Virginia Foxx’s batshit crazy, homophobic, denialism on the floor of the House yesterday regarding the torture and murder of Matt Shepherd for being gay really is one of the most obscene things I’ve seen from any Republican, let alone an elected official, I can ever recall taking place. This is what passes for acceptable in the modern Republican party. As a result, it’s no wonder that women, working class Americans, minorities, and educated people are all running away from them in droves.

I read a lot of chatter on Republican blogs like RedState and The Next Right about how they can rebuild their party and restore their electoral success of the 1990s and early 2000s. There’s often talk about being more conservative, more principled, and more clear with voters about what they stand for. What is rarely discusses is how poisonous the ideas of a significant part of their party truly are. There’s no doubt that the bile and venom we’ve seen thrown out by the likes of Foxx, Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, and a few other leaders of the Republican Party are, indeed, forcing voters away from them. Unless and until Republicans find a way to excise the cancer that is the hatred-driven wing of their party, they will only be assured their well-deserved place as they become a regional party incapable of influencing the national agenda. America is better than this sort of sickening crap and it’s truly shameful that the Republican Party does not grasp the character of our country and what we will and will not tolerate when it comes to hatred.