Things aren't looking too good for the Republican Party's messaging machine when a Republican law maker is having to run away from Dana Bash of all people and even former Rudy Giuliani staffer and Wingnut false equivalency king John Avalon is admitting Sarah Palin is inciting violence given the real threats to members of Congress this week.

Dana Bash tries to get Rep. Steve King to respond to why he thought it was alright to do this:

Iowa Congressman Steve King is showing his displeasure with passage of the health care reform bill. During a protest at the capitol, on Sunday, the western Iowa Republican held up a poster of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He first gave a "thumbs down" sign. Then, King wiped his hand across her face. That was followed by a slapping motion in front of Pelosi's picture.

Here was King's response to Bash before the coward ran away from her.

King: Well that would be an exaggeration, but this is a melodrama. (crosstalk) Bash: Tell me what your goal was with this. King: My goal is to inspire people to stand up for the Constitution, to stand up to fiscal responsibility and to stand up for the rule of law.

Bash added that he said he condemns any acts of violence. What a guy. I can't imagine how anyone might take him slapping Pelosi's picture as condoning an act of violence toward her, can you?

The Democrats problem with their messaging on this is that the Republicans "owned this" way before the events of this week. The fact that they didn't speak out more forcefully before now have aided in allowing this crap to go on for the last year. I want to see Bachmann and King at minimum along with a list of others censured by the House for their actions.

Rumproast has a post up that demonstrates why no one should ever take Sarah Palin seriously as a Presidential candidate ever again. Sadly it's so close to the truth it's almost hard to tell it's satire, but she's every bit as dangerous as the likes of Steve King or Glenn Beck or most of the GOP these days for that matter.

We've already had a church shot up, police officers in a shoot out with some nut who thought the government was going to take his guns away, a guard killed, an abortion doctor killed and an IRS building with a plane flown into it. Now it's members of Congress being threatened. How many more people have to die before the right wing talkers, Fox News, right wing blogs, the astroturf Tea baggers movement and the Republican Party will ever say that this needs to stop and quit ratcheting up the hate?

These people are leading our country down a very dangerous path. It's time for every person on any side of the aisle to say that this is not the country we want to live in where anyone has to be afraid to walk the streets or what might happen to their children or their family because of how they voted on a health care bill. It's time to tell the Republican Party to grow up and show some common decency. I know that's asking a lot, but maybe if enough people let them know how they're acting is unacceptable in a civil society, they'll get the message. Steve King and the rest of the Republican Party should not be allowed to run away from this.