Nutjobs will kill The Revolution

The enactment of health-insurance reform has put the lunatic fringe on public display, with all of its full-frontal stupidity.

More than a dozen pro-reform Dems have received death threats. Rocks and bricks have been hurled through legislators' windows, one member's community storefront got an envelope of white powder and another's campaign office caught a bullet.

And guess which dead-from-the-neck-up Denali Diva is using crosshairs to identify the most detestable Democrats?

This goes well beyond what the media are calling "incivility." No one should confuse what's happening with respectful dissent or time-honored civil disobedience. This is the work of nutjobs who do for "citizen" what 18-year-olds do for "adult."

You say you want a revolution? If this keeps up or even escalates, the nutjobs will kill The Revolution.

Reacting to these frothy fruitcakes, here's a voice of reason:

"...I've been very clear about this idea of...making the changes at the ballot box, getting people registered. I think, frankly, anyone who crosses the line in suggesting vandalism, or certainly any sort of death threats that may indeed happen, just completely wrong."

"...the large number of people that I deal with...will ostracize anyone who is on the fringes...and they will remove them from their relationship...I think people largely embrace the idea, let's have the revolution, but let's do it in November at the polls."

"...we won't accept and tolerate this kind of action by any of our members...we will make our voices heard at the polls."

"I think when you look at...the actions that we've seen thus far, unacceptable. Completely unacceptable."

"...let's...make sure we distance ourselves from these actions. And...let us be very clear, very clear that when we take our actions, let's take it by registering people, getting them out to vote and changing Congress at the ballot box."

"...you cannot make them look better by making us look bad. The focus really needs to be on attacking the issues. I will not attack the individual. I will attack the issues all day long and be able to make the case."

Who said that -- a Republican? Perish the thought that Boehner or McConnell or Coburn or Cantor would sprout balls big enough risk alienating their precious base of talk-radio robots. Could these so-called "leaders" look any more like trembling sycophants?

No, those reasonable words were spoken this morning by Mark Skoda -- founder of the Memphis Tea Party and an organizer of last month's national Tea Party convention.

You read that right -- Tea Party.

I retract nothing I've said about the Tea Party, but I'll confess that Skoda -- who probably wrangles an even nutjobbier base than the GOP does -- has made me stop and think.

[insert pause for thought here]

You say you want a revolution? Well, just for starters, this blogger wants a helluva lot fewer enraged entertainers, brick-hurling wackos and keyboard commandos.

They ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow.