What Charlie Said, et al

Charlie Pierce:

The balance of power in half the national legislature now seems to be in the hands of the crème de la crazee. (This is such a mess at this point that Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny starver from Wisconsin, and a man whose ambition makes Satan look like Uriah Heep, has done everything except hire a skywriter to say he's not interested.) Is this finally enough for the elite political press to notice that half the American political process is in full-blown dementia? Or does Jason Chaffetz have to lose, too?

 And from Matty Ice via twitter:

SHOCKING: Rep. Kevin McCarthy drops out of Speaker race to join Hillary's campaign.

— MATTY ICE (@MattyIceAZ) October 8, 2015

That purity movements are self-limiting is supposed to be self-evident.  But, like JFK said, there's always gonna be at least one son-of-a-bitch who doesn't get the word.

So, I guess I'm thinking this is another stellar example of the upside-down-and-bass-ackwards-ness of trying to apply The Greater Fool to a certain brand of politics.

And, as always, Brother Driftglass reminds us to be ever watchful for the coming Both-Sides bullshit:

2. What shiny, Dirty Hippy-shaped object will the Beltway press now deploy to continue the pretense that this problem is shared equally by Both Sides? My guess is, since this is an "All Hands On Deck" Both Siderist emergency, we can expect the David Brookses, Ron Fourniers and Mark Halperins to be called out to work double shifts on the Sunday Gasbag Cavalcade.

From time to time, just remind yourself that eventually this comes down to, "we both know the whole world is fucked up 'cept for you and me - and I'm beginning to have my doubts about you."