The Republicans continue to 'cultivate rage'

Hate-spewing wingnuts have taken over the Republican Party. Spitting saliva, the N word and the F word at members of Congress is reprehensible. But the only Republican I have seen who gave an immediate and full-throated denunciation of the hatred allegedly hurled at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was former Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.). Here are Scarborough's unequivocal tweets from Saturday afternoon.



John Lewis is a friend, a great man and an American hero. Anyone attacking such a man with racial slurs has a dark heart and a grim soul

4:50 PM Mar 20th via UberTwitter

@gason65 It is up to both sides to call out their haters. We must speak out forcefully and without hestitation [sic].

5:05 PM Mar 20th via UberTwitter in reply to gason65

Also, the attacks against Barney Frank were hateful and outrageous. Barney and I usually disagreed in Congress but he loves his country.

5:08 PM Mar 20th via UberTwitter

As Colby King noted yesterday, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's condemnation of "idiots out there saying very stupid tings" wasn't good enough. The tone and tenor of the vocal Republican opposition is getting more aggressive, and it's going to take more than calling them "idiots" to get them to heel. The Republican leaders should, well, lead by example. But they aren't interested in doing that.



House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) is a prime example. He opted to play to the corrosive elements of the GOP's base last night rather than preserve the dignity of the House of Representatives.

That high-pitched "hell no!" harangue plays well with the people who whip up fears of socialism and who carry signs like the one at Saturday's demonstration alluding to Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) that read "Warning: If Brown can't stop it a Browning can." (Scroll down to see the picture) This is dangerous stuff that Republican leaders must -- MUST -- snuff out sooner rather than later. Kathleen Parker issued a warning that is falling on deaf ears on the radical right and increasingly so within the mainstream of the GOP. "It's fine to be angry about bad policies; it's fine to hold politicians' (and journalists') feet to the fire," she wrote. "But it is not fine to demonize dissent and cultivate rage. We should know by now where demagoguery leads."

We do. And those who play up rather than tamp down or constructively channel that rage will be complicit in the ugly and violent denouement.