RNC refuses to issue joint "civility" statement with DNC

By Steve Hynd

The RNC has refused to sign on to a DNC-suggested joint statement which would "call on all Americans to respect differences of opinion, to refrain from inappropriate forms of intimidation, to reject violence and vandalism, and to scale back rhetoric that might reasonably be misinterpreted by those prone to such behavior.�

Republicans see the statement as an attempt to force them to either reject the statement � allowing Democrats to say the RNC finds the incidents acceptable � or to sign on to something that the DNC would later wield against them.

...RNC Communications Director Doug Heye told POLITICO that Steele chose not to agree to the statement because �we don�t need to do anything on their schedule or on their timetable.�

Um, guys, the only way such a statement could be wielded against you later is if you did, you know, keep using rhetoric that might encourage violence. Just sayin'.

But the DNC's own "spocks with beards" are well inside the RNC's decision loop at this point. Quick as a flash came the, undoubtably pre-written, response:

�It�s very disappointing, but perhaps not surprising, that Chairman Steele, who authored a fundraising presentation that depicted the President as the Joker, the Speaker of the House as Cruella de Vil, raised money online showing the Speaker on fire and said she should be put before a firing squad would refuse to do a joint statement with Chairman Kaine to ratchet down the rhetoric and condemn the violence and threats which Republican supporters have engaged in since the passage of health reform,� Woodhouse said.

�Chairman Steele�s own overheated rhetoric and the Republican Party�s fear tactics have contributed to an environment of anger and frustration that is unhealthy and counterproductive to our political dialogue,� he added. �Rather than take responsibility for their own actions, Chairman Steele not only refused the good faith offer of issuing a joint statement, he then sent his spokesperson out to go on the attack in a breathtaking display of chutzpa and hypocrisy. Chairman Kaine and Democrats will continue to work towards a civil and responsible debate on the issues of the day even as Republicans continue to be pulled farther and farther towards the radical extreme.�

I'd like to suggest that no amount of statements by party leaders, bipartisan or otherwise, could calm the savage beast that the American far right has become - and that the DNC already knows this. As the Australian "Herald Sun" newspaper's Laurie Oakes observes (h/t Kat):

People on the lunatic fringe of politics - are winning in America. A new poll just about puts it beyond doubt.

Released a few days ago, it shows that 40 per cent of Americans believe Barack Obama is a socialist, a third think he's Muslim, three out of 10 fear he "wants to turn over the sovereignty of the US to a one-world government", and 14 per cent agree that the President "may be the anti-Christ". Phew!

Can a whole country go crazy? It makes you wonder.

Well, it makes me wonder just how far through the U.S. gene-pool a certain genetic abnormality first identified in a Dutch family has spread.

But the RNC reacted exactly as the DNC's spinmeisters hoped they would. DNC, 15:Love. Not that it helps any.