It began last summer, when the McCain/Palin rallies tried to stir up the base with questions about Obama and his patriotism. Rather than act like the candidate with "the experience and the knowledge and the background and the judgment," as he put it, John McCain stood idly by while the wing-nuts worked themselves into a frenzy. Turns out it was his staff all along that was encouraging his running mate to talk about Obama "palling around with terrorists":
http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/07/pals_around_with_terrorists_palin_wasnt_rogue_after_all.php
More recently, Sarah Palin raised the specter of "death panels." I was sure that this gem would disqualify her once and for all, but McCain and the rest of the Republican establishment again stood idly by. If anything, it enhanced her reputation within the party. Newt Gingrich, thought to be a candidate in 2012 himself, passed on the opportunity to criticize his potential rival and actually added fuel to the fire:
“You are asking us to trust turning power over to the government, when there are clearly people in America who believe in establishing euthanasia, including selective standards.” There are?
Chuck Grassley, who was one of the "Gang of Six" that was supposedly negotiating for a bipartisan health care bill, chimed in "...you have every right to fear...We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma." How's that?
Mike Huckabee, also considered a contender in 2012, added his two cents' worth to this high-minded discussion by suggesting that under the health care reforms being put forth Ted Kennedy would be told to “go home to take pain pills and die.” Really?
The latest is this made-up controversy about the President of the United States speaking to the nation's schoolchildren. As Jim Greer, the chairman of the Florida GOP said,
"As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology." (My emphasis.)
So what did Tim Pawlenty, considered one of the party's moderates and another potential candidate in 2012, say to calm the right wing's fears? Showing the address could be disruptive and raises concerns "about the content and the motive." The Republican governor also said that the speech is "uninvited." (Cross off another one from the list of serious candidates for 2012.)
What is going on here? Where are the GOP's elder statesmen? Where are the grown-ups in this party? Are there any left? Does anybody care?
It reminds me of the movie "Fahrenheit 9/11." I'm not a big fan of Michael Moore's. I'm also not a big fan of the Iraq War; never have been. But I was disgusted by all the lies and distortions in the movie because I felt like we already had the truth on our side and didn't need to resort to that. If anything, it just hurt the credibility of the anti-war movement. I'm surprised that more Republicans aren't saying the same thing now. I've heard David Frum, David Brooks, and Joe Scarborough make some noises to that effect, but where is the outrage from Republican office-holders? Are they trying to become irrelevant?
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