Republican Party: “At long last, have you no sense of decency?”

The attack on Speaker Pelosi’s husband brought to mind the famed quote by Boston lawyer Joseph Welch that is credited with puncturing the mystique of Senator Joseph McCarthy and bringing the horror of his anti-communist witch-hunts to an end. On June 9, 1954, he said to McCarthy (with a few modifications noted to update it for the current situation)

Until this moment, [Republican Party], I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness… Let us not assassinate this [political party and its members] further, [Republicans]. You have done enough. At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

I’m under no illusions that my invoking that quote will have the effect it had when Mr. Welch first said it. It is long past time for Republicans to think about the damage they’re doing this country. Uvalde. The El Paso Wal-Mart. The Buffalo grocery store. Tree of Life. The Whitmer kidnapping plot. Doxing and threats against virtually every election worker in the country. Armed thugs harassing US citizens trying to vote. All directly inspired by the toxic waste dump of hatred and bigotry being spewed by the Republican party.

The grotesquely racist “replacement theory.” “Grooming our children.” Pedophile rings. Absurd nonsense that couldn’t pass script review in a political satire show. Now mainstream views in one party.

All the result of ridiculous, over-the-top lies. Hitler this. Socialist that. Federal takeover this. Threat to our liberties that. Open borders.

The Republican party has always had its lunatic fringe. After all, one of the sources of the Republican party was the Know-Nothing movement, the only political party in our history that was explicitly based on racist principles. But the thing was, they were always the drunken uncle at the far end of the Thanksgiving table, the one everyone else tries to ignore. Now, they’re the party mainstream.

And the immediate Fox News response to the attack on the Speaker’s husband? Exactly what you would expect from a movement that lost its moral compass so long ago it doesn’t even remember what a moral compass is for:  All the fault of liberal prosecutors and mayors, who unleashed a crime wave. Or maybe it was political, which would make it Biden’s fault for being so divisive.

Since then, if anything, the GOP response has become even more disgraceful. Members of Congress, the party’s candidate for governor of Arizona, the ex-president’s oldest son, and party leaders have variously made jokes (to uproarious laughter), invented gay plots, and blamed Pelosi for the attack. And, most characteristic of all, made feeble “what-about” comparisons to the attack on Rep. Steve Scalise (after which all Democrats universally and immediately denounced the attacks and wished Scalise well — not a soul either made a joke about it or blamed Scalise).

Yes, I’m looking at you, Adams County Republicans. Our friends and neighbors, our fellow SCCAP volunteers, people who we see at church every Sunday. Where were you when Bruce Bennett was vomiting his hatred and nonsense on the pages of the Times, when he used Hitler and Goebbels comparisons in every column, when he called for the assassination of Democrats? How many said, “Wait, that’s a bit much. I know one who doesn’t seem so bad”? Sorry, I missed those letters to the editor. I do remember the one person who wrote the Times chortling how much they “enjoy seeing Bennett living rent-free inside the libs’ heads.” Yeah, clever. Stay classy, Republicans. He sure “owned” us.

The Republican party has been playing an incredibly dangerous game and people have already started dying. This is not a “little of this, little of that” case of “both parties do it.” One party has spread ridiculous lies about the other and has endorsed calls for violence against the other.

]The only thing that will stop this dangerous game is if enough Republicans have enough sense of decency to react – finally – with a sense of revulsion at what your party has become.

I’ve got time. I’ll wait.

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