Quote of the Week (And It's Only Monday)

"I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors -- probably harmless."

-- GOP activist Rusty DePass (and doesn't the name just say it all?) in a comment posted on Facebook; the "it" he's referring to is a gorilla that escaped from a zoo in South Carolina, while the "Michelle" is Michelle Obama

When cornered, DePass of course blamed the racist slur on Michelle Obama herself, saying, "The comment was hers, not mine," and claiming that the first lady had once remarked that human beings descended from apes. (Needless to say, no one's been able to find an instance of her saying any such thing.)

I've already spoken my mind ad nauseam about these rotten assholes and what they've been allowed to get away with. (I think calling the first black first lady of the United States a gorilla reaches entire new depths of disgraceful.) But the Booman Tribune takes the words right out of my mouth when it comes to the implications of inflammatory Republican rhetoric like this:

"They are who we thought they were. Plain and simple... Nasty, racist, hateful, dangerous idiots. And because our media lets them get away with it, they grow more emboldened by the day. And don't tell me this has nothing to do with the increasing violence and threats of violence against liberals, minorities, gays, etc. This is precisely the dehumanizing, demonizing speech which creates a climate which encourages the fringe elements of the right wing to take matters into their own hands, literally by pulling the triggers of guns aimed at people they have been told are subhuman, unworthy of their respect. The implicit message, the subtext of all this ugly language being thrown around by the representatives of the Republican Party and the conservative movement is that rage, hatred and yes, even violence, is an acceptable tactic to employ to fight back against Democrats, and especially President Obama and his supporters.

I remember a time when The Republican Senate Majority Leader was forced to resign for his comments praising Strom Thurmond's run for President as a Dixiecrat. I guess Republicans and conservatives feel less shame now that they are out of power and a Black Man is President. Now it's anything goes. They call him a Marxist. A Muslim. A Terrorist. A Fascist. A Dictator. A man out to destroy America. A man who isn't a real American, who wasn't born in America. Who wants to take away all your Guns. The Anti-Christ in brown colored flesh."

(h/t Cesca)