Bill Moyers: Tea Partiers 'have sucked the last bit of soul' from GOP

Bill Moyers laid into Republicans in a blistering critique on Moyers & Company on Friday, particularly former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), whom he accused of using his platform as a CNN host to egg the party on in the ongoing government shutdown in spite of its harmful effects on the U.S.

"At least let's name this for what it is -- sabotage of the democratic process. Secession by another means." Moyers said. "And let's be clear about where such reckless ambition leads. As surely as night must follow day, the alternative to democracy is worse."

Meanwhile, Tea Party Republicans and their rich supporters, Moyer argued, have "sucked the last bit of soul from the Grand Old Party of Abraham Lincoln," turning them first delusional, then rabid, with the aid of conservative mouthpieces like Fox News and "multi-millionaire fabulist" Rush Limbaugh.

Moyers also blasted the GOP for taking their opposition to the Affordable Care Act -- and related demands -- to extremes that threaten to damage the U.S. as a whole.

"When the president refused to buckle to their extortion, they threw their tantrum," Moyers said. "Like the die-hards of the racist South a century and a half ago, who would destroy the Union before giving up their slaves, so would these people burn the place down, sink the ship of state, and sow economic chaos to get their way. This says it all: they even shuttered the Statue of Liberty."

Watch Moyers call the Republicans out, as aired on Moyers & Company on Friday, below.