Everything I know about politics I learned from Monty Python

From Life of Brian, the best political documentary ever made:

And so it goes…

Overnight open thread

---

I wanted an excuse to front page this piece by Ed Koch:

I predict a Republican victory of tsunami proportions on November 2nd.

[…]

Why would intelligent voters leave the Democratic Party that they endorsed so heavily two years ago in the 2008 presidential election? The reason is obvious – deep, deep disappointment in the record of President Obama. The President has wasted many opportunities in his term to date, and has lost by his own admission almost every battle for the hearts and minds of the electorate in pushing through Congress monumental legislation that he signed into law.

Why did the President and Congress insist on reinventing the wheel when it came to health care coverage? Weren’t there prototypes in Europe and elsewhere developed and used for more than 50 years with proven track records that could have been used as models? Did the President and Congress have to terrify people who had insurance coverage in order to provide coverage for the additional 32 million Americans covered under the new law? Couldn’t those without insurance have been attached in some way to the Medicaid rolls? Why did the President and Congress sell out to the prescription drug companies and strip Medicare of the right to negotiate volume discount purchases that could have saved U.S. taxpayers more than a trillion dollars over ten years? What rankles most for many, including me, is why have there been so few criminal prosecutions of those who are responsible for having brought the U.S. economy to its knees, destroyed the nation’s prosperity and caused millions of Americans to lose their homes, their jobs and a substantial portion of their retirement savings? Why when looking at Obama’s cabinet and advisers, do we see the faces of those who many hold responsible for the economic debacle?

It is for these reasons, I believe, the coming November tsunami will roll across America and give the Republicans, who are undeserving of the honor, control of both Houses. The American public is enraged and wants to punish those who have been in charge of the country. They know those who will replace incumbents may be as bad or worse, but they also believe they can’t do any greater damage. They are willing to put up with them until the next election to teach our elected representatives a monumental lesson — that public service is an honorable profession and must be performed competently and honestly.

We are an optimistic, generous people, who believe in fairness and justice. And we will be heard.

Meanwhile, from the number of articles posted at Memeorandum it seems that Left Blogistan thinks that the single most important story of the past few days is the minor injuries received by a MoveOn activist when she was tackled and stepped on by a couple of overzealous supporters of Rand Paul. The debate rages over whether the men were Libertarian thugs or fascist brownshirts.

What else is there to talk about tonight? Here’s a fresh thread to play with.

---

---