...then you know the right-wing thugs have truly gone too far.
The current headline on Mark "Drudge Rules My World" Halperin's The Note is: HALPERIN'S TAKE: WHY EVERYTHING ABOUT THE HEALTH CARE MOBS IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE
At first I thought he was being snarky, but when you go down the list of Halperin's remarks about the teabagger mobs, he actually hits things right on the head, and remarkably there's only two items of the usual Halperin hackery.
Some of the harshest observations he makes are:
- The president typically tries to treat America like a nation of grown-ups; this would seem to be a mistake when it comes to the mobs and the coverage thereof.
- Debating whether a given mobster is "real" or "astroturf" is like debating who the third-best professional wrestler of the 1980s was.
- The abject weaknesses of the Republican Party and the conservative movement (in general and on health care) are on display in the reaction of their "leaders" to the mobs.
The one that he really nails on the head is a point that you'd expect someone on this site to make. It's almost as if Halperin has found his inner Kossack:
- Ask Republican members of Congress who voted for President Bush's massive prescription drug entitlement law how many of them read that bill before they voted in favor of it -- or how many bills they EVER read in their entirety.
But alas you can take Halperin out of hackville, but you can never take the hack of Halperin. First, he says that it's understandable that the Obama administration would push back against the teabaggers, but it's "shameful" to use it for "political gain". I'm assuming he's referring to the DNC YouTube video attacking these mobs. So how exactly is the Obama administration supposed to push back? By writing a sternly worded internal memo that it shouldn't release to the public or the press?
And of course he gives his usual shout-out to Drudge, asking readers to, "Please stop saying that Matt Drudge has lost his influence -- or that those who point out his obvious influence are therefore celebrating his influence." Right, this is like saying, "please stop saying that Whitney Houston has lost her popularity as a musician, otherwise why is she on the cover of Star Magazine with the headline, 'Whitney Down To 90 lbs. Due To Freebasing Cocaine!'"
Anyhow, Halperin does end on a fairly poignant note that pretty much says it all - for Villagers like him and the Republican extremists he and his ilk gave handjobs to all these years no matter what crazy shit they would say:
- We have met the Freak Show, and it is us.
Sounds about right to me.