Gee, how -- surprising.

Ah, the predictable event. Right winger Paglia writes her column, and the right wingers and "independents" write in to say "yeah, you go Camille!" and Rush Limbaugh says "see? Even big liberals like Paglia agree with me!"

For god's sake just publish some openly right wing extremist. Give Bill O'Rielly a column. At least then it would just be honest, and not this nonsense that people like Limbaugh point to (that's an actual quote from him above) as evidence that "even the liberals" secretly agree with his wingnut views.

His decision to join was made before the Republicans had developed their new stance of being complete obstructionists, devoted to blocking anything that the new President does to try to get us out of the mess that they created along with Bush.

Gregg must have realized that he'd be out of style for years, as a non-obstructionist and non-totally partisan Republican, if he actually followed through now.

I really can't wait until the 2010 election, it should make the last one look like a close call.

What happened in the elections in both 2006 and 2008, the drubbing the Republicans have gotten there and in so many other ways, the rejection of their embrace of extreme right wing stances (and candidates, like the joke that was Sarah Palin)-- it's an ongoing process.

They pay lip-service to acknowledging that they "got a real thumpin" at the time it happens, at least some of them do, but in practice they refuse to acknowledge the reality of any of it and act like they're representing the mainstream still.

This is helped along by the media enablers of course, who tell them, and us, about how it's a "center-right" country all the time, and of course in the minds of the GOP congress members, with their definition of "right" falling in the extreme fringes, this means someone like, well, like George Bush.

They haven't gotten it yet. Is my point. Their tone-deaf response to this stimulus bill is clear evidence of that. I mean it's a beautiful thing to watch, in a way, President Obama now looks like someone who tried to reach out and really be bi-partisan, and the Republicans look like the same lockstep right wingers that they have for years. The Rush Limbaugh episode was perfect, saying that he hopes that the President, and thus the country, fails, something that was underlined by the GOP member who dared to oppose this and then instantly groveled at Limbaugh's feet asking for forgiveness. Thus Limbaugh's stance became the GOP's stance, it was made very clear.

They're blind as bats, but it's just going to take a while. 2010 should make the 2008 elections look close by comparison.

could take a subject laden with intrinsic humor and make such a boring, wooden, awkward sketch out of it.

It seems to be their specialty, and a brief look around the blogosphere shows that most agree.

I kept wanting to laugh because it's so true and the actual stance of the Republicans so laughable, but this thing was truly amazing in its ability to drain any humor from the whole idea.

Having said that, I'm always glad that people at large are seeing the Republicans as I am right now: utterly tone deaf and leading themselves off a cliff, smiling.

Cynical wrote:

I' m puzzled

No offense but why is a governor with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country considered an economic guru?

The same reason that when Alan Greenspan speaks now people still hang on every word.

The same reason that GOP congress members are still listening to Rush Limbaugh. The same reason that John McCain is still a respected Senator and has an influential voice in politics.

The same reason that the media talk shows are still loaded with conservatives whose views got us into this disaster, discussing what they think we should do next.

Your nickname says it all, basically.

You didn't particularly like the movie "Dark Knight" but spent a significant portion of a column expressing mild outrage that it wasn't given awards? Or wasn't nominated for awards?

A "Batman" movie, one of a long, endlessly long, string inspired by a comic book, which you also admit is not even very good, should take home the Oscars? Or the nominations, at least?

I think we need a good old fashioned article about what a silly place Hollywood, and I most definitely include this kind of critic in that umbrella term, has become. Just the usual, you know, what a commercially-driven adolescent-taste-oriented wasteland it all is. Sort of thing. It seemed we had had enough of those sort of diatribes but this makes me think we need to resurrect the art form.

Stephanie Zacharek, by the way, didn't like "The Dark Knight" either. If she, one of my favorite film critics, maybe my favorite, now writes a column expressing outrage that it wasn't given more awards or nominations, that does it, I am definitely switching channels. Somehow I doubt very seriously that she will, however.