House of Anger

[babylonsister]

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/house-of-anger/?hp

House of Anger
By TIMOTHY EGAN

snip//


Compare that to the closing days of a week that will soon be chiseled into the larger American story. One Democrat, Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, said he was called a “wetback” by Tea Party hecklers at a meeting a few days before the vote. Black members of Congress say they were spat on, and called racial epithets. Bricks were thrown through the office windows of two other Democrats. And now, the inevitable death threats.

From the leader of the opposition, at least, was expected a level of decorum. But instead, Rep. John Boehner, the Republican who wants to be the next speaker of the House, predicted “Armageddon,” and shouted “Hell, no!,” his perma-tan turning crimson in rage.

Most of these vignettes are isolated incidents — a few crazies going off in a vein-popping binge. But the Republican Party now has taken some of the worst elements of Tea Party anger and incorporated them into its own identity. They are ticked off, red-faced, frothing — and these are the men in suits.

snip//

Having welcomed Tea Party rage into their home, and vowing repeal, the Republicans have made a dangerous bargain. First, they are tying their fate to a fringe, one that includes a small faction of overt racists and unstable people. The Quinnipiac poll this week found only 13 percent of Americans say they are part of the Tea Party movement.

But consider the policy positions. Do Republicans really want to campaign in favor of insurance companies’ right to drop people when they get sick? Do they really want to knock the 25-year-old graduate student, living on Top Ramen and hope, off his parents’ health care? Are they going to deny tax credits for small businesses?

It was the ancient Greeks who gave us a sense of what Republicans will be living with under this pact with rage. Many people are afraid of the dark, the saying goes. But the real tragedy is those who are afraid of the light.

[Lost4words]

1. Great Post! K & R

[saltpoint]

2. The Republican leadership maybe ought to sit their clueless hindends down

over a big pot of coffee and make an accounting.

This might once have been the party of Abraham Lincoln. I don't think it is now. I don't think it's been the party of Lincoln for a long, long time.

The GOP was already albatrossed by the hyper-religious prayer-in-schools Ten Commandments demographic. Now they've taken in the brick-thru-the-window tea baggers with their subliterate signs and posters.

Senator Snowe, how do you like your social entourage presently, dear?

[babylonsister]

3. Speaking of, she's been strangely quiet. Is there no one in that

party who will strongly denounce what's going on? Their silence leads me to believe they embrace the fringe and their bordering-on-if-not-illegal activities. I say, good luck with that.

:hi:

[saltpoint]

4. 'Mornin', ma'am. Yes. If she's supposed to be the sensible one in the

bunch, she surely has been awfully quiet.

[LiberalEsto]

5. Let's KEEP pissing them off

Maybe they'll all have strokes.