Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), the freshman Democrat who defeated a Republican incumbent in 2008, and then became a star of the blogosphere and cable TV for his full-throated attacks against Republicans, has now gone down in crushing defeat, so soon after he burst onto the national scene.
With 160 of 239 precincts reporting, Republican former state Sen. Dan Webster leads Grayson 57.4%-39.2%, and has been projected as the winner by CNN and the Orlando Sentinel.
During his term in office, Grayson has become famous (or infamous) for his vitriolic attacks on Republicans, most notably his declaration that the Republican health care plan was for people who get sick to “die quickly.” He has also described Republicans as “knuckle-dragging neanderthals,” imagined Dick Cheney as a vampire with blood dripping from his teeth and turning into a bat, put out a very funny press release against Sarah Palin, and crashed a local Republican meeting in his district.
There were other times when he clearly crossed the line. In October 2009, he apologized for calling a female lobbyist a “K Street Whore.” More recently, he got in trouble with the media for an ad calling Webster “Taliban Dan,” which apparently took video Webster out of context.
It often seemed like Grayson putting on a piece of performance art, attacking Republicans with all the vitriol they normally use to attack Democrats, questioning their moral values and basic sense of humanity — and for this, people called him crazy.
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