They're not even trying to sound sane anymore.
Republican members of congress are demanding the resignation - or dismissal - of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
They are upset about the recent DHS report warning law enforcement agencies about the dangers posed by right-wing extremist groups.
The report was developed during the Bush administration (which fact The Politico could not be bothered to mention).
So, incomprehensibly, these House GOPers have concluded that it is Obama's DHS secretary who must be punished.
“Singling out political opponents for working against the ruling party is precisely the tactic of every tyrannical government from Red China to Venezuela," said Texas Rep. John Carter, a member of the party's elected leadership who has organized an hour of floor speeches Wednesday night to call for Napolitano's ouster. “The first step in the process is creating unfounded public suspicion of political opponents, followed by arresting and jailing any who continue speaking against the regime.”Never mind the absolutely precious fact that when these wingnuts hear the phrase "right-wing extremists", they think "they're talkin' about me!!!"
In particular, conservative members of the Republican Study Committee raised repeated concerns about the report and Napolitano's subsequent defense of its findings on Wednesday, calling on party leaders to raise the issue with President Barack Obama during a White House meeting on Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a report earlier this month warning federal, state and local law enforcement officials that the slumping economy "could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past."
Analyzing threats posed by domestic extremists is part of the reason that the Department of Homeland Security exists. Right-wingers are not being singled out by any means. DHS released a report in February warning of the dangers posed by left-wing extremists (which fact The Politico could not be bothered to mention).
This assessment examines the potential threat to homeland security from cyber attacks conducted by leftwing extremists, a threat that DHS/I&A believes likely will grow over the next decade. It focuses on the more prominent leftwing groups within the animal rights, environmental, and anarchist extremist movements that promote or have conducted criminal or terrorist activities (see Appendix). This assessment is intended to alert DHS policymakers, state and local officials, and intelligence analysts monitoring the subject so they can better focus their collection requirements and analysis.But, of course, nothing can be allowed to interfere with the sense of victimhood that defines movement conservatism, so it is as though he left-wing extremism report doesn't even exist.
The hysteria that Republicans are trying to whip up over this fake controversy is literally insane.
But hysteria, fake controversies, and insanity are all they have left, so don't expect it to stop anytime soon.
