Pompous liberal is right; the gutlessness and craven collaboration of the Democratic Party with the most extreme, fanatical elements of the Republican Party has absolutely nothing to do with the absence of a filibuster-proof majority. Funding the Iraq war? FISA? The Military Commissions Act? The worthless Democratic Party did nothing about these Bush-led legislative monstrosities when all they needed was 40 votes in the Senate, not 60. Are we supposed to imagine that when the time comes to restore habeas corpus or expose illegal Bush wiretapping or vote on a liberal Supreme Court nomination that the Republicans will have any problem peeling off a couple of reliable Democratic rats like Jay Rockefeller or Ben Nelson? Hell, the Democrats couldn't even pass an increase in the goddamn minimum wage without tossing in a couple of tax cuts as a sop to the Republican right. After all, the only political principle with any real meaning to the Democratic leadership is demonstrating their servility and abject obedience to their Republican masters, hoping to spare themselves the terrifying accusation of "partisanship."

No, the key to realizing a progressive agenda isn't obtaining some illusory super-majority, but taking control of the Democratic Party apparatus, the same way the Republican Hitler Youth like Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed and Jack Abramoff delivered the party to Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay. There is thus nothing more important than purging the party of its principal collaborators such as Nancy Pelosi and rancid Harry Reid, even if it means replacing them with Republicans. Likewise, the Democrats must finally rid themselves of the DLC rat patrol, the very existence of which is designed to blunt all progressive influence, and insure that nothing threatens ultimate control of the party by the insurance industry, telecoms, Wall Street, and all the other corporate interests that dominate our political institutions.

No way I’m seeing this movie unless it ends just as it should in real life, with the cretin hanging on a hook on Pennsylvania Avenue, Mussolini-style.

Indeed, there is frankly something ludicrous about constructing a narrative that portrays Bush as a moving force behind historical events. True, he may not be enough of an imbecile to be completely lacking in moral agency for his own decisions, but the idea that he is something other than a vain, petty, self-important buffoon is hardly less of a distortion. Like Nicholas II or Kaiser Wilhelm II, Bush is ultimately nothing more than a cipher, a figure of disgust and ridicule, an empty symbol of the utter political degradation of the society that allows itself to be polluted by his presence.

Letterman – just has he always has – displays more wit, balls and intelligence than anyone else on television; indeed, no one more effectively ridicules the disgusting self-pity and entitlement reflected in Republicans’ constant whining about being victimized by the big, bad stenographic media. And he’s going to keep making tens of millions of dollars a year doing it for as long as he damn well feels like it. Trust me, if every Palin-loving Republican boob in the United States decided to boycott his show for the rest of their lives, he’d giggle himself silly all the way to the bank.

As for the lovely Sarah Palin, she’s a racist, authoritarian religious fanatic, one who will do and say absolutely anything to get her hands on power. Racist? The performance that made her the darling of the extreme right was a sneering, contemptuous denunciation of Barack Obama as an “arrogant” (wink, wink; get it? get it?), “elitist” (wink, wink; get it? get it?) “community organizer” (wink, wink; get it? get it?), basically telling the Republican base that she shared their disgust with the idea of an uppity black becoming president of the United States. Authoritarian? Beyond her classic inquiry about banning books from Alaska public libraries, we’re now aware of the bipartisan commission finding that she violated Alaska law by trying to fire her ex-brother-in-law, like some all-powerful Queen of Alaska. Religious fanatic? We’ve seen the creepy witchdoctor footage, and are aware that she wants to force rape and incest victims to bear the children of their attackers. She even supported charging rape victims for the medical kits used to prosecute their rapists. Lastly, she’s got all the charm of Lady Macbeth, happy to expose her own pregnant 17-year old daughter to the ridicule of the entire world just so she can get her hands on political power.

When it comes to the most fundamental democratic traditions and principles on which this country was founded, her point of view ranges from the ignorance of a drooling half-wit to one of utter contempt. She couldn’t name a single newspaper or journal she reads with regularity, nor identify a single Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade. She doesn’t know a damn thing about the vice-president’s role under the Constitution, but happily holds forth that the office should wield even more power than that arrogated to it by Dick Cheney. Her grotesque resemblance to George Bush is based not so much on her inability to form a coherent sentence that she hasn’t memorized beforehand, but her boundless indignation that anyone would have the nerve to regard her stupidity and smug self-satisfaction as impediments to governing this country.

During the evening dog walk, I had let the mutt run loose in the dark for a while. Guess what he found to roll around in? Drivers from India maybe.

No way. Trust me, dollars to doughnuts it was Sarah Palin.

A truly fascinating discussion, but - let's face it - a bit utopian, after all.

I mean, you'd have to be living in a dreamworld if you think there's any hope of teaching Sarah Palin how to use a toilet at this late stage of the game.