Just in case you’re inclined to think the timing of the Mark Foley scandal (you know, the one where Congressional Representative Mark Foley, R-Florida, engaged in inappropriate predatory sexual behavior with underage pages) is some Democratic Party plot, Ken Silverstein of Harper’s says they were approached with the story in May and eventually decided not to run it because, “We decided against publishing the story because we didn't have absolute proof that Foley was, as one editor put it, ‘anything but creepy.’” So, ironically, it was probably an “extra caution around Republicans" deal caused by getting burned on things like The Killian “Rathergate" Memos.

A PI article about adult children living with their parents. The surprising thing is not the article, which is fairly fluffy, or the phenomenon, which is a natural and inevitable consequence of insane housing prices and flat wages. The surprising thing is the comments section, where the PI SoundOff trolls unload with their usual vitriolic nonsense, which boils down to, “since only losers live with their parents, you should do absolutely everything humanly possible to avoid this, even really impractical things such as living in your car, working two or three additional jobs, moving to the midwest and commuting, or dealing drugs on the side.” (Just kidding about the drugs.) And then the subject of the article logs on and says, “Hey, you guys, we’re real people and we have real feelings which you have hurt.” And the trolls say, “Oh boy! Fresh meat!” and continue in the same vein.

So, Kate and Jason? I'm sorry your feelings were hurt. Just remember, the real losers are people who spend all their time on the Internet.

Bush 41 Warns of “Ghastly” Future Under “Wild Democrats”:

“I would hate to think what Arlen’s life would be like, what Rick’s life would be like, and what my son’s life would be like if we lose control of the Congress," said former President George Bush in a reference to Pennsylvania’s two Republican Senators. “If we have some of these wild Democrats in charge of these committees, it will be a ghastly thing for our country.”

"They’d be pushing through all kinds of crazy legislation," he added, “And they would be issuing the subpoenas, dragging people in just to be getting headlines.”

Yes, he hates to think what will happen to all those criminals if their buddies lose control of Congress. Of course, imagining Arlen Specter, Rick Santorum, and George Jr. doing the perp walk puts a smile on my face.

But seriously, what is up with that meme Bush Sr. is replicating? As if we can all take it for granted that, no matter how bad the current crop of Republicans in Congress are, if voters replace them with a Democratic majority it will somehow spell the end of civilization as we know it! As if Democrats have never had a Congressional majority before, or something.

This sort of hyperbole, in my mind, merely reinforces the idea that Republicans have gone insane. But maybe if you’re already jacked into the right wing group mind, you recognize Mr. Bush’s statement as shorthand for “Democrats are not only soft on communists, I mean terrorists, as we will publicly accuse them of, they are actually secretly in league with Al Qaeda and a Congressional majority is the first step toward turning our country over to foreign powers! Who are really lizards from outer space!”