The Lunatic Fringe Goes Mainstream

Just whenI thought the tea baggers and Sarah Palin were the far right of the party, I learned crackpot ideas are back in the mainstream of the party (just kidding, they have always been there). Some examples . . .

Allen Quist, a Republican candidate seeking the nomination to go up against Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN), has made a serious pronouncement: That the political battle against the Democrats is the defining fight of this generation, even greater than the fight against terrorism: "I, like you, have seen that our country is being destroyed. I mean, this is -- every generation has had to fight the fight for freedom. This is our fight. And this is our time. This is it. Terrorism, yes -- but that's not the big battle. The big battle is in D.C., with the radicals. They aren't liberals, they're radicals. Obama, Pelosi, Walz -- they're not liberals, they're radicals. They are destroying our country. And people all over are figuring that out."

A Republican candidate for governor in Idaho, who once joked about hunting President Obama, is calling for God to save the U.S. Constitution: "To think that we can save the Constitution without God's help when the government of the United States is corrupt is absurdity," he said. "We are in America's second Revolutionary War to save our freedom, which we paid for with blood. We need God's help and I'm not ashamed to ask for it."

And this from NPR: "Well, it's always politically difficult for Democrats when they are dealing with an issue like terrorism. It remained the Republican's only winning issue through most of President Bush's second term, and it's a particular problem for a Democrat who hasn't served in the military. But the policy problem is that it takes up a great deal of the administration's time, and will from here on out - particularly when the Senate Intelligence Committee starts hearings in a couple of weeks."

Another lunatic right winger, right? No this was long-time pundit Cokie Roberts. Just to refresh my memory, did Bush actually "serve" in the military, or escape doing his service in Vietnam and rarely even showed up for duty? And Cheney et al were war heroes too, right? Oh wait, that is another fiction somehow escaping the mainstream media. It was Kerry who was the coward and liar in the end. That's right. Whew, thank God we resolved that confusion.