the speaker of the House; it drew winces from Republicans worried that their party is becoming known less for the power of its ideals [sic] and more for the pettiness of its vitriol.
Becoming?

Why the outcry over Wilson? Glenn Thrush at Politico:
”I think it’s because congressional Republicans have used the health care debate to vent a deeper, uglier contempt for Obama that verges on the personal.

“They’ve done little to discourage the party’s fringes from questioning Obama’s legitimacy to serve, through the birther movement; fitness to govern, through the death panel canard — and even the territorial integrity of the U.S. under a Democratic president, through Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s flirtation with secession.

“Anger may stoke the base at town halls but it just looks ugly on the national stage.”
“The image of a bunch of white guys booing an African-American president is about as bad as it gets,” said one ‘veteran GOP official.’


Pic via Fear the Clam.