By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
This has been a whimsical week, once you fall through the rabbit hole and get comfy with the players. If you don’t, of course — refusing to enter a world where Stephen Colbert isn’t a brilliant satirist but rather, a profound and sensible patriot — then everything looks like an assault on reality and a reflection of insanity. Think of it as theatre, not mayhem. It goes down easier. Oh sure, much of it is dangerous, but what isn’t, these days? You know that old saying, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you?” It’s a lie.
In Algeria, people are being held hostage and murdered by small bands of jihadists, each looking for a step up into power and profit. Gaddafi’s brutal end catapulted a collapsed regime of thugs and terrorists into the unemployment lines, migrating to new opportunities. They’re making themselves heard, bringing Hillary Clinton out to deal with one final challenge before passing the baton to John Kerry.
Here at home, the House spent the week holding our fiscal future in its teeth, shaking it like a dog with a bone. Between the weapons blow-back and the debt ceiling, this last moment for posture and pose by the original 2010 Bagger-babies has kept the air thick with bluster and angst. What we’re looking at, across the board, is the result of change. How do you like it so far?
Oh, I know. You think you’ve heard everything, having lived through the summer of 2010 and the Glenn Beck chronicles. You think you can no longer be surprised by outrageous things said or the sudden juxtaposition of delusion and reason. Well, here’s a head-scratcher. Did you know that Dennis Kucinich, gerrymandered out of his House seat, has been hired on as a regular contributor at FOX News? And here’s a jaw dropper: Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s entrenched, unmovable conservative, has been so shaken by the NRA’s ad involving Obama’s young daughters that he’s gone off-message in raging condemnation of the gun lobby. “This extremism is so frightening and just, over, over, over the line,” said Joe, even showing up on Charlie Rose with hard talk about the NRA’s radical messaging and ties to the billion-dollar weapons trade.