When your political identity is wrapped up in the insane notion that Republicans don’t want to destroy you, it’s hard to engage in political warfare.

But you have to, Mr. President.  Your enemies have been given their marching orders by their corporate masters.  What do you stand for?

With an economically shell-shocked nation having just witnessed what seemed to this viewer like a thousand nauseating little speeches delivered (poorly!) by every corrupt Republican cretin and conservative political hack currently roaming the corridors of power in Washington D.C., is it possible that the mainstream media will stop pretending that the Rick Santelli-spawned teabagger movement of 2009 is anything other than a wholly-owned subsidiary of a terminally right-wing and borderline dangerous GOP bent on the ultimate destruction of all government programs that might conceivably benefit an American citizen not already filthy rich and obcenely happy (or at least one not mysteriously contented with finding enough home-grown enemies to fear and loathe as he or she makes his or her way to the bottom of the Spencerian economic supply-side heap created and maintained by Ronald Reagan and his twenty-first century wingnut descendants on and off Wall Street)?  Or are the crazy-ass teabaggers actually going to be running the Republican Party Political Asylum and Halfway House for Tax-Cut Addicted Capitalist Tools in perpetuity?

Bachmann’s Brigades are descending on the Capitol today to harass the Democrats about “Obama-care” or “Pelosi-care” or whatever it is they’re calling it this hour.  But the ‘baggers might be better off spending the afternoon examining the steaming legislative turd that Johnny Boner and the House Republicans have just dropped.  The CBO thinks Boner’s bill sucks:

The Democratic bill. . .covers 12 times as many people and saves $36 billion more than the Republican plan.  And amazingly, the Democratic bill has already been through three committees and a merger process.  It’s already been shown to interest groups and advocacy organizations and industry stakeholders.  It’s already made its compromises with reality.  It’s already been through the legislative sausage grinder.  And yet it saves more money and covers more people than the blank-slate alternative proposed by John Boehner and the House Republicans.  The Democrats, constrained by reality, produced a far better plan than Boehner, who was constrained solely by his political imagination and legislative skill.

This is the essence of teabaggerism.  All noise, no substance, no solutions.

. . . who is currently addressing Michele Bachmann’s “Teabagger Altamont” in front of the United States Capitol:

If you hate “socialism” so much, why aren’t you calling for the abolition of Medicare — which is socialism — rather than lying about the public option — which is not?

(Attention all devotees of Republican comedy: Turn on C-SPAN 3 right now.  These people are crazy!  And really, really stupid.)

It’s a good thing Sowell wasn’t part of Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation”.  He might have single-handedly lost us World War II.

In this gloomy NRO piece, Professor Debbie Downer more or less declares that Americans have no hope of getting health care costs under control, so why bother trying?  The “free market” must be served.

So just suck it up and die already!

In his concession speech after losing to Democrat Bill Owens in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, Republican-Conservative Doug Hoffman said:

“I hope what I have shown you and the rest of the world is that you don’t have to be polished, you don’t have to be poised and you don’t have to be a rock star to be a politician,” he said to supporters in Saranac Lake. “All of us can step up to the plate and do it, so let’s do it.”

Okay, Doug.  You don’t have to be polished.  But you don’t have to win, either.  If you’d like to win, you might want to show a passing interest in the problems of your district.  Righteous teabagger anger is a major turnoff for un-Hannitized voters.

The Republicans have a dilemma.  They need teabagger votes, but they can’t put up teabagger candidates.  They’ll go down in flames in all but the reddest of districts.

This is great news for progressives.  Teabaggers won’t like getting the short end of the stick from Republican corporatist bosses.  They’ll demand — and get — their share of extremist candidates, which will make it easier for liberals to get elected in swing districts.  A revitalized progressive movement might then start to purge the Democratic party of its most despicable Blue Dogs and begin shifting the “center” in American politics back to the left.

So I say to Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin and the usual gang of idiots: Let a thousand teabags swing!  You’re doing your country a great service.

To anyone interested in the character of public men, Joe Lieberman is the most contemptible politician of our time. 

Countless Senators and Congressmen — as we all know – have no principles.  (Integrity is not required to win an election.)  But even the most transparent hacks usually manage to conduct themselves with a modicum of dignity.  Sure, they’ll wet their beaks from time to time with a bit of honest graft.  They may even become shameless influence peddlers shortly after leaving office.  But how many of them actually go out of their way to fuck over their own constituents when they don’t have to?  And all out of spite and vanity?

Do you remember Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords?  He left the Republican Party to caucus with the Democrats.  The wingnuts are trashing him as a traitor to this day, but Jeffords never became the ridiculous cartoon character that Lieberman now is.

I still think Holy Joe will end up voting for cloture on the Democratic health care bill.  He’s not stupid enough (or brave enough) to risk being branded forever as the ultimate political scumbag.  But I’d have more respect for him if I thought his next career would be as a high-priced lobbyist.  At least then he’d be providing for his family. 

But Joe’s no cheap Republican crook.  He has loftier ambitions:

“Mr. Independent” will spend the rest of his life getting his pasty white ass kissed by the likes of Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and the unspeakably moronic morons at FOX and Friends. . . .

Oh, Joe!  Tell us again how you stood up to Barack Obama and the Democratic commies!

(Al Gore can’t be enjoying this spectacle.  No wonder he got out of politics.  He’s embarrassed at his ex-running mate — the evil spawn of Campaign 2000.)

In February they said Obama’s stimulus bill wouldn’t stimulate anything. 

Now they’re saying the economy is on an unsustainable “sugar high” due to government spending, and we need to start raising interest rates to slow things down. 

As Steve Liesman – one of the few sane commentators on the CNBC payroll — scornfully asked last night,  “Isn’t 10% unemployment high enough for you guys?”

Never, never, never, never, never give credence to the Wall Street economic talking heads you see on television.  They’re Republican political hacks who never met a tax cut that wouldn’t solve all our problems.

Blue Dog Democrats in the pocket of the insurance industry: 90%

Blue Dog Democrats who care about saving money for the taxpayers: 5%

“Centrist” Senators (Republican and Democrat) in the pocket of the insurance industry: 100%

“Centrist” Senators who care about saving money for the taxpayers: 0%

Chance that Joe Lieberman will support a Republican health care filibuster: 10%

Chance that Joe Lieberman will win re-election in 2012: 2%

Republicans Senators who would support a public option if the CBO said it would eliminate the deficit: 0%

Republican Congressmen who would support the same: 10%

Living Republican ex-presidents who have heard of the “opt-out” proposal on health care: 50%

Republican legislators who have ever given any serious thought to health care reform: 20%

Proportion of said legislators who are currently reading only from the Frank Luntz anti-Obama political playbook: 95%

Bill O’Reilly viewers receiving Medicare benefits: 75%

Bill O’Reilly viewers strongly opposed to a “government takeover” of health care: 99%

Who died and left this drama queen the Republican capo di tutti capi?  That pulled-back hairdo of hers must be affecting the flow of oxygen to her brain:

I plan to continue to work with centrists to make improvements to the bill, whether I support it or not.  I will certainly work toward that end.  But it sends an unfortunate message about how people deal with bipartisanship.  It’s regrettable in terms of abandoning bipartisanship, for all practical purposes here.  That’s the sad truth from it all in what’s happened.  It truly is a sad commentary on the political system today and where we stand.  [Emphasis added]

How did this country ever manage to govern itself before Olympia Snowe arrived in Washington to represent the entire goddamned Republican Party and all the ships at sea?

What a pompous toolette.