Ronald Reagan's famous 11th amendment dictum – Thou Shall Not Speak Ill of a Fellow Republican – has fallen out of favor over the years, but it seems to be in classic form these days inside the GOP.
Who could forget the opprobrium that Newt Gingrich received for having the temerity to cast aspersions on one of the party's golden boys this year – Paul Ryan – of whom the former House Speaker said of his plan to dismantle Medicare that it was "social engineering" from the right. The last we heard from Newt recently was that he was somewhere between Greece and Turkey (seriously).
The latest official in the party to get slapped down is longtime operative Ed Rollins, who is now in hang dog mode after he ripped on Sarah Palin on Tuesday.
This article appears in Jun 9-15, 2011.