For the record, House Republican leader John Boehner, GOP Chairman Michael Steele and the organizers of the Tea Party rally condemned the slurs. Steele suggested the movement and the party should not be linked with "idiots out there saying stupid things."
Stupid things? Try Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, shouting "baby killer" when Rep. Bart Stupak, an anti-abortion Democrat from Michigan, was outlining his conviction that the bill would not result in federal funding of the procedure - and right after unruly House members had been admonished to stop yelling during the debate.
Stupid things? How about the House Republicans who cheered two hecklers who were ushered out of the public gallery by Capitol Police on Sunday. Or the GOP lawmakers who kept going to the House balcony during the debate to wave clenched fists and handwritten signs at the crowd and helped ensure it remained whipped into a frenzy.
Stupid things? How about the steady stream of rhetorical excesses during the debate. They warned of the death of freedom, of a coming era of totalitarianism, of a "fiscal Frankenstein."
"Shame on each and every one of you," Boehner said, drawing a GOP standing ovation during his overheated closing argument. He wasn't talking about the spitting, the slurs or the Tea Party signs comparing Speaker Nancy Pelosi with Joseph Stalin. He was blasting Democrats for moving forward without Republican help on a bill the minority party seemed hellbent to defeat from the outset. Boehner said Americans were right to be angry and fearful, as if their anxiety had emerged in a vacuum.
"The institution is broken," Boehner thundered.
Imagine that.
