Competition For The Crown

It looks like Bachmanniac has some competition for "Craziest GOP Lawmaker" these days: Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert. Steve Benen makes the call:

I continue to be fascinated by the shrinking differences between the nutty, right-wing fringe and the Republican establishment. Lee Fang flagged this gem yesterday.

Last Friday, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) joined radical conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his radio talk show for an interview. Jones has made a name for himself propagating conspiracies ranging from the claim that Bill Clinton planned the Oklahoma City bombings to the idea that the attacks on 9/11 were orchestrated by a cabal of American and Israeli government officials.

During the 30-minute interview about "nation ending stuff," Gohmert used his opportunity on the Jones show to showcase his own odd anti-Obama conspiracy theories.

Gohmert was on quite a roll, insisting that health care reform will "absolutely kill senior citizens," because the government will put older Americans on a list and then "force them to die early." He added that the government will also control what Americans eat and where we can live.

When Jones, compared current events to Hitler and Mao, the Republican Texan replied, "Well that's exactly what I was thinking of. This is the kind of the thing we got to stop." Gohmert went on to praise the fringe talk-show host for being "on top of things."

So, Obama's real evil plan is to impersonate an American, gain the Presidency, control every aspect of our lives, and then euthanize millions of old people (maybe with some sort of large laser.)

It's Logan's Run, only without the neat white jumpsuits. The dude is a barking lunatic and yet still has his elected position, and Steve goes on to explain just why that is the real problem with the Republican Party.

Now, I don't much care what these obviously unhinged conservatives have to say. What's fascinating to me, though, is the fact that there was no real difference between them. Generally, politicians try to keep radicals and fringe activists at arm's length. If a politician runs into a nut in public, he/she tries to avoid making eye contact, and scurries away as quickly as possible.

But here's an elected member of Congress, voluntarily appearing on a notorious extremist's radio show, as if this were a normal thing to do. They two swapped insane conspiracy theories casually, as if radical nonsense were as commonplace as discussing the weather.

The line, in other words, between the member of Congress and the fanatic simply didn't exist. What's more, because right-wing extremism has become mainstream in conservative circles, there are no consequences for Gohmert's rhetoric or appearance. It's just what GOP officials do in the early part of the 21st century.

There is something inherently wrong with this situation Other than being pegged "Worst Person In The World" by Keith Olbermann, what's going to happen to ol' Louie here? Nothing. No resolution demanding his apology will come before the august body of legislators, no week of Village op-ed pieces saying Gohmert shouldn't have crossed that line, no rebuke or censure will be forthcoming.

So Republicans like Gohmert will continue to accuse the President of lining up seniors in order to murder them, or that he's really a Kenyan Muslim plant, or that he's really whatever crazy garbage they dream up to terrify us into hating him, wanting him gone, wanting him out by any means necessary because he's a monster.

Raw hate that the base devours. And soon, that hate will metastasize into something unspeakable and deadly, and it too will become another sad chapter in the history of our country. We have a mainstream political party that is allowed to make the most disgusting and virulent accusations about the people on the other side of the aisle and the President in particular, and the crowd roars and demands more. The Village Caesars raise their thumbs in approval and then look the other way.

As Steve said, there is now no difference between the fringe lunatic and the GOP rank and file. They are one and the same.