This was the week the Tea Party finally secured its place in American history books (pending approval from the Texas Board of Education).
Whereas, until now, teabaggers had been content with nominating fringe lunatics like Rand Paul and Sharron Angle for Senate seats, this time around they chose someone well within the mainstream of lunacy.
What Christine O'Donnell lacks in experience, she more than makes up for with her vast knowledge of crime scene forensics, suntan lotion marketing, satanic rituals, dorm room living, STD prevention, radiocarbon dating, human-animal hybridisation, and the collected works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
She truly epitomizes outside the box thinking.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Former President Bill Clinton; Former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Face the Nation: Former President Bill Clinton; US Senate Candidate Christine O'Donnell (R-DE); Republican Strategist Ed Rollins; Michael Gerson (Washington Post).
This Week: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Roundtable: Delaware State Republican Chairman Tom Ross, George Will (Washington Post), David Sanger (New York Times) and Peter Beinart (Daily Beast).
Fox News Sunday: US Senate Candidate Christine O'Donnell (R-DE); US Senate Candidate Joe Miller (R-AK); Republican Operative Karl Rove; Roundtable: Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard), Nina Easton (Fortune), Sociopath Liz Cheney and Juan Williams (NPR/FNC).
State of the Union: Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC); DNC Chairman Tim Kaine; Former Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA); Former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn; Reliable Sources: John Avion (CNN); Craig Crawford (Congressional Quarterly); Debra Sanders (San Francisco Chronicle); Tina Brown (Daily Beast).
The Chris Matthews Show: Gloria Borger (CNN); Chuck Todd (NBC News); Clarence Page (Chicago Tribune); Kelly O'Donnell (NBC News).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Former Libyan Islamic Fighting Group Leader Noman Benotman; Chrystia Freeland (Reuters); Author Bernard-Henri Lévy; Kathleen Parker (Washington Post); Dan Senor (Council on Foreign Relations).
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an interview with former President Jimmy Carter, in which he slams Sen. Ted Kennedy (RIP) for killing his healthcare bill (preview); an interview with "Mini-Madoff" Ponzi schemer Marc Dreier (preview); and, a report on the large number of players that American Samoa sends to the NFL (preview).
On Comedy Central:
New York magazine coverboy Jon Stewart announced that he'll be holding a "Rally to Restore Sanity" at the National Mall in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 30.
The Daily Show
Monday: Former President/Author Jimmy Carter ("White House Diary")
Tuesday: Actress Sigourney Weaver ("You Again")
Wednesday: Actor Edward Norton ("Stone")
Thursday: King Abdullah II of Jordan
And not to be outdone, Stephen Colbert announced that he'll be holding a "March to Keep Fear Alive" at the same place, at the same time.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Band Pavement ("Quarantine the Past")
Tuesday: Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Wednesday: Author Guillermo Del Toro ("The Fall")
Thursday: Mayor of Las Vegas Oscar Goodman
Elsewhere:
Unlike the nominal leader of his caucus, Sen. Jim DeMint – the Pied Piper of Teabaggin – isn't afraid to lay out his agenda.
"I've been told by businesses that if we would stop the tax increases the best thing that could happen for business after that is complete gridlock. At least gridlock is predictable," he tells Bloomberg Businessweek, taking a quick break between TV appearances. His goal, he says, is to stop programs that violate his anti-Big Government ideology. "What happens in the Senate is the Republicans sink to the lowest common denominator," he says. "People want an alternative to some kind of watered-down Republican philosophy."
Meanwhile:
Glenn Beck, who doesn't get this whole sarcasm thing, weighed in on the deadly sin of gluttony.
"When I heard this I thought, get your damn hands off my fries, lady. If I want to be a fat fat fatty and shovel French Fries all day long, that is my choice. But oh oh, not so fast anymore. Because now we have the new fact, whether you like it or not, we have government health care now. ...
You know those fat people sitting on their couches? And I mean really fat. I don’t mean not like me. I mean the people who’s skin grows into the couch. ...
I say let them die. I say punish the person who’s been bringing them the milk shakes that allowed them to eat and not get up off the couch. Am I too harsh?"
Well, yeah... that does seem kinda harsh. Especially in light of the fact that Sarah Palin already died (metaphorically speaking) for our sins.
A trick for aspiring writers: want to get an approving Sarah Palin blurb on your book's cover, a surefire way to move copies? Then title your book The Persecution of Sarah Palin, as the Weekly Standard's Palin-worshiping Matt Continetti has.
Everyone's favorite Bill Kristol-edited neocon pamphlet, the Weekly Standard, has breathlessly informed the world today that somehow, they got Sarah Palin to say something nice about their writer's book-length sympathetic, victimizing portrayal of Sarah Palin!
I'll be in my bunk.
- Trix