Texas Republicans plot ouster of Jewish Republican House Speaker, want "true Christian leader" to take over

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Add this to the growing pile of evidence that bigotry is rampant in the Republican Party, and especially among the Teabaggers:

Last month, several Tea Party activists formed a right-wing coalition to oust Rep. Joe Straus (R) as Texas House Speaker. They began circulating emails with anti-Semitic messages against Straus, who is Jewish. The groups ran robo-calls and sent out e-mails demanding a "true Christian leader," and calling Straus' opponent, Rep. Ken Paxton (R), "a Christian Conservative who decided not to be pushed around by the Joe Straus thugs."

Last week, the Texas Observer's Abby Rapoport reported that she had obtained an email exchange between two members of the Texas State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) -- Rebecca Williamson and John Cook. "We elected a house with Christian, conservative values. We now want a true Christian, conservative running it," Cook said in one of the emails.

I could add this to our "Craziest Republican of the Day" series, or even to our "Elephant Dung" (tracking the GOP civil war) series, but this is isn't craziness or an example of how Republicans are at each other's throats, it's explicit anti-Semitism as a matter of desired party policy.

Cook later told Rapoport that he's "not bigoted at all" and "not racist," claimed (as bigots often do) that "some of [his] best friends" are Jewish, and explained that it's not about Jews or Muslims or whether he thinks "their religion is right," but even on the record, to a reporter, he was explicit about his agenda:

I got into politics to put Christian conservatives into office. They're the people that do the best jobs over all.

And that's not bigotry... how?

Ladies and gentlemen, once more, your 2010 Republican Party!