Normally, I have absolutely no problem with Republican infighting and sniping, but this time, Rep. David Nunes (R-CA) went too far. The source of his target, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) the Paulist libertarian who has made himself into something of a pest in GOP ranks (including being a key player in the coup against the Drunk Weepy Oompa-Loompa last year and being a vocal NSA critic as well) and thus has drawn a formidable primary challenger in conservative investment manager Brian Ellis, who is getting lots of help back home and from establishment Republicans on Capitol Hill, including Nunes.
Sounds good for Ellis, right? Well, maybe not if Nunes makes comments like this:
"He's been leading the charge and not telling the truth about [NSA surveillance policies]," Nunes said in an interview with Politico. “He’s been fanning the flames, and it gets to the point where my assessment is this is a guy willing to work with San Francisco Democrats to protect bait fish, and at the same time he’s Al Qaeda’s best friend in the Congress."
Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude! "San Francisco Democrats" is enough to get the base all hot and bothered! You don't need to go the whole nine yards!
Needless to say, Josh Marshall does not approve and points out another angle to Nunes' slur:
Amash is a fairly doctrinaire libertarian. So not surprisingly he's very anti-NSA, anti-surveillance for a Republican. May or may not be your cup of tea. But perfectly legitimate positions. Amash is also Arab-American (of Christian Syrian and Palestinian extraction.) So it's a slur on a couple different counts.
Just so wrong on so many levels.
No kidding. Not a fan of Amash or anything, but jeez, tone it down, Davey.