This from the leader of a Democratic caucus whose members are now referring to each other as “brain dead” and shills for the insurance industry.

Distract, Nancy. Distract like the wind!

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is raising money for Democratic campaigns with an appeal to counter Republicans’ “outrageous smears” on healthcare.

In a fundraising appeal sent out Thursday, Pelosi (D-Calif.) set a goal of raising $100,000 by the end of August, saying it would demonstrate public support for President Barack Obama’s health initiative.

“The August fundraising deadline is our last chance to show the grassroots momentum behind real reform before Congress returns to Washington, D.C.,” Pelosi wrote…

“The only ‘smears’ in this debate are the intra-party attacks in Speaker Pelosi’s own caucus, not to mention her own offensive remarks assailing concerned citizens as ‘un-American,'” said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Paul Lindsay. “Democrats need to start facing the fact that they have lost August and, with it, any hope of reviving an unpopular government-run healthcare plan.”

I’m not going to run through the endless mob/racist/terrorist invective being excreted by congressional Democrats or even Madam Speaker’s longstanding habit of calling her opponents “un-American” — we’ve been through it umpteen times over the years — but do note that it was Pelosi who ushered in the demagoguery of the last few weeks with her caricature of “villainous, immoral insurance companies” back on July 30. She set the tone and it’s been downhill ever since. Enjoy the ride, progressives.

Oh, incidentally, have we mentioned yet today that the new report from the CIA inspector general confirms that she lied shamelessly about whether she was briefed on waterboarding in 2002? Add the agency to the mountain of people and groups she’s smeared over the years.