Former Republican Congressman blasts his party

It's great to see some practicality and sanity from the Republican Party, with Bob Inglis calling out those who question whether President Obama was born in the United States or not.

From The Huffington Post:

Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) offered a candid criticism of the House Republican leadership and other members of his party in a C-SPAN appearance on Thursday.

Inglis -- who was defeated in his bid for re-election in a primary runoff last month -- took aim at House Minority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor.

"I think that to some extent, we're getting what we deserve," Inglis said of Republican efforts to appease the conservative wing of the GOP. "We have basically decided to stir up a base and that's a bad decision for the country. Because the country needs people here serving in Washington to say, 'listen let's lead and let's help people understand.'"

Inglis also signaled his belief that "the Birther matter" creates a big credibility problem for Republicans when asked to speak to recent news that Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) expressed support for lawsuits challenging President Obama's eligibility:

As to the Birther matter, let me be clear. The president is obviously a citizen of the United States... So, really we do lose credibility when we spend time talking about such things. Why do we do that? We do it because we want to vilify the other side. We want to make them into the big bad guys.

(For his part, Vitter has sought to bat back the speculation about those birther rumors saying that the media mischaracterized his statements on the matter.)

The criticism from Inglis comes on the heels of remarks he made last week firing at a false and now-infamous suggestion from ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin that enacting health care reform would lead to "death panels" -- a mechanism for rationing care.

"To encourage that kind of fear is just the lowest form of political leadership," Inglis said. "It's not leadership. It's demagoguery."

Inglis blasts Congressional Republican leadership: