Republican Hate Is Not Isolated; It’s Policy!

I don’t believe in painting a whole group with the foibles of a just a few of it’s members.  Most families have a cousin that is not discussed around the family dinner table.  But when every day brings more fresh examples of antisocial behavior coming from a wide variety of different individuals within a group, and when the leadership defends those individuals instead of repudiating them, I have to include that the antisocial behavior is group policy, not isolated incidents.  So it is with the Republican Party, especially the Theocon and InsaniTEA wings, because of their continuing flood of bigotry, homophobia, racism, and religious intolerance.

Here’s an example:

Despite an uproar over his remarks about gays, Carl P. Paladino appeared on national television on Monday and expressed revulsion at gay pride parades.

Mr. Paladino restated his criticism of Andrew M. Cuomo, his Democratic opponent for governor of New York, for having taken his young daughters to a gay pride parade, saying that such events were inappropriate for children.

“Is that normal? Would you do it? Would you take your children to a gay pride parade?” Mr. Paladino asked the host Matt Lauer on the “Today” show, speaking of Mr. Cuomo.

“I don’t think it’s proper for them to go there and watch a couple of grown men grind against each other. I don’t think that’s proper. I think it’s disgusting.”

“No, I don’t regret the remarks,” he added.

On Sunday, Mr. Paladino, speaking to a group of Orthodox Jewish leaders in Brooklyn, said children should not be “brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option — it isn’t.”… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Paladino claims that he has no problem with gays and does not want to hurt them.  That’s a lie.  What could be more hurtful than having a man, who thinks horse-woman sex is valid enough for forward videos of it to his pals in email, say that the orientation someone has from birth is not valid?

Here’s another example:

An election year already notable for its menagerie of extreme and unusual candidates can add another one: Rich Iott [Republican Nazi delinked], the Republican nominee for Congress from Ohio’s 9th District, and a Tea Party favorite, who for years donned a German Waffen SS uniform and participated in Nazi re-enactments.

Iott, whose district lies in Northwest Ohio, was involved with a group that calls itself Wiking [Republican Nazis delinked], whose members are devoted to re-enacting the exploits of an actual Nazi division, the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, which fought mainly on the Eastern Front during World War II. Iott’s participation in the Wiking group is not mentioned on his campaign’s website [Republican Nazis delinked], and his name and photographs were removed from the Wiking website.

When contacted by The Atlantic, Iott confirmed his involvement with the group over a number of years, but said his interest in Nazi Germany was historical and he does not subscribe to the tenets of Nazism. "No, absolutely not," he said. "In fact, there’s a disclaimer on the [Wiking] website. And you’ll find that on almost any reenactment website. It’s purely historical interest in World War II."… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Atlantic>

This SS division is infamous for ear crimes, namely helping to exterminate Ukrainian Jews.  But Nazi ties is nothing new for Republicans.  Prescott Bush, father of GHW and grandfather of GW, kept doing business with the Third Reich even after the US was at war with them.

Rachel Maddow offers several more examples of how such behavior has become Republican policy.

Now, I know that there are millions of Republicans who are decent human beings, kind and accepting people who are not like this at all.  I am not talking about them.  I’m talking about the Republican leadership that has chosen hate and fear as vehicles to ride into power.  If you are a Republican and still decent, I say this: Come out from among them!  They do not represent you anymore.  Do not vote for them unless you want bigotry, homophobia, racism, and religious intolerance to become law.