Some Of Us Aren't Stupid

I've been watching President Obama get his economic recovery bill more or less exactly as he asked for, while my tv has been full of Republicans wooing the talking heads for the last few weeks, complaining about the lack of "bipartisanship" and now crowing about how they made a stand. It's all been getting on my nerves. What do they think "bipartisanship" is, anyway? Just because you get a seat at the table, it doesn't mean that anyone has to actually accept any of your lousy ideas!

Then today, a friend directed me to Frank Rich's column in today's Times:

Just as in the presidential campaign, Obama has once again outwitted the punditocracy and the opposition. The same crowd that said he was a wimpy hope-monger who could never beat Hillary or get white votes was played for fools again.

Yeah, I thought so, too. I learned during the campaign to not doubt Obama, and he came through again, getting a stimulus package about when he wanted it, with about the amount of money he wanted. The Republicans look like the party of "No!", and the average American is starting to see through their rhetoric ever more clearly. So what the hell are the Repugs celebrating about?

Beats the hell outta me. They're becoming more and more irrelevant to the needs and dreams of average Americans, and need I remind you that even using Rent-A-Negro©, last summer's Repug convention could only muster 36 black faces? They're looking less and less like the country and more like a country club, as America becomes a diverse nation.

As the GOP blusters and whines, are they making any progress towards a compelling, alternate vision for America? I don't see any signs of it. What I do see is a scared, out of touch group of old white men, afraid of change and bemoaning their loss of power. Too bad they're not smart enough to figure out just exactly why they're the minority party now.

I watched to Bill Maher last night on Larry King, and he had a cogent remark about the GOP: "They looked to the future and they found radio." The Repugs are so far removed from the mainstream that they're already comparing their situation to 1994, when they took over Congress. Eric Cantor thinks he's Newt Gingrich--ohh, puh-leese! But I hope they keep drinking their own kool-aid into the midterm elections in 2010. It'll be a slaughter.

And btw, what in hell was a shill from townhall.com doing on MSNBC this morning? I nearly lost my breakfast!