That Harry Reid could be outmaneuvered by the merest hint of the dread word "filibuster?"

Pretty much anyone who has watched this case study in invertebrate leadership for any length of time, I'd say.

The Democrats and the country are screwed as long as he remains Majority Leader. No guts, no ability, no acumen-- the Harry Reid mantra.

Before they submerge the entire country in their bad debt, profligate bonuses and absurd salaries.

Oh wait, we're almost underwater now.

I see where the problem lies. The rubes, know-nothings and rightist shills are clearly out in force.

The whole economic problem can be laid at the feet of the liberals, the unions and the parsimony of the wealthy? Oh, brother....

I'm praying for a little socialism. I doubt that anything less will save our Republic.

That day is close upon us, my friend. Brought to you not by the Russians, Chinese, Muslim hordes, or whatever other boogeyman you care to dream up, but courtesy of Big Business, the Republican party and George W. Bush.

When our Republic fails, remember to thank them, won't you?

Republicans are frantic to rid themselves of the bothersome Ms. Solis because (insert faux gasp of surprise here) she has the temerity as a potential Sec. of Labor to be actually pro-labor.

Frankly, if this is their best shot, I wouldn't worry.

It wasn't her business. She wasn't a partner. If the business or her husband filed separately it's a non-starter and even if they filed jointly it seems arguable that that was his income stream and not hers.

Even with a majority, a motivated President wielding the bully pulpit and popular will behind him, Harry Reid can't legislate his way out of a paper bag.

How long will we be saddled with this lugubrious, incompetent albatross?

"rslished in self destruction" once. It took days to get rid of the stench.

Or maybe stnch, in your case.

So basically the stimulus might result in a net GDP decline in the long run, but then again it might not.

Wasn't it Truman who said that he wished he had a one-armed economist, so the guy wouldn't be able to say "On the other hand..."?

I can see now why he wished that.

I'm glad somebody (besides loopy "centrist" Senators) is happy.

Personally, I feel like I'm on the bridge of the Titanic, watching the lovely iceberg just moving into view.

That would be yet another ethically challenged Republican in a position of some (albeit markedly reduced and becoming more marginal by the minute) power, using his position to personal advantage.

Who would've thought? As Gomer Pyle used to say-- Surprahz, surprahz, surprahz!

Perhaps the GOP should be thankful that this scandal only involved alleged financial impropriety and not chasing after Congressional pages or taking a "wide stance" in the local men's room.

that the standard you want to set is that our guy sounds less lunatic and deluded than your guys.

That seems to be setting the bar a little too low, in my opinion.

Although the meme that the Republicans are precisely the ones who put us in this mess to begin with and that, therefore, their criticisms lack foundation and their grasp of economics is highly suspect, is one idea that bears endless repetition.

Or collapse and burn, what's the difference? Assuming arguendo, that this tale is correct (and I'm taking it with a whopping grain of salt personally), then a high speed crash of the economic system was averted in favor of the (relatively) low speed collapse that we're seeing happen currently.

Will the end result be any different? That's the real question.

Well, I'm sure the half dozen Joe the Lying Not Plumber wannabes will get over it.

Holy Brezhnev, comrades, it looks like the jig is up!

Nyet, nyet, nyet! All of our careful planning and skillful execution down the drain! Abort Operation Chocolate baby! Return to the Motherland, quickly!

Boris, Natasha, why aren't you answering me?

We'll go with that one.

Everyone! We didn't... er, they didn't exist in 1992. We, that is to say, they, were no longer around. You might say they'd been liquidated. Like any other capitalist enemy of the glorious State!

Ahem. I mean, they were no more.

Thank you.

And if anyone of you hears from Boris or Natasha, please let me know.

The scariest was the Mattel Talking Penis.

I still have nightmares....

As a native Californian, who purchased my first home here, sold it when my marriage crashed, then bought another with my second wife in which we are happily ensconced for the moment while waiting for our option ARM timebomb to tick down, I'd like to shoulder responsibility for all of my state's ills and, by extension, apparently all of the nation's as well.

Happy now? Feel better? Great.

Now please take your smug sense of superiority, fold it five ways and put it-- as Dick Cavett once said-- where the moon don't shine.

Last time I checked, the housing bubble didn't limit itself to my state. The lending crisis appears to be a nationwide phenomenon, too. Greed-- of the banking industry, real estate industry, mortgage industry and yes, homebuyers, didn't seem to solely originate from or be confined to any single state's borders.

Nevertheless, it must be nice to live in states that never, ever have any problems, troubles, budgetary shortfalls, taxation issues, recalcitrant Republican legislators and incompetent Democratic ones. Hope that continues to work out so well for you.

It's a pity that the culprit won't just as simply and pithily "get over" his sentence, since he neatly managed to evade the imposition of it by flight. Having flown, he even now can't seem to now "get over" it by manipulating the legal system to his benefit.

The fact that the victim, many years after the fact, has managed to "get over" the incident is irrelevant.