In the End, It's Not About Crabill

There's been plenty of ink spilled over Catherine Crabill today, so I'll just add a few final thoughts for the day.

First, I urge everyone to read Aznew's diary ("Crabill and the Tea Party: It Takes A Villiage Idiot"). In fact, I was just getting ready to write something along these lines - albeit less articulately than Alan, I'm sure - when I read this and said, "exactly!" In short, what Alan's saying is that this isn't about Catherine Crabill (Alan is correct: she "obviously has emotional problems"). What Alan is also saying is that this is about the Republican Party, circa 2009. As Alan puts it, Crabill "committed a Kinsley Gaffe -- she inadvertently spoke the truth about this extremist movement...that it is somehow a expression of patriotism to overthrow their own democratically elected government because of policy differences over taxation."

Second, Alan makes a crucial point, that "the Republican Party has tried to have it both ways with the Tea Partiers, trying to exploit the movement’s appeal to portions of the GOP base while at the same time separating themselves, sub rosa, from the movement’s extremist rhetoric and positions so as not to alienate the more moderate independent voters they will need to get elected." Usually, this consists of classic "dog whistle politics," speaking words that "the base" understands perfectly well but that aren't really "heard" by everyone else. In Crabill's case, the dog whistle got a lot louder, so loud that everyone could hear it perfectly well. That "sub rose" message leaked out, in other words, and it wasn't a pretty picture.

Third, and this is probably the most important point of all: where are the Republican Party's "leaders" with regards not just to Crabill, but to all the irresponsible, dangerous, violent rhetoric being spewed about these days by people on their "side" (broadly speaking)? Where were these "leaders" - Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling, Ken Cuccinnelli, etc. - when George Allen lashed out at S.R. Siddarth? Where were these "leaders" when Sarah Palin talked about Barack Obama "palling around with terrorists?" Where were these "leaders" when former Buchanan County Republican Party chair Bobby May wrote his racist, anti-Obama column (note: that's Bobby May pictured above with...yes, Bob McDonnell)? Where were these "leaders" when Jeff Frederick compared Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden? And where were these "leaders" today? As Alan writes:

...Will Bob McDonnell condemn her comments? Will anyone from the RPV condemn Crabill? Will any Conservative blogger?

Or is this the Republican Party in Virginia in 2009?

Sadly, I think the answer to that last question is "yes."