The GOP Is Crazy, Some Are Taking Notice

The GOP and the Tea Party are nuts.

It ought not be that difficult to voice this truism.

A few steps in the right direction are noted by Eric Alterman at The Nation:

Scot Faulkner, personnel director for the Reagan/Bush campaign in 1980, and Jonathan Riehl, former speechwriter for the right-wing Luntz Global consulting firm, recently complained of the corrosive effects of a "Republican world view that was devoid of facts and critical thinking," combined with the creation of "a new self-perpetuating political echo chamber." This follows on the remarks by longtime Republican congressional staffer Mike Lofgren, who noted two years ago that "the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe." And respected scholars Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein announced last year that "The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition."

That's, ah, fine. Within four year, three rational columns by Republicans.

But what about rational commentary from one GOP member of Congress, from one state, say Rep. Tom Petri (R-Fond du Lac, Wisconsin)? He has nothing to lose.

How about Petri picking up the phone, calling the city desk at the Fond du Lac Reporter and saying, 'the GOP is going off the rails and American families are suffering because of it.'

Rep. Petri would find much support for stating the incredibly obvious.

As for Wisconsin's other five GOP/Tea Party members of Congress; well one at a time.