This has not been a week in which the Republican Party has covered itself in glory. From fairly obscure staffers to major political players, the words coming from the mouths, keyboards, and twitter accounts of Republicans about their president has gone from bad to appalling in 4.9 seconds.

Consider the parade of over-the-top (to say nothing, on at least a couple occasions, of bitterly racist) messaging we have been treated to in the past few weeks:

Our first nominee--House Minority Whip Eric Cantor:

Cantor told the AP that Mr. Obama's plans for the auto industry represent governmental micromanagement and said watching the administration operate is "almost like looking at Putin's Russia."

Pretty bad, but when we get to the end of the parade, it is pretty unlikely that Cantor even makes it to the medal stand.

Especially when he gets pressed by one of his own mates in the House: Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk:

In a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Kirk said he told Chinese officials "the budget numbers that the U.S. Government has put forward should not be believed." He went on to say that Congress will wind up spending even more.

So, apparently now the playbook includes the compulsion to clip the President's knees (and, of course, the Democrats), even if that entails trying to scare the bejeezus out of our biggest creditor in order to do so.

We have also learned in the last few weeks that the GOP derangement towards Obama need not be policy-driven. Several stories came out within the past week which had some lower-level GOP fish going to a familiar place--the racial thing.

First, we were treated to South Carolina activist and one-time GOP candidate Rusty DePass comparing an escaped gorilla to an ancestor of Michelle Obama, and then trying to walk it back by weakly claiming it was not a racial commentary, but rather a critical comment about...you guessed it...evolution.

Then, within hours of the DePass revelation, we learned that another South Carolinian, who does communication work for GOP politicos down that way, posted this on his Twitter account (emphasis his):

JUST HEARD OBAMA IS GOING TO IMPOSE A 40% TAX ON ASPIRIN BECAUSE IT'S WHITE AND IT WORKS.

Charming, and as with DePass, followed shortly thereafter by a fairly pathetic apology attempt, again via Twitter:

I realize that my comments were hurtful, wrong and have no place in civil discourse.

...and...yet...somehow that realization did not arrive into your consciousness BEFORE you tapped out that original message?

Then on Monday, we were treated to a GOP staffer from Tennessee who got called out for distributing racist tripe via email.

Monday, over at MSNBC's First Read, Domenico Montanaro pointed out that such rhetoric isn't helping the GOP gain any yardage:

Just asking, but hasn't this been one of the GOP's biggest problems since Obama became president? Republicans have legitimate things to criticize, but their rhetoric has sometimes been way too hot -- and has gotten in the way of the party's message.

Well, some folks here would probably quibble with some of Montanaro's argument here (specifically, the idea that the GOP critique is legitimate). His basic point, nonetheless, is incredibly valid--one of the most important ingredients of Obama's political success has been the GOP's tendency to completely lose their marbles dealing with the President.

That tendency seems to be escalating, not abating, as time has gone on.

Sure, there is some component of the Republican base who pumps a fist and gets fired up every time an elected official or a talk-radio mouthpiece ratchets up the invective. And, when you are desperately trying to attract not just voters but also money, energy, and volunteers, the base is a force which cannot be ignored. The Republicans know that, and in their present state, surely part of their plan is apparently using this supercharged criticism of the president to remind the base that they are "fighters" who deserve their support.

But all of this base commentary (and "base" could be used on a couple of levels, can't it?) is exacting quite a substantial toll on the GOP, in terms of their credibility. Outside of their narrowly construed base (growing narrower with each month, according to some polls), voters do not have some grand antipathy for Obama. They are not particularly frightened by him, nor are they convinced that his remedies are evil incarnate. Therefore, the kind of over-heated rhetoric and hyperbole (to say nothing of outright racism in some corners) we have seen lately IS GOING to lose them yardage. It makes them look partisan and alarmist at best, and completely unhinged and cartoonish at worst.

The fact that this level of harsh rhetoric has been there since minutes after his inauguration has not helped in convincing folks of the sincerity of their discontent. It's "boy who cried wolf", on a political stage. The Republicans are working their fingers and vocal cords to the bone to sell it, but with each passing day it becomes more apparent that Americans, by and large, aren't buying.

That, incidentally, might explain why even though a steady (and fairly sizeable) number of people consider themselves to be conservatives, the number of people admitting to be Republicans has been plummeting.