it's also true that the Republican party has changed in the last few years. It has gone from a party which was dominated by its extremist wing to a party that consists only of its extremist wing. A string of election defeats of so-called "moderate" Republicans has left the party stripped to its Southern, white, racist, and xenophobic core. And, as the party has become more sectarian the racism and xenophobia -- important aspects of Republican talking points over the last couple of decades even if coded -- have become more prominent in Republican discourse.

What we're witnessing is something extraordinary and which occurs in American politics only once every three or four generations, the meltdown and probable demise of a major political party. Barring some catastrophic string of events I cannot foresee Republicans winning national elections or even doing well outside of their base states. How long will it be before centrists and conservatives in States outside of the Old Confederacy give up on the Republicans once and for all and start casting in new directions? Not long, I wager.

Y'all think that the bitee is grateful that his medical expensies are covered by Medicare?

Congress hasn't been in session during the latest Republican hate-athon but I'm not certain that it would have made much difference had the members been in Washington. Historically, the Democrats have been notoriously feeble in responding to attacks like these.

But, their silence is correctly perceived by Republicans and by the rest of the country as weakness. The adage that the best way to deal with a bully is to punch him in the nose has never been truer. And another adage is equally true: sunshine is the best disinfectant. If I were advising Democrats I'd tell them to stop holding back. Call the Republicans what they are -- spreaders of lies and abettors of racism -- and keep saying it. Introduce resolutions of censure in the House targeting those members who have participated in this sort of thing and, vote those through, even if on a straight party line vote.

There is a small percentage of people in this country who reject the Democrats' and Obama's victory in 2008 at a visceral level and who see that victory as an attack on their values and rights. Some of these individuals take their own rhetoric seriously enough to act on it. My fear is that, in the days or weeks to come, someone's going to attempt to assassinate a speaker at one of these meetings.

The poll results merely confirm what is obvious. The Republican party has devolved into a Southern regional party whose adherents include a large number of unreconstructed racists.

As the Republican party has shrunk nationwide its Southern white core has acquired increased dominance and visibility. For many Southern whites attacking Obama's citizenship is a coded way of expressing their unwillingness to accept an African-American President.

People are naive if they think that all of the white racists in the South vanished with passage of the Civil Rights Act. They're still down here in abundance and they comprise the core of the Republican party in the South. I'm not saying that all white Southerners or even that all Southern Republicans are racists but an awful lot of them are. I know that because I've lived in the South for 30+ years and I am well aware of what my neighbors and acquaintances have to say on the subject of race when they think they're not being overheard.

The sputtering hatred that O'Reilly, Limbaugh and Hannity spew at Al Franken is the direct consequence of the fact that he, more than any public figure, has been successful at taking them down. Humor can be a rapier when used properly and Franken is an expert humorist. Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot is a hilariously funny book precisely because it is based meticulously on the truth, as is Lying Liars. These two books did a superb job of exposing the right's gaseous windbags and their enablers for who they are.

Republicans should cringe at the thought of Al Franken in the Senate. More than a few balloons are going be punctured in time. I, for one, can't wait.

Let's get real, here. The Washington Post long ago ceased being a "liberal" paper. The Republicans love to pin that label on it, based on its editorial positions and reporting during the Vietnam War and Watergate, and it's obviously in their interest to do so. When the Post editorializes in favor of attacking Iran or some other neocon favorite position, Republicans everywhere will say "see, even the liberal Washinton Post supports our position." Even as they've pointedly noted over the years how their positions are supported by the "liberal" New Republic.

Truth is, the Post is, on foreign policy issues, a tribune for the neocons. Froomkin's firing simply makes obvious what should have been obvious to all. With an editorial page lineup that includes Hiatt, Gerson, Kagan, Krauthammer, and Krystol, neocons all, the Post is now to the right, on foreign policy issues, of every major media outlet save for, perhaps, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.

I've read the Post in recent years only because of Dan Froomkin's columns. These have been a true breath of fresh air in the fetid miasma of the neocon swamp that has become the Post Op-Ed page. Without Froomkin, there's no reason for me to continue to visit the Post site. Bye.

The neocons who are now expressing such empathy for the Iranian people are, I'm sure, delighted with the outcome of the election. Had a more moderate individual been elected that would have impeded their campaign for military action against Iran, a campaign which I'm sure, they intend to ratchet up in coming months. So, we have the archtypical unholy alliance, Iranian clerics and the Cheney-Bolton-Lieberman-New Republic gang.