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Photo: fredthompson (Toomey is on the right.)
"Those Republican Apostates" is the name of a tantrum on Townhall.com by former Club for Growth (of income inequality) President Pat Toomey where he slams Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins.
This weird rhetoric wasn't just in the headline. Here's a quote from the opinion piece. (bolding mine)
In the end, the support from the three “moderates” was crucial to passing the stimulus bill. Because of Sen. Ted Kennedy’s absence, the GOP needed only one more Senate vote to mount a sustainable filibuster. Had even one of the apostates stood strong, Republicans would have been able to fashion a genuine compromise bill.
Sound familiar? It should. San Francisco Chronicle 7/2/06 (bolding mine):
"There will be no bargaining with the crusaders and the apostates" in Iraq, bin Laden said in a clear reference to efforts by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to draw insurgent groups into negotiations and amnesty agreements with his government. "There will be no half-solutions." Al-Maliki and his appointed predecessors since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq would be punished as soon as American military forces are defeated, he said.
Pat Toomey always was a fanatic, but his rhetoric has started to resemble that of Osama bin Laden. That Toomey is the favorite to win the Republican nomination in Pennsylvania shows just how crazy that party has become.
Good for him. Drive all the moderates out of your party while simultaneously driving it into irrelevance.
Reminds me of Episode 11 GDAE Podcast... the looming right.
Do you happen to know if Toomey is specifically homophobic, and do you have pointers to more? Wikipedia says that he's highly conservative on social as well as fiscal issues, and had a 100% record from the Christian Coalition in 2003, but I can't find any specifics on homophobia.
Thanks!
Lew: LOL, I do hope the GOP goes the way of the Whigs.
GDAEman: The right is always looming, because they are always very well funded.
Paul Crowley: That's an interesting question. It isn't possible to get 100% from the Christian Coalition without being homophobic. But, Toomey is keeping quiet on lgbt issues and issues in general. His campaign's avoidance of issues on its website reminds me of the stealth political campaigns the Christian Right ran in the 80s and 90s. As the election gets closer, I'm sure queer bloggers in PA will find out a bunch of stuff about his record.