GOP "Changing the Tone" To Violence

There's a new chapter in the GOP's increasingly frightening use of violent language to intimidate its political opponents...

Some background first: A few weeks back, I traced a brief history of how the GOP is infusing its rhetoric with thinly-veiled threats of violence. The post was in response to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) threatening judges with retribution for their ruling in the Terry Schiavo affair. Delay said, "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior."

In case you thought that wasn't a threat, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) subsequently took to the Senate floor to justify physical attacks on judges (this came just a few weeks after a federal judge's family was murdered).

Which brings us to this weekend, and back to DeLay. Facing more and more corruption/ethics questions, DeLay told the National Rifle Association this weekend that he wasn't worried. "I feel really good," he told the group, because "when a man is in trouble or in a good fight, you want to have your friends around, preferably armed."

The Bush administration has refused to stop these increasingly frightening threats. Instead of telling its partisan allies to calm down and cut it out, White House press secretary Scott McClellan told the national media that the "Majority Leader DeLay is someone the President considers a friend" and that he "looks forward to continuing working closely with the Majority Leader" - an effective endorsement of DeLay's behavior. One thing's for sure - Bush and the GOP really have "changed the tone"...for the worse.