"Inappropriate"

John Boehner's lengthy denunciation of Rush Limbaugh for calling a 30-year old Harvard Georgetown law student a "slut" and a "prostitute" for her views on women's health issues, and suggested that in exchange for her health care insurance paying for birth control she put tapes of herself having sex on the Internet, is profoundly moving.

On Friday, the House speaker, John A. Boehner, called the Limbaugh comments “inappropriate.” Rick Santorum, the former senator whose run for the Republican presidential nomination has thrust social conservatism into the spotlight, told CNN that Mr. Limbaugh was “being absurd.”

Who knew Santorum is such a fan of  post-modernism?

And the wingnut chorus outrage is simply profound.

Counterpunching

Some guy at Balloon Juice cautions against too much triumphalism in the wake of the Komen retreat.

But none of this will change the fact that the Republican party’s policy and message are increasingly alienating to everyone who’s not a white, straight, Tebow-fearing, older man. If anything, the Republicans’ ability to drive their message is only speeding the process up. Steve M:

This right-wing wealth machine is formidable. We won’t really have a democracy as long as such a thing can have the undue influence it has on our politics. I’m not sure our side can beat it—the best we can hope is that it beats itself. And, given the uglier nature of the GOP primaries, which really should be effectively over by now but aren’t, maybe that’s precisely what’s happening. 

It doesn’t feel so good to admit that there is no chance to advance progressive policy at the national level for the foreseeable future (though as someone who thinks ACA is the most important progressive legislation of my lifetime, I don’t feel that bad about this). It would be great if Democrats could throw our country a life-line, but probably the best we can do right now is throw the Republicans an anvil.

Calling their bluff?

Did McConnell just offer to release the hostages?

This would be an astonishing turnaround and surely represents a combination of Obama's reminding the GOP that Social Security checks are a powerful thing and the business lobbyists' hair catching on fire.

Double reverse Stockholm Syndrome

One of the advantages of having too much work is that it is difficult for me to knee-jerkingly react to things throughout the day. It allows me to ruminate before I bloviate...and that's a good thing.

Anyway, it has been alternatively depressing and amusing to watch the anger and see the declarations of liberals Who. Will. Never. Vote. For. That. Man. Again. I mean, check out the comments here. I've seen teenage girls react more calmly to being disinvited from the mean girls' table at the cafeteria. I too was...unsurprised... by the announcement of "the deal" last night. But as smarter observers have pointed out throughout the afternoon, rather than Obama being held hostage and cozying up to his captors, Republicans may have been held hostage to their devotion to preserving the wealth of the rich.

Blinded by estate tax sugarplums, the GOP gave Obama something he -- and the country -- desperately needs: more stimulus for the economy. Now, yes, this is not the greatest form of that -- frankly, I don't know what the rich will do with their $700 billion, but it won't go to repairing crumbling bridges or ya know, hiring anyone -- but it is something that the GOP would otherwise refuse to give Obama. They want the economy to limp along for two more years. They want him to fail. But, like Pavlov's dogs, with the prospect of getting a tax break for the Koch brothers the GOP's drool got in the way of their obstructionism.

And for those who would have preferred Obama "stand and fight" and refuse to accept such a deal, please contact Chuck Schummer, Joe Lieberman, that dick from Nebraska, and the other Democratic senators who opposed letting the cut expire for their key constituents on Wall Street. The House bill restoring the cuts for the "middle class" and letting them expire for the wealthiest did not have the votes to overcome the threat of a filibuster in the Senate.

Oh, and ask someone who has been unemployed for more than a year what they think about the restoration of unemployment benefits.

So, now. Let's fix the tax code to make some dent in the wealth disparity in this country. A clever enough plan will surely fool the Republicans -- they may be brilliant when it comes to political bullying, but math ain't their strong suit.

Careful what we wish for

I know I should be thrilled that Republicans, in Jonathan Chait's words, are "reap[ing] the whirlwind" of the red meat they've sowed for 18 months. In Nevada and now in Delaware, Republican primary voters have nominated candidates so extreme that it's turned what looked like a coast to two Senate seats for Republicans into something...else.

But the fact that Republicans -- in Delaware of all places -- have determined that sending a certified nut case to represent them in the Senate gives me pause. The fact that she may still win is disturbing.

That said, maybe these developments will begin to erase some of that "enthusiasm gap," we've heard so much about.

Yahoo is for yahoos

I'm seriously thinking of changing my home page.

Limbaugh's favs

Way back in April Rush Limbaugh spoke with Fox's Neil Cavuto.

During an interview Wednesday with Neil Cavuto, conservative radio king (and prime partisan target) Rush Limbaugh was asked to name his favorite "up-and-coming Republicans." Limbaugh's answer: two leading potential Republican presidential candidates in 2010 (and also prime Democratic targets).

"I -- I like the kind of things I am hearing out of Governor [Mark] Sanford from South Carolina," Rush said. "I have always admired Governor [Sarah] Palin. I don't think people have any idea what it's like to walk in her shoes, after what she has been through with the media coverage. But she doesn't back down."