Obama: "Can we negotiate our way to a middle-ground here, folks?"

Boner: "No. You have to do it my way or I'm gonna cry and whine and pout and go on the news programs and talk about putting terrorists in the heart of liberal, gay San Francisco."

Obama: "Hey dickhead, I won the election and I have enough votes to pass whatever bill I want. I was giving you a chance to look like a statesman instead of a tool."

Apparently, the GOP leadership would rather posture for their base than look like statesmen, since Obama will, in fact, get whatever stimulus package he wants, whether they sign on or not. And he's already prepared folks for the fact that we're not going to see very much improvement for a while yet, so it will be some time before Boehner, et.al. can start their "I told you so" song and dance. At some point, these guys are gonna realize they're not dealing with doofus Harry Reid anymore.

Why in the world would the GOP want to get rid of this guy? He bends over and grabs his ankles (apparently one of Rushbo's favorite fantasies) on every issue of substance. He's as far from a "leader" as you could possibly get, and if the Republican campaign helps rid us of this mope, I daresay I'd owe them a debt of gratitude.

Good lord. Can someone from the Left please go over this bill and urge the deletion of anything that provides one penny of benefit to any pet conservative project or any entity residing in a wholly republican congressional district? We can cut the total bill AND screw these petty bastards in the process. A win-win if ever there was one.

These schmucks want to play games? Where's Rhambo? It's time to show them how foolish it is to bring a knife to a gunfight!

Remember, though, that Limbaugh has about 13 million listeners a week. Listeners that proudly call themselves ditto-heads for their blind adherence to his every utterance.

I forwarded the original piece to an otherwise intelligent friend of the conservative/libertarian pursuasion who still asserts that there is a great silent conservative majority out there (presumably led by el Rushbo) who will seek retribution against Congressional reps who vote for the giant socialist program that is the stimulus package.

Of course, I referred him to the vote totals of 4 November, but the point is that these folks are highly motivated and vote as much more of a bloc than liberals ever do.

I believe this illustrates an essential difference between liberals and conservatives in today's "culture war" mentality.

Andrew, you don't have to justify liking both Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd. You are smart enough to separate the artist's political views from his art.

I enjoy the hell out of cranking old Ted Nugent tunes at maximum volume, despite the fact that the Nuge is a just-barely-out-of-the-slime retrograde excuse for a human being. I enjoy Dennis Miller's comedy and snark, despite his conversion to the dark side once he was able to put a couple coins in his own purse. I've always thought that Ron Silver was a fine actor. I wouldn't think of depriving myself of enjoying a fine piece of art just because the person who created it held political/social views far apart from my own.

Not so the fundamentalist wing of modern American conservatism, which loves nothing more than boycotting some author/actor/musician solely because that artist espouses a liberal thought. I give you, as Exhibit A: The Dixie Chicks.

So continue to enjoy "Sweet Home Alabama" without guilt. Truth be told, I'm pretty sure ol' Neil would be more than willing to sit down with them boys for a beer any time (and that they'd actually be happy to have him 'round).