I've been asked a handful of times why I hate Republicans so much. I didn't used to, actually, but something changed my life. My old story – entirely true – was that in the run-up to the Iraq war (quite possibly right after it began) a TV news anchor (the morning/afternoon desk jockeys, not a prime time political pundit) asked a respected former U.N. weapons inspector with an impeccable record a question that jolted me right down to my bones.

The first words out of this supposed journalist's mouth – in the supposed liberal media – were "why do you hate America".

That was somehow justified because this former expert weapons inspector said – correctly – that Iraq didn't have any weapons of mass destruction. In that warped reality, telling the absolute but inconvenient truth for some is literally equal to hating America.

Every liberal has at one time or another endured being called a traitor, having their patriotism questioned, asked why they hate America and then flatly told that they hate the troops, all for the crime of opposing an unnecessary and heinous war with legitimate grievances.

I used to hate Republicans because they showed themselves to be evil, manipulative bastards that would use love for country and a wish to see our military succeed as a weapon against their own people. Not because they believed the bullshit they were peddling was actually true, but to cover their own asses, to hide their contributions to our global mistakes that have gotten more American soldiers killed – in Iraq, this isn't counting Afghanistan – than all the people killed in the World Trade Center attacks combined.

But now I've got a new story to tell, by way of John Cole from Media Matters. This is now officially why I hate Republicans today. They've graduated from evil bastards to sub-human monsters:

At yesterday's health care summit, Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY-28) related this story from one of her constituents:

I even have one constituent -- you will not believe this, and I know you won't, it's true. Her sister died, this poor woman had no dentures. She wore her dead sister's teeth, which of course were uncomfortable and did not fit. Do you believe that in America that that's where we would be?

What was the reaction from leading members of the conservative media?

• On Twitter, Michelle Malkin wrote: "We need trillion-$ Demcare cuz someone had to wear their sister's dentures! O: "Terrific conversation""
• On his radio program, Glenn Beck stated, "I've read the Constitution ... I didn't see that you had a right to teeth."
• Author and radio host Laura Ingraham told Bill O'Reilly that Slaughter's tale was "ridiculous" and a "sob story."
• Fox Nation, the website maintained by the Fox News Channel, labeled Slaughter's comments "Summit Insanity."

I don't care to squabble over subjective definitions of what it is to be an American or a patriot. That doesn't matter. These people are not even human beings anymore. What happened them? There are people who have suffered unimaginable horrors in their lives that, in a way, justifies their irrational behavior. Rape, sexual molestation, torture, the hell of war, and whatever else you can imagine.

Even people who have been through those things have not surrendered their humanity in the way that Republicans have in the last couple of years. And for what? To block Democratic attempts to make sure every American can get health insurance so that they don't have to go bankrupt in order to see a doctor when they are sick?

That's an amazing price for losing your humanity.

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