Thread by @MichaelSteele

1/8 As attention turns to the #MuellerTestimony I'm reminded of Sen. Margaret Chase Smith in her 1950 #DeclarationofConscience--a response to her party and the tactics of #McCarthyism--where she noted among other things "We are Republicans. But We are Americans first."

2/8 "It is as Americans that we express our concern with the growing confusion that threatens the security and stability of our country. Democrats and Republicans alike have contributed to that confusion.."

3/8 "Certain elements of the Republican Party have materially added to this confusion in the hopes of riding the Republican party to victory through the selfish political exploitation of fear, bigotry, ignorance, and intolerance."

4/8 "There are enough mistakes of the Democrats for Republicans to criticize constructively without resorting to political smears."

5/8 "I am not proud of the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled from this [Republican] side of the aisle."

6/8 "As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves."

7/8 "It is high time that we stopped thinking politically as Republicans and Democrats about elections and started thinking patriotically as Americans about national security based on individual freedom."

8/8 "It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques -- techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life."

It is high time indeed.