I'm not linking anything here, this is a minor point.
I've been reading diaries about the Rush Limbaugh Syndrome where Republicans have had to backtrack when they criticize them.
This minor point seems obvious, of course -- but I don't hear anyone saying it.
It's not that Repubs are remarkable for returning to support the inflammatory rhetoric that is mandatory in their present party culture.
It's that they really don't fucking like it any more.
Now I shall enter sheer speculation land.
So these Repubs have to bite their tongue and hew to a measurably insane and ridiculous party line. And then sometimes they accidentally tell the truth and are publicly humiliated -- not only by Repubs but by Dems, too, the whole testical metaphor gets trotted out, all that.
They don't like Rush. They don't want to be saying these kinds of things to their constituents.
There's a real thug squad out there and we're seeing the force of it. Rush is only a puppet face of that thug squad.
Ok, I lied ... I will give a link.
Remember Pete Stark? He had some harsh words for Bush on the floor of Congress:
"You don't have money to fund the war or children," Stark said. "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."
The Repubs threw a fit, Stark stuck to his guns ... until he didn't any more. He completely caved and gave a public apology. A very interesting one, with this memorable line:
"I hope that with this apology I will become as insignificant as I should be," Stark said.
I remember when seeing that apology thinking to myself that the raw power being exercised in our halls of government was beyond party and beyond politics itself. It was and is pure thuggery.
With the election of President Obama, those tactics become even more glaring and repulsive.
I think the thing to keep in mind amid all the justifiable revulsion for Limbaugh and the Republican noise machine is that each one of those Republicans who speak out against Rush are telling us that there are many more Republicans who wish they could.
Just a minor point, I know.