World

Some fear GOP is being carried to the extreme

by Chevalier de Pas | September 23, 2009 at 01:01 pm

457 views | 28 Recommendations | 6 comments

Some conservatives are finally recognizing that they are loosing ground with all this extremism, serious conservatives are afraid that this behavior is just undermining GOP's credibility with paranoiac accusations against The President of The United States, Barack Obama.

Amid a rebirth of conservative activism that could help Republicans win elections next year, some party insiders now fear that extreme rhetoric and conspiracy theories coming from the angry reaches of the conservative base are undermining the GOP's broader credibility and casting it as the party of the paranoid.

Such insiders point to theories running rampant on the Internet, such as the idea that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is thus ineligible to be president, or that he is a communist, or that his allies want to set up Nazi-like detention camps for political opponents. Those theories, the insiders say, have stoked the GOP base and have created a "purist" climate in which a figure such as Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) is lionized for his "You lie!" outburst last week when Obama addressed Congress.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend Sign In or Join to post comments

Rory Cripps

at 14:31 on September 23rd, 2009

I think that many make the mistake of lumping in conservative Republicans with extremists on the far right. It's no different from lumping in Liberal Democrats with out and out communists. So-called "right wing" groups such as the Klan, Skinheads, Christian Identity, etc. have more in common with those on the far left fringe than they do with conservative Republicans. I don't know of any bonafide conservative Republicans that subscribe to the conspiracy theories of the far right--or the far left for that matter. William F. Buckley, who is the father of modern day conservatism, imploded that myth years ago.

Rory Cripps

at 15:36 on September 23rd, 2009

Roy: Yeah! Go figure: Some Dems get bent out of shape when President Obama is called a Commie and some Repubs get bent out of shape when Bush is called a NAZI. And when people like me attempt to maintain an even keel (like a bouncer in a bar fight or a cop in a domestic violence incident) we get it from both ends . . .i.e., "You said what? You must be a right wing extremist! No doubt about it!" And from the other end, "You said what? You must be a socialist! No doubt about it!"

Chevalier de Pas

at 15:37 on September 23rd, 2009

And Obama gets called both; Nazi and Commie, isn't funny?

Rory Cripps

at 17:55 on September 23rd, 2009

So what? They all get called something! Sometimes what they're called is warranted and sometimes it's not! Why do people take it personally when someone calls their favorite politician a name? It's all sticks and stones stuff. I'm incredulous over the fact that many seem to have a personal commitment to politicians as if those politicians were blood relatives.

Chevalier de Pas

at 18:05 on September 23rd, 2009

Unfortunately this country is filled with intolerant people, I am from a time where we were used to respect each other, even strangers were respected. Nowadays everyone is a buddy, lying and calling names don't meaning anything anymore , I personally find that horrible, soon we are going to be judging people in the streets, and maybe throwing stones again. That will be the end of the Democratic state. The history shows that we are always going in circles, maybe is the end of a era.

Hugh Askew

at 16:52 on September 23rd, 2009

From my understanding, the chief witness in the Jewish courts of the time was required to read that statement when that verdict was guilty, and the sentence was death by stoning, tho i am hardly an authority on the matter.

In the circumstance where Jesus used the saying, he was basically repeating what the scribes & Pharisees (the ones that had brought the woman caught in the act of adultery) would have already known, thus exposing their hypocrisy. Note that they all, to a man, left the scene quietly.

So even tho the illustration we are most familiar with is from the New Testament, the saying itself still predates it.