Right Wing Nation

Colorado GOP recruits former George Allen campaign manager to be new State party Chairman. What’s next? Is some corporation going to hire Libby Dole to raise funds? Will some university hire Ney to teach a correspondence ethics course from his prison cell?

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits!”

As if Boehner, Blunt, and Lott, the big spending numbskulls, weren’t enough, Tommy Thompson is going to run for President on the GOP ticket — on this platform (hat tip to Hoosier Illuminati):

Thompson’s spokesman expects expanding health-care coverage for the working poor to play a prominent role in Thompson’s White House bid. He also plans to focus on education.

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits!”

Boehner and Blunt.

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits!”

What did Novak say, they don’t call it the party of stupid for nothing? Lott is the Minority Whip:

Lott returned to the center of power by getting the position of vote- counting GOP whip, nosing out Sen. Lamar Alexander. Sen. Rick Santorum told reporters that Lott beat Alexander by a 25-24 vote.

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits!”

What were they thinking? (hat tip Michelle Malkin):

Sen. Mel Martinez, the first-term lawmaker who previously served in President Bush’s Cabinet, will assume the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, GOP officials said Monday.

Did I say what were they thinking? How could I have forgotten!

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits!”

I even created a new category, this is getting to be so weird. From JunkYardBlog we see this insanity:

Despite voters’ Election Day call for change in Washington, old faces and old grudges are also a striking part of the Capitol intrigue. Four years after he was ousted from the leadership — in part at the urging of Sen. Allen — Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott hopes to make a comeback by moving into the Senate Republican whip slot vacated by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) who will replace Sen. Bill Frist (R., Tenn) as party leader.

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits!”

Time for that spooky music again, as we hear from Liddy Dole:

As the chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, it was Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s job to keep the Senate in GOP hands. She couldn’t.

So after two years in the Senate Republican leadership, Dole tumbles into the minority - back to her status as the freshman senator from North Carolina and, perhaps, out of favor among Republican activists frustrated by Tuesday’s election results.

Dole said she’s satisfied with her performance.

“I can sleep well at night knowing we did everything possible to hold the Senate,” she said in a telephone interview Thursday. “All I know is I worked my head off, and that’s all you can do.”

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits!”

Like Jeff says, even Clinton gets it:

Last week, American voters gave Republicans the order of the boot, stripping them of at least 29 seats in the House of Representatives and six in the Senate, and once again making Democrats the kings of Capitol Hill. It was the GOP’s worst showing in decades, and since Tuesday analysts galore have been reading the entrails. It is easy to be wise after the event. But consider the judgment rendered by one of the keenest minds in American politics, who explained nearly a week *before* the election why Republican candidates were about to take a beating: “The reason we are at this moment,” former president Bill Clinton told a group of Democratic donors on Nov. 1, “is that they do not represent faithfully the Republicans and the more conservative independents in the country. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here tonight. This is a sweeping, deep, big thing.” According to the nation’s most popular Democrat, in other words, Republicans were about to be punished for having abandoned their Republican principles. Voters were going to demote the GOP not because its agenda had grown too conservative—but because it hadn’t been conservative enough.

But if Novak is right, the Republicans don’t get it:

In private conversation, Republican members of Congress blame Majority Leader John Boehner and Majority Whip Roy Blunt in no small part for their midterm election debacle. Yet, either Boehner, Blunt or both are expected to be returned to their leadership posts Friday. For good reason, the GOP often is called “the stupid party.”

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits!”

Sometimes, I feel like I’m an alternate universe — like when I read this recent Reuters poll:

While a bare majority of 51 percent called the Democrats’ victory “a good thing,” even more said they were concerned about some of the actions a Democratic Congress might take, including 78 percent who were somewhat or very concerned that it would seek too hasty a withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Another 69 percent said they were concerned that the new Congress would keep the administration “from doing what is necessary to combat terrorism,” and two-thirds said they were concerned it would spend too much time investigating the administration and Republican scandals.

Uhm, can I ask the obvious question? Do I need to?

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits!”