New York Times columnist Joe Nocera [1] on Tuesday viciously attacked Tea Party Republicans as "terrorists" who wore a "suicide vests" during the debt ceiling debate.
Continuing the paper's habit of comparing congressional GOP members to murderers, Nocera derided:
You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists. It only encourages them.
These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people. Their intransigent demands for deep spending cuts, coupled with their almost gleeful willingness to destroy one of America's most invaluable assets, its full faith and credit, were incredibly irresponsible. But they didn't care. Their goal, they believed, was worth blowing up the country for, if that's what it took.
Nocera actually managed to top those inflammatory comments by closing:
For now, the Tea Party Republicans can put aside their suicide vests. But rest assured: They'll have them on again soon enough. After all, they've gotten so much encouragement.
These types of hyperbolic statements are not uncommon at the Times. On July 24, columnist Nicholas Kristof [2] used similar language. Also speaking of the Tea Party, he declared, "Well, wake up to the national security threat. Only it's not coming from abroad, but from our own domestic extremists."
Kristof insisted that the biggest threat to America "comes from budget machinations, and budget maniacs, at home."
On July 4th, 2011, another columnist, David Brooks [3], proclaimed the Tea Party has "no sense of moral decency."
Finally, on July 27, columnist Thomas Friedman [4] referred to the group of conservatives as the "Hezbollah faction" of the GOP.