There Are a Few Semi-Sane Republicans Left

I do not always agree with Joe Scarborough on everything, but I respect him for not always mindlessly following the growing idiocy within both the GOP leadership and the increasingly frightening base of the party. One can be conservative without being a hate merchant and being totally detached from objective reality. Thus it is that Scarborough has begun calling out the rampant insanity in the GOP since he seems to realize that the growing lunacy and talk of violence by the birthers and teabaggers is sending moderates and independents running from the GOP. In an apparent effort to encourage responsible leadership to re-emerge in the GOP, Scarborough is starting a 'conservative honor roll' to reward GOP politicans who condemn the politics of hate. I wish Scarborough luck - I think at this point he's fighting an uphill battle. Here are some highlights from RawStory:

*

MSNBC morning show host Joe Scarborough went on the attack against right-wing "hatred" Tuesday and declared he would be putting together a "conservative honor roll" to reward GOP politicians who denounce the rhetoric of commentators like Fox News' Glenn Beck.

*

"You cannot say that the President of the United States ... hates all white people," Scarborough proclaimed. "You cannot call the President of the United States a racist. You cannot wallow in conspiracy theories -- as [Beck] did for about a month -- suggesting that FEMA might be setting up concentration camps and going on Fox & Friends and saying. 'I can't disprove it.' ... You can't stir up that type of hatred ... and then say, 'Oh, I'm just a rodeo clown.'"

*
Scarborough pointed out that Peter Wehner -- a writer for the conservative magazine Commentary who ran the White House's Office of Strategic Intiatives for some time during the Bush administration -- has declared that Beck's inflammatory rhetoric is hurting the conservative cause.

*

His interest in conspiracy theories is disquieting, as is his admiration for Ron Paul and his charges of American 'imperialism.'" Wehner concludes: "[T]he role Glenn Beck is playing is harmful in its totality. My hunch is that he is a comet blazing across the media sky right now — and will soon flame out." Added Scarborough: "You cannot stir up things that could have very deadly consequences. I was in congress in 1995, I know where this can end."

*

"We're going to have a conservatives' honor roll on this show," Scarborough continued, referring to his show, Morning Joe. "And trust me, you want to be on this honor roll. I'm talking to you Mitt Romney, and I'm talking to anybody who wants to be president in 2012 -- you need to call out this type of hatred. Because it always blows up in your face. "Conservatives who don't call him out are responsible," Scarborough said. "I don't care if right-wing nuts get upset with me, that's just the reality."