Boehner said the ad was misleading, and did his level best to get everyone excited about it: “As with MoveOn’s slanderous attacks on General David Petraeus, the new ads are so misleading and disgusting they have no place in our nation’s political discourse. I call on all Members of Congress to join me in condemning this pathetic, misleading action.”
In this case, it didn’t work. No one cared. Boehner hoped to stir a new round of whining — nothing excites the right like manufactured outrage — but this one was a dud.
So, they tried again yesterday with a new faux scandal.
Rep. Pete Stark, D-California, is facing fire from Republicans for comments on the House floor Thursday suggesting Americans are dying in Iraq for President Bush’s amusement.
Sharply critical of Bush’s veto of the children’s health insurance legislation, Stark said Republicans are spending money “to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough … to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”
Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan quickly condemned the comments, saying in a statement they are “an insult to every American, Democrat or Republican.”
“The leaders of the Democrat Party, including Nancy Pelosi and their presidential candidates, need to stand up and make it clear that this kind of attack is unacceptable from any elected official,” Duncan added.
As Digby put it, “These people are going to overdose on smelling salts and phony sanctimony if they don’t watch out. It’s about once a week now, isn’t it?”
In fact, yes.
What, exactly, did Stark say, in context? Atrios ran an extended excerpt.
“First of all, I’m just amazed they can’t figure out, the Republicans are worried we can’t pay for insuring an additional 10 million children. They sure don’t care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq. Where ya gonna get that money? You going to tell us lies like you’re telling us today? Is that how you’re going to fund the war? You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President’s amusement. This bill would provide healthcare for 10 million children and unlike the President’s own kids, these children can’t see a doctor or receive necessary care. […]
“But President Bush’s statements about children’s health shouldn’t be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up. In Iraq, in the United States and in Congress.”
Intemperate? Sure. Worth having a hissy fit over? Probably not.
But it had been days since the Republican machine has coordinated to whine about something they’d heard some liberal say, so they seized on this one fairly quickly. CNN ran with it, as if Stark’s comments were an important development in the debate, and conservative news outlets treated this like a real story.
Sigh.
Look, occasionally political figures and officials are going to say intemperate things. Does the right have to go into high dudgeon every time this much? Republicans end up looking rather hysterical, as if their delicate sensibilities and virgin ears can’t bear to hear a Democrat say a discouraging word. Maybe it’s time the GOP grew up a little, and reserved their outrage for truly offensive comments. People stopped listening to the boy who cried wolf, after all.
Indeed, just this week, Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey compared U.S. officials to Nazis, and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) accused Democratic lawmakers of treason, saying Dems are “desperately against allowing our intelligence agencies to fight” Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.
Dems didn’t throw a hissy fit; CNN didn’t find it noteworthy; and no one got hysterical.
It’s as if Republicans have decided that they can’t govern, so they’ll perfect the fine art of whining. It’s rather unbecoming, but I guess they need to play to their strengths.
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