DON'T PASS ME THE POPCORN

I really wish I were enjoying the intra-wingnut skirmishes right now, especially what's going on in Delaware. Latest in that race: on Fox News, Charles Krauthammer denounced the endorsement of Christine O'Donnell by Jim DeMint and (especially) Sarah Palin, saying at one point:

Delaware is not Alaska.

Well, no, it isn't. And that's what's upsetting me. If Christine O'Donnell were possibly on the verge of winning the GOP Senate primary in Alaska -- or, say, Nevada or Kentucky or Colorado -- would the GOP establishment even bother to fight very hard to deny her the nomination? We live in a country where Joe Miller, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, and Ken Buck can all win general elections -- our country is so shockingly accepting of right-wing craziness that even O'Donnell could probably win in those candidates' states. Isn't that depressing? Isn't it disheartening that we're having this little skirmish right now only because Delaware is one of the handful of states where a batshit crazy teabagger can't win?

I'll settle in for a good snicker when the majority of Americans, rather than just my fellow lefties, think these people have gone nuts. We're nowhere near that point yet.

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AND: No, I don't really care about the fact that the Delaware race could help decide whether Republicans take the Senate. The key for them this year is the House, which I assume they'll take; once they have that, they can investigate the bejezus out of Obama, any Cabinet member they choose (Eric Holder! "Big Sis" Napolitano!), and, of course, soft targets like the New Black Panthers and even ACORN (do they still care about ACORN?). Republicans can shut down the government with control of one House; they can impeach (or at least plausibly threaten to do so, which might be sufficiently intimidating). Gaining a Senate majority is gravy -- hell, they already effectively control the Senate with 41 votes; the next plateau that has any real relevance is 67, which would allow them to override vetoes (if House Republicans could do the same, which won't happen) and convict anyone who's impeached. There's no way they're going to reach 67, so the difference between, say, 48 and 51 is trivial. It may be relevant to the senators themselves, but it's not relevant to the rest of us.