Gutter Politics

by digby

I knew the Republicans would react like animals if they ever found themselves on the losing end of an election. I knew they would engage in rampant lying, race baiting and sexist stereotyping. I was a tiny bit surprised that they would support 52-year-old-man on teenager sex, but it didn’t shock me.

But I honestly didn’t think they’d go after the physically disabled. First Tammy Duckworth’s opponent accuses the multi amputee Iraq veteran of “cutting and running.” Then Rush takes a shot at Michael J. Fox. Now the GOP congresswoman who holds Dick Cheney’s old seat says to her opponent, a wheelchair bound MS sufferer, “If you weren’t sitting in that chair, I’d slap you across the face.”

I shouldn’t be shocked, now that I think about it. They had no problem questioning severely wounded war hero Max Cleland’s courage back in 2002. (In 2004, the ever so lovely Ann Coulter even claimed he had wounded himself in combat.)

These guys engage in gutter politics even when they don’t have to so it’s not surprising that they would turn into barbaric political terrorists in the face of serious losses. We’ll see if they can stroke the nation’s id and eke out a victory in these close races one more time.

.