GOP congressman says 81 congressional Dems are commies

Someone is either desperate for attention or a complete loon. Maybe both. The Democrats barely even have liberals in Congress let alone communists. Making a bizarre statement like this only proves how extremely far right the GOP has become.

NOTE FROM JOHN: This is GOP Congressman Allen West, who is desperate for attention and a complete loon.

Democrats had better nip this kind of attack in the bud, now.  They did little to respond to attacks from Republicans in 2008 that labeled Obama a "socialist."  Now it's a generally accepted fact on the right that Obama is -- which is absurd.  What's ironic is that many on the left don't find Obama nearly liberal enough.

But our guys have a habit of letting this extremist, even dangerous, rhetoric fester on the right until it sticks and becomes "true."  Then some nut either picks up a gun and tries to assassinate a Democratic congresswoman or a judge, or less sensation but equally harmful, the public ends up believing that a health care plan that gets rid of annual limits and pre-existing conditions actually contains "death panels" when it doesn't.

Some lies you ignore, others you nip in the bud.  Democrats do the former quite well, the latter not so much.  (PS This story is from two days ago, but it's important.  We've seen what happens when we let republicans continually move the goal posts of decency farther and father to the right.  Our politicians, laws, and populace tend to follow.)

More here.