It appears when the GOP gets scared it’s going to lose power, anything is fair game. Anyone remember Willie Horton? How about Osama pictured with Max Cleland? How about using Iraq and/or terrorism as a bargaining chip with the general public? As hideous as all these are, there are further depths of depravity yet to be plumbed. Oh yes.

You may have seen one of the Michael J. Fox ads running in various states urging voters to elect candidates who support stem cell research. Some of you may have followed Fox’s story closely, as I have. His last television series was “Spin City,” and my wife and I used to watch it regularly. After Fox announced his battle with Parkinson’s, it was easy to see the devastating effects it was having on his body. His movements were sometimes exaggerated, and he always seemed to have to steady himself by having something in one of his hands — a coffee mug, a notebook. “Boston Legal” is another show my wife and I watch regularly, and we were both surprised when Fox appeared in a few episodes as a guest star. The deterioration in his condition was fairly obvious to us, but we were both happy to see that he was still well enough to once again return to a television series, if only temporarily, since he had noted he would not be returning to television when he left “Spin City.”

Fast forward to yesterday, when that ultra slimy, right-wing apologist and drug addict Rush Limbaugh had the audacity to tell his listeners the following:

Now, this is Michael J. Fox. He’s got Parkinson’s disease. And in this commercial, he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He is moving all around and shaking. And it’s purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has. I know he’s got it and he’s raising money for it, but when I’ve seen him in public, I’ve never seen him betray any of the symptoms. But this commercial, he — he’s just all over the place. He can barely control himself. He can control himself enough to stay in the frame of the picture, and he can control himself enough to keep his eyes right on the lens, the teleprompter. But his head and shoulders are moving all over the place, and he is acting like his disease is deteriorating because Jim Talent opposes research that would help him, Michael J. Fox, get cured.

He’s ACTING folks. This is what Limbaugh, obviously a physician with years of medical experience treating Parkinson’s patients, had to say about Fox’s “performance.” This was not someone suffering from the devastating effects of a disease that afflicts 4 million people worldwide urging voters to support candidates that would fund research for a cure. Of course not. This was an actor who was being used by the Democrats to elect Democratic candidates in key races.

How disgusting, how low, how un-civilized can you get? How much will people take of this before they say, “enough?” I’m looking through some of the comments in blogs and people say, “well, he was shaking hands and looking very still when he walked into the room to tape that…” Are you kidding me? I cannot begin to believe that these people would even attempt to justify Limbaugh’s hateful comments. This man is suffering from a disease that he (and his family) has to live with each and every day. Fox had to basically give up his career due to Parkinson’s. And when the GOP closes the door on his hopes, and the hopes of four million other people for a cure, is it not right for him to stand up and say, “it’s up to you folks… please help?”

This increasingly hostile level of discourse can, at least in modern times, be placed squarely at the feet of Lee Atwater, but I blame Newt, Rove, and Bush for this recent, most poisonous round.

This administration is always one to have its henchmen do the dirty work. It has learned the lessons of Atwater very well. From push-polling during the McCain/Bush faceoff, to torture at Abu Gharib, this administration sets the policy at the top, then sets its minions off to conduct the finer points of this malice of forethought. But let there be no doubt, this party rots from the head down, and one need not look too far back to see one particularly shining example. On September 11, 2006, just a little over a month ago, George W. Bush spoke these words from the Oval Office:

On this solemn anniversary, we rededicate ourselves to this cause. Our nation has endured trials, and we face a difficult road ahead. Winning this war will require the determined efforts of a unified country, and we must put aside our differences and work together to meet the test that history has given us. We will defeat our enemies. We will protect our people. And we will lead the 21st century into a shining age of human liberty.

Less than ONE MONTH later, on October 2nd, he said the following words while campaigning for a Republican congressional candidate:

There is a difference of opinion in Washington. If you listen closely to some of the leaders of the Democrat Party, it sounds like — it sounds like they think the best way to protect the American people is, wait until we’re attacked again.

This is a sitting president, who is characterizing the opposition party’s differences with his policies as “the best way to protect the American people is wait until we’re attacked again.” If this is the kind of mixed message that’s coming from the top of the Republican party, is it any wonder so many of its members are so misled, confused and angry?