The Frightening Fringe

From John Cole's Balloon Juice

New Definition of the Republican Party
by Michael D.

You might be excused if you said placing an image of Obama’s face on a $10 food stamp with a bucket of fried chicken, watermelon, ribs, and Kool-Aid was an isolated act.
(October newsletter; Cheffey Community Republican Women,
Federated, San Bernadino County, CA; Diane Fedele, President)

When a major right-wing network calls Michelle Obama, “Obama’s Baby Mama,” you could dismiss it as as an overzealous producer who just thought it was funny and didn’t mean it to say that black women are just baby machines for black men.
(June 2008, Megyn Kelly and Michelle Malkin, Fox News)

You could, I suppose.

You might even get a pass if you thought a Web site that depicted Obama and the word “Waterboard Him” was just created by an obscure group that didn’t represent all Republicans.
(Sacramento County, CA Republican Party website,
Craig MacGlashan, Chairman)

Although, you would be wrong.

If a picture of Obama was Photoshopped to make him look a little bit like Osama Bin Laden, you could pass it off as the work of a few idiots on the right.
(Virginia Republican Party mailer)

It could be, right?

Supporters who carry racist Obama Monkey Dolls to your rallys are people who don’t represent your campaign. You could argue that.
(McCain-Palin supporter at a rally in Johnstown, PA)

Of course, this is just a moron on the fringe, right?

What about when a high-level Republican fundraiser sends out an email that includes a joke with the punchline, If an airplane carrying Obama and his wife were blown up “It certainly wouldn’t be a great loss, and it probably wouldn’t be an accident either.”?
(Tampa, FL Republican Party fundraiser, Al Austin)

Sure, you could pass it off as the act of a random dumbass.

If, in response to your question, “Who is Barack Obama?” someone yelled “Terrorist!” you could say that was just one idiot in the crowd and was not indicative of the general sentiment.
(October, 2008 John McCain and Sarah Palin rallies)

It’s plausible.

When a neighbor strings a Halloween ghost labeled Barack Obama upside down from a tree near his McCain-Palin sign on the front lawn, and he tells reporters that "Only white Christians should be in power," you could say it was just one crazy old guy in the neighborhood.
(Mike Lundsford, Fairfield, OH)

It reminds you that you never really know your neighbors.

In fact, you could cite dozens of examples of these racist, divisive, dillusiuonal attacks on Barack Obama and conclude that they are just elements of the fringe and don’t represent mainstream Republicans.

Sooner or later though, you will have to acknowledge that this “fringe” is very widespread. You’ll have to come to grips, eventually, with the fact that this “fringe” has become the very definition of the your party.