As the Republican Party becomes increasingly dominated by an implacably anti-Obama far-right fringe, it’s becoming difficult for even mainstream GOPers to avoid endorsing the loonier rhetoric of the Tea Party wing.
Consider Ed Martin, a former chief of staff to Missouri governor Matt Blunt, who’s mounted a strong bid to challenge Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) in the fall. This weekend, Martin campaigned at a Tea Party rally at the Arch in St. Louis, and his campaign posted photographs of the event on his official website. Most of the pictures are unremarkable. But a few show people expressing sentiments that — though perhaps not so unusual for a Tea Party event — might raise some eyebrows when they’re being promoted by a serious candidate for Congress.
In one photo, which you can see here, a man holds a sign captioned “Presidential Advisors.” Along with President Obama himself, the image depicts Josef Stalin, Karl Marx, Fidel Castro, and Mao. Next to the man, a woman holds another sign, which shows Obama speaking in front of an American flag — but the stars on the flag have been replaced by a Soviet-style hammer and sickle.
In the other photo — viewable here — an angry-looking woman holds a sign that condemns “Obama’s Marxist Way,” which is said to involve “dictatorship,” “suppression,” “disenfranchisement,” and, oddly, “sheep.” This is contrasted with the “American Way,” which is said to involve “God and the individual,” “personal humility and dignity,” “principles,” and other good things.
(The woman may be on to something in claiming that sheep don’t represent the American Way: According to U.N. figures, the U.S. is the world’s largest producer of cattle meat, but only the 18th-largest producer of sheep meat, behind such countries as Kazakhstan, Syria, Sudan, and Morocco.)
Martin is no fringe candidate. Politico reported recently that he started the year with nearly as much money as the incumbent Carnahan. It added that the respected analyst Charlie Cook recently moved the seat, once held by Dick Gephardt, from safely Democratic to “likely Democratic.”
Martin’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the he endorses the sentiments in the photos.
H/t Fired Up Missouri, which asks, “is this the ‘new normal’ for Republican candidates?”
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