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To the editor:
Watching the State of the Union reminds us all just how hollow the GOP has become. When South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson shouted “you lie” during a 2009 speech to Congress by President Barack Obama, the obvious breach of etiquette brought a palpable hush across the chamber. GOP leaders quickly condemned Wilson and he later issued an apology. This year, GOP members’ jeering, interruptions and insults were nonstop, met only by whispered “shushes” from Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The worst was yet to come.
In what can only be described as a rant, disconnected from President Biden’s address, newly-elected Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered the official GOP response. Her hometown newspaper, the Arkansas Times, summed it up this way “a word salad of talking points and name calling, with some attempts at folksy relatability thrown in … light on policy, heavy on menace." What struck me was when Sanders said “The choice is between crazy and normal.” I guess she didn’t grasp the irony.
Sadly, this is what has become of the GOP, a party obsessed with personal insults and devoid of policy solutions. Why should we be surprised? Their party leader’s stock-in-trade is the insult — “Lyin’ Ted,” “Pocahontas,” “Low Energy Jeb,” etc. — a practice enthusiastically supported and practiced by MAGA voters. Had Sanders accurately described the choice before us, it would be between decency and vulgarity.
Joseph Cannisi
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