George,

The Party of Lincoln is dead, as is the party of T Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and GHW Bush.

Bob Dole knows it--even Sen. Barry Goldwater would be "primaried".

Sadly, the body snatchers of the extremist Tea Party and its ilk have taken control of the GOP banner and are wreaking havoc on a once great political party, but even more frightening, our Democracy!

So menacing are Tea Party "candidates," spineless Republicans led by their equally spineless leader,John Boehner are terrified of being "primaried" by the zealots of the right. They have seen first hand what happens if any sign of representative, progressive government is detected by the members of the Tea Party They come out of the woodwork en masse to defeat competent representatives like Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana defeated by "Legitimate Rape" Todd Akins in a primary.

They have seen Christine "I'm Not A Witch" O'Donnell defeat a GOP candidate who would have won in a walk, only to see a Democrat win; Richard Mourdoch in Illinois, Sharon Angle in Nevada, nominated by zealots only to fall to defeat in the general election. All losses for Republican lay-ups!

So we, as Americans, must suffer the consequences of cowards who only obstruct or write off almost half of America believing in Romney's 47%.

American history DID NOT begin on January 20, 2009,because of the right wing's palpable hatred of a black president.

American Democracy should not be destroyed in the 21st century by the followers of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Matt Drudge, ad nauseum.

Putting an "R" after your name should not be tantamount to lighting a fuse to destroy a nation!

I am reminded more of Munich in the 1930s than the United States of America in 2013!

Harry Tenney (Electronic mail, October 6, 2013)