GOP Must Disavow the Nut Jobs

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman recently expressed concern about the level of violent discourse aimed toward President Barack Obama. Friedman likened it to the atmosphere in which Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995.

Friedman's column caused Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele to ask the question for which I've been dying to find an answer.

"Where do these nut jobs come from?" Steele asked.

I think it is a very important question at time such as this. But, unlike Steele, my curiosity is not directed toward New York Times columnists, but rather the nut jobs on the ground who feed on hatred.

It would be funny, were it not so tragic, to watch individuals who could not distinguish between the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and Green Eggs and Ham lamenting about the original intent of the Founders at their "tea parties" and town hall meetings.

It is even more tragic to see those masquerading as journalists, promoting the tag line "fair and balanced," serving as official cheerleaders at these events, whipping attendees into a frenzy.

Steele went on to say, "[They're] saying, because you disagree with the president on policy, that all of the sudden we're going to make this leap into, you know, assassinations and all this other stuff," Steele said.

I'm not really certain who comprises the vaunted "They Committee," but I'm saying there is an unhealthy climate being created in this country.

That someone felt comfortable posting an assassination poll question about the president on Facebook is alarming. Assuming it was intended to be humorous, where is the comedy in "Should Obama be killed?"

Of the 43 men who have occupied the White House, four have been assassinated, Lincoln, McKinley, Garfield and Kennedy. If we add to that list the 13 confirmed attempts, America has attempted to take the life of roughly 40 percent of its leaders.

That more presidents have not been assassinated can be attributed to circumstance and just plain luck.

Were it not for a double misfire at 13 feet, Richard Lawrence would have shot President Andrew Jackson. Giuseppe Zangara fired five shots at Franklin Roosevelt, but instead killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who was seated next to Roosevelt in an open car.

In September 1975, President Gerald Ford had two attempts made on his life. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme drew a loaded Colt .45-caliber as the president reached to shake her hand in Sacramento. Fortunately, the firing chamber was empty.

Later that month as Ford was leaving San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel, Oliver Sipple grabbed the arm of Sarah Jane Moore causing the shot she fired from approximately 40 feet away to miss.

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley, Jr., very nearly added Ronald Reagan to the tragic list of assassinated presidents just 69 days into his presidency. Reagan became the only president to survive a gunshot wound.

The historical frequency with which assassinations occur and the fact that we are a more heavily armed nation makes one wonder whether there is one among us who believes, as did Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth, that shooting the president is tantamount to doing the nation a service.

But the failure of mainstream Republicans -- members of the House of Representatives, Senate, and the chair of the RNC -- to meet the outlandish charges by the fringe with unequivocal disassociation, offers them the cover of tacit approval.

Perhaps this right-wing fringe element represents one of the few groups where the Republican brand is still viewed positively, but too many GOP stalwarts prefer to examine this phenomenon by how "reasonable people" see it.

But this has nothing to do with how "reasonable" people see it; quite the contrary. It is the fringe element that willfully clings to a false narrative of America to justify unreasonable behavior that is making its way more and more into the public conversation.

If the Republican Party wants to return from the political wilderness, it must reject any association with the nut jobs. As Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., recently stated, the Republican Party must say to those who advocate that Obama was not born in the U.S., is a closet Muslim, is Hitler, or worse, that he should be assassinated, "That's crazy!"

Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist and blog-talk radio host. He is the author of Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections of the Iraq War. E-mail him at [e-mail] or visit his Web site: byronspeaks.com

Follow Byron Williams on Twitter: www.twitter.com/byronspeaks

Comments

[DonBlv]

Love my Progressive Brethren & Sisters funny & often erudite, but I can't help be cynical about the GOP disavowing the 'nut jobs' of their party. Only when hate & lying stop winning them supporters, the campaign coffers drastically decline, or the party goes the way of the Wigs, will the GOP make an attempt at decency & respect for opposing opinions. Until then, don't hold your breath less hell freezes over, the second coming or 12/21/12..whichever comes first.

Cool article Mr. Williams & comments by SewaneeLeftist, PPatt, AbbieXHoffman

[AbbieXHoffman]

I don't like Steele or agree with him on much, but I don't see him in any way related to the kid on Facebook who posted that stupid poll or other nuts jobs or responsible for it. If Steele were to ask the wackos to quiet down, that would suggest that the wackos where part of his following and people he has influence over. He doesn't want to be associated with the wackos and I don't blame him. He wants the freedom to oppose the POTUS on policy, which as far as I can see is all he does (albeit ineffectively) not be linked to the wackos.

The only way to fight these wackos is with silence and stop reporting and commenting on them. Putting responsibility at the feet of the republican party leader is not intellectually honest in my opinion.

SILENCE them please with no reporting.

