A defense for Blagojevich

From me? Hell, no.

I look forward to Blagojevich and his attorneys pleading undiagnosed bipolar, and his behavior is so far out there that this might actually be true. True, but not exculpatory.

I suspect he'll do some time. Maybe he'll still be wondering what's in it for him.

Two Senators

Gloria Borger takes John Boehner to task for whinging about the size of the stimulus that President-elect Barack Obama is already working toward.

[W]hen House Minority Leader John Boehner gripes, as he did Sunday in a same-old, same-old refrain that "the American people know that more Washington spending isn't the answer," the logical response is: OK, what do you suggest? Obama has already suggested tax cuts for the middle class, so you can't start with that. Got anything better to offer?

No, sorry. True as far as it goes, but Boehner is completely irrelevant. Why is Borger even quoting him? The logical response is, "Shut up." We don't need him. We don't want him. We've had waaay too much of his so-called ideas. He has a choice that hardly matters to policy: Vote against the stimulus and hope it fails or vote for it and try to steal some credit.

I hope that Obama will call Congress into session on the afternoon of Inauguration Day itself for final passage of the stimulus. If the Republicans want to filibuster that extraordinary event, broadcast live and worldwide, let 'em try. Even if we lose in both Minnesota and Georgia, we only need two Republican Senators, and it would be my guess that in the whole Republican caucus, there are at least two GOPers who don't want to be on the wrong side of this one.

And the media need to learn that psychotically ideological extremists like John Boehner are out of power. They might as well quote some alcoholic dickhead ranting along with talk radio. Oh, yeah, they still do that.

I'm outta here

Gloria Borger is going on vacation in August, and by god, we'd better go, too. None of this messy politics stuff - "candidate noise" - while she's gone. Instead, the August lull is her eternal verity. After all, she wants to be in on trivializing whatever comes up, and she can't be expected to do that from the beach, can she?

Really, her piece is so superficial that I'd say she was already mailing it in except that that's what senior political analysts do for a living. I wish I had such an easy job. As it is, I can do hers and mine, too. Without a vacation.

C'mon, CNN, how about a sinecure for me, too? Feed the hand that bites you! I'll take whatever Borger makes, and I'll give you a minimum of 500 words every day. And I won't channel the conventional wisdom. I'd even excise 'fuck' and the much-loved 'bullshit' from my on-line vocabulary.