Taking a Stand Against the Kuhl, Hayes and Bachmann Comments

I serve in the House with decent, patriotic Republicans, and as a congressman I have the honor of representing thousands of Republicans. They love their country and respect their neighbors. And yet these recent comments by three of my Republican colleagues must be challenged. Partisan passions always rise two weeks before an election, but calling the other party 'anti-American,' saying members of one party 'hate real Americans' and 'want the American public to suffer' crosses the line.

No wonder Colin Powell is so concerned about the direction of the Republican Party. It is at risk of being taken over by the voices of fear and division. A party so intent on dividing America is unfit to lead all of America. And so I call on my Republican colleagues to disavow these statements. These statements are not worthy of a great nation and a great institution like the United States Congress.

Comments

[offred]

Someone needs to ask Bachmann what happens after the media investigate and "out" the anti-Americans in the Senate and House. Are they sent off to "reeducation camps" to correct their thinking? Great Leap Forward, America! Sounds like Communism to me. Does she ask third-graders to report to their teachers any anti-American comments or activities, so their parents can be brought into the party line?

Bachmann is saying now that she'd never seen Hardball and that she was trapped into the answer she gave. Doesn't she have staff members who TIVO or otherwise record and condense important news, talk, and interview shows so she's informed on what the American audience is watching?Sounds like intellectual laziness to me to be so clueless. Reminds me of the scene in W where Condie Rice is reading the news to George. Or the scene where Cheney hands a report to George and he says, "Good, it's only three pages long." Is it too much to expect our elected, PAID officials to work at being informed?

Would we really want this woman to ever be in world-impacting negotiations even, when she can be "trapped" into a comment by Chris Matthews, of all people?

[ToonMoene]

Do you realize how hard it is to explain to my fellow Europeans that Lincoln was a Republican ?

[PatForObama]

I sure do, ToonMoene. Having spent the better part of the last 10 years in Sweden (are you from Denmark, perhaps?) I know that "Republican" is a dirty word here. People still can't understand how, as a British paper put it in 2004, 59 million people could be so stupid (as to re-elect Bush). I used to know many Republicans who were fair-minded, thoughtful people, but most of them have gravitated to the far right as well. I just don't get it. Honest Abe must be turning in grave, saying "Oy".

[kjstjohn]

That's funny. I live here and I still cannot figure it out. I believe that every person who cast a vote for Bush in 2004 owes the country an apology--as does every eligible person who did not vote.

[LawstSoul]

"...the Republican Party. It is at risk of being taken over by the voices of fear and division."

Talk about a boat that has sailed!

[HarvestMoon]

I received a "Terrorist" Republican mailing today---it is really appalling no matter who you want to vote for. I think it would actually make me change my mind if I were pro-McCain, however, I know people who believe that Obama is a Kenyan Islamic Terrorist, anti-American, [bad word for Afro-American], and they would do him harm if they could-to them-this mailing is an affirmation of violent, negative, and (their own) racist views. The mailing, which allies Obama with Ayres, was in itself dark and terrorizing. I am really of the belief that if anything tragic should happen to Obama, the Republican Party would bear a large part of the responsibility for it, for stirring an already volatile faction of the your voting constituency.

[Barrister2010]

Donate to his opponent: http://www.actblue.com/page/wesforeric2008

I'm tired of these people. This country is too great and is facing too many challenges. A house divided cannot stand.

ENOUGH.

[MoeB]

Again, everytime these GOP folks come out with charged rhetoric like Bachmann, we should donate to their opponent. These folks won't change their ways as long as they think it is effective. Let's send a message across the board that the constituents want to discuss the ISSUES that affect their everyday lives, not who is "pro-America" and who isn't, based on whether you have a D or R next to your name.

Enough.

[QuietAmerican]

Great idea and well said.

[OnceaDem]

The GOP may finally be getting it; they've cut off funding for Bachmann's ads, too little to late, but it looks like her congressional days are over.

[Rusel deMaria - Huffpost Blogger]

The toxic rhetoric clearly turns off many people around the country, but it also inflames passions among those who believe in the labels and have bought into the Republican lies and smears that have replaced truth and civility since Nixon and Reagan.

The answer is a massive outreach under Obama, using his ground game, to communicate the truth, to work hard over the next four years to change the dialog and create unity. Not an easy task, to be sure, but when the people supporting the agenda of rich, powerful Republican smear merchants come, ultimately, to understand that those people don't, in fact, care about them... and further that the power and wealth that these people desire above all else will never be shared with the people who believe their lies, in time, perhaps, we can have a country that works toward the benefit of all, and not just the greedy and unscrupulous few.

[FZliveson]

THE answer is NOT a "massive outreach under OBAMA," it is individuals standing firm on SPECIFIC ISSUES and not falling in line to pipers who play a sweet-sounding tune. We're too smart for that, but we have been intoxicated, domesticated, castrated, vaccinated, neutered and drugged with ritalyn, MSG, fluoride by a government which fought hard and insidiously to transform itself into the ruler, not the servant. No more blind following. OBAMA is a pawn, no less than Bush...jus­t different men pushing the game pieces around the board. VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS AND PUT IN FRESH AND RESPONSIVE ROOKIES. The transition will be hard, but the benefits many.

[LeftRight]

Didn't you hear Rahm? It wasn't that she was saying that those like you and me are anti-American, it was that the media twisted her words. The SAME media, I might add, that she was calling on to perform the next round of ANTI-AMERICAN MCCARTHYISM!!!!!!

[Sciguy]

Thanks, sir - I agree with you. However, I'm from Kentucky, and I won't be holding my breath for any of our Kentucky Republican Congresspeople to disavow something that they undoubtedly agree with but didn't have the nerve to say out loud.

[azcamp]

It is amazing that our elected officials who swear to uphold the constitution of the United States, do not honor its intent. Michelle Bachmann and Robin Hayes have exhibited behavior unfitting of the office they hold when they suggest that their colleagues are unAmerican because they do not share their conservative views.

This is very disturbing for the vast majority of Americans who believe in democracy and do not want to see another Joe McCarthy stain the American experience.

That John McCain will not denounce this kind of political dialogue is sad because a man's honor is his legacy. Sarah Plain has told us that she has nothing to lose in this campaign, not even her soul. John McCain can redeem himself by distancing himself from the sleazy tactics of his handlers. If he won't stand up against the RNC and Karl Rove, what makes him a maverick?