[AbbieXHoffman]

I can tell with certainty that the POTUS would rather there be NO REPORTING on the far right wackos. If you care about his safety (which I am certain you do) you will stop commenting publicaly on it too.

We should adopt what the UK did when the IRA would bomb--there would be no reporting on it. They fought them with silence. They didn't give them any coverage because they knew that would limit their reach and effectiveness.

(And for the record, there are wackos on both sides of the political spectrum and there ALWAYS have been.)

[SewaneeLeftist]

Great article, Mr. Williams, eloquent and calling on the right to do the correct thing, not the rightist thing. What pass as moderates in the Rushpublican party have bemoaned the lack of a W. F. Buckley to call out the extremists. But it wasn't really all that much of a calling out, even though it was better than going on with the Birchers.

If the Rethuglicans are going to have a latter-day calling out of the crazies that are ratcheting up the danger in our political discourse, they're going to need to REALLY go down a list.

They need to disavow with great specificity the birthers and acknowledge that this issue died in Hawaii forty years ago.

They need to disavow the secessionists and anyone who believes any right exists to overthrow the government. Lincoln disposed of both issues long ago. Secession is treason; revolt against the legal government is also treason.

They need to disavow the not-so-secret racism, xenophobia, and sexism that appear almost every day with some Retardigan politician or operative.

And they need to reject the strategy of nullification and obstruction that has reduced them to nothing but deadweight in our government.

And that's just for starters.

[MidwestHeart]

Has anyone written about why conservative right wing Christians 1) are so fearful and do not seem to feel protected by their God, and 2) will do/do not/cannot accept the possibility that 'God' supports Obama being in the White House.

[Kamenskiy]

An unrealistic proposal. How are nut jobs going to disavow themselves?

[MichaelMcKLA]

Thank you, Mr. Williams, right on target and very well stated.

Actually, I think the only ones left in the GOP are the screwballs. Everyone else split.

[milty]

From 'Apostasy in Islam':

In any case the heart of the matter is that children born of Muslim lineage will be considered Muslims and according to Islamic law the door of apostasy will never be opened to them. If anyone of them renounces Islam, he will be as deserving of execution as the person who has renounced kufr to become a Muslim and again has chosen the way of kufr. All the jurists of Islam agree with this decision. On this topic absolutely no difference exists among the experts of shari'ah.

Since Obama's father was muslim, should he fear Islamic nuts or right wing nuts?

[PPatt]

"It would be funny, were it not so tragic, to watch individuals who could not distinguish between the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and Green Eggs and Ham lamenting about the original intent of the Founders at their "tea parties" and town hall meetings."

C'mon now. We know where these ideas originate. These are the ideas of the so-called conservative intellectuals. Founder's original intent, originalism vs. stare decisis are all things for which pseudo-intellectual hogwash has originated in conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation.

These things are as counter-factual as the new conservative bible that results from a conservative purge of all the liberal parts. I suppose that makes it about as thin as a comic book.

What we are now seeing is what happens when these falsehoods, disguised as fact, reach the masses.

The originators of these myths are banking on the fact that we will forget it was them all along. They have become fulltime proaganda factories whose propaganda consumes the news cycle and blocks out rational discourse. And that's the way they like it too.

[William Young]

Then they won't have a base if they let all the nut jobs LOL!

[NYC07]

Wouldn't they have to first start by disavowing their leader " Rushbow" If they did he would smite them and they would all have to come back crawling on their bellies in supplication asking for his forgiveness. They would then be back a square one.

[wherriott2]

Excellent piece Mr. Williams. Please continue to educate and enlighten us with knowledge and truth.

[enochsmoky]

Just like Islam is the "religion of peace", people of the left are forever congratulating themselves on their tolerance, compassion, intelligence, sophistication and their irresistible do gooder charm. The left is full of itself. The ultimate, logical conclusion of liberal ideology is communism and we all know how many millions of bodies have been stacked up in service to that Utopian vision. As some old, misguided, politically incorrect carpenter once said, "Ye who have no sin, cast the first stone."

[Mugzi]

Dems have plenty of shortcomings, we just don't make morals and religion a political philosophy.

[gramma61]

Did you stop to count the number of stones you threw in that judgmental statement?

[LeftRight]

First, you're wrong in thinking that liberals want communism, we recognize how that failed every time it was tried as an economic structure.

Second, we tend to admit when we screw up, you tend to hide it... Sure sounds like someone needs to look into the mirror and stop projecting!

[BillZBubb]

If the Republicans disavow the nutjobs, then they nutjobs disavow the Republicans. Result: no more Republicans. The nutjobs are all they've got left.

[Philclock]

I've told 'em for years to disavoy the Dems...

[gramma61]

Disavowing the dems didn't work out too well for ya,did it?