Country First?

In her column, Maureen Dowd features the Democrats as giddy over their ability to actually get something done, to pass legislation.

The Democrats held hands, held their breath and jumped over the cliff — not that it was a radical bill. And, mirabile dictu, nothing awful happened. The markets went up. The polls went up. Their confidence went up.

And the Republicans? John McCain threatened Democrats, telling an Arizona radio affiliate that “there will be no cooperation for the rest of the year” from Republicans. So much for “Country First.” (He’s so clueless that he came on the Senate floor and said, “Let’s stop this legislation, and let’s start from the beginning.”)

For the rest of the year? There has been no cooperation for the past year. In part, that is a result of the extreme right eing of the Republican party becoming dominant. Litmus tests, purity tests are the norm, and one of the primary enforcers has been Rush Limbaugh. His reaction to the passage of the House bill?

they won yesterday. They won because they held congress and the presidency and therein lies the lesson. We need to defeat these bastards. We need to wipe them out. We need to chase them out of town. [...] “They must my friends, be hounded out of office. Every single Democrat who voted for this needs to know, safe district or not, they are going to be exposed and hassled and chased from office. We now have leftist radicals in charge of your healthcare decisions rather than doctors”