Craziest Republican of the Day: Dan Maes

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Chait's right: "Another Day, Another Whackjob." (That's what we help keep track of here at The Reaction with our ongoing Craziest Republican series.) The mind is boggled:

Today it's Colorado gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are "converting Denver into a United Nations community.

"This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed," Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial.

Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor's efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes "that's exactly the attitude they want you to have."

"This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms," Maes said.

You have to be wary of selective anecdotes, but it sure seems that instances of non-marginal Republican candidates or elected officials saying crazy things are on the upswing. It's a barometer of the Republican Party's descent into madness.

Got that? This guy isn't some fringe player in the GOP, he's quite possibly the Republican candidate for governor of Colorado -- the primary is on Aug. 10, and he has a good shot at winning it.

And this very mainstream Republican thinks that bike riding is part of some anti-American plot to subvert freedom and destroy America.

Paranoia? Craziness? You betcha... but pretty much par for the course in today's GOP.

The Republican descent into madness seems to be taking place in a bottomless pit.