How’s that Tea Party-changey thing working out for ya?

It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion. First, we have a like mother, like daughter story. During her improbable run on Dancing With The Stars, Bristol Palin said, “Winning this would mean a lot – it would be like a big middle finger to all the people out there that hate my mom and hate me.”

Next, we have Republican DWTS alum, Tom “The Hammer” DeLay.

A jury just convicted him on money laundering, and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges. From the Associated Press:

Prosecutors said DeLay conspired with two associates, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, to use his Texas-based PAC to send $190,000 in corporate money to an arm of the Washington-based Republican National Committee, or RNC. The RNC then sent the same amount to seven Texas House candidates. Under Texas law, corporate money can’t go directly to political campaigns.

Prosecutors claim the money helped Republicans take control of the Texas House. That enabled the GOP majority to push through a Delay-engineered congressional redistricting plan that sent more Texas Republicans to Congress in 2004 — and strengthened DeLay’s political power.

But here’s the most significant story. Remember the debate between President Obama and conservative European leaders over their austerity measures nearly a year ago? Remember the Tea Party complaining that Obama should follow suit? That he was wrong and they were right? Well, things aren’t going so well over there these days. Again, from the Associated Press:

Anger and fear about Europe’s seemingly unstoppable debt crisis coursed through the continent Wednesday. Striking workers shut down much of Portugal, Ireland proposed its deepest budget cuts in history and seething Italian and British students clashed with police over education cuts.

Amid it all, analysts were deeply skeptical about the future — saying even the desperate efforts of governments, the European Union and the International Monetary might not be enough to prevent countries from defaulting or banks from going under.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are now rethinking their slash-and-burn cost cutting actions. And please understand; what’s going on over there will inevitably be going on over here if the Tea Party gets their way.

Fugetaboutit

Let’s see, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, Sen. Richard Lugar and former Sen. Sam Nunn, plus former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright, James Baker and Henry Kissinger, along with former defense secretaries William Cohen and William Perry and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and Vice President Biden. That enough headliners for ya?

Apparently not for Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, who still won’t throw his considerable support behind the New START Treaty. This, even after the White House promised him $4.1 billion for “maintaining and modernizing” our arsenal. 67 votes are needed to ratify the treaty, and without Kyl’s backing, the deal is dead in the water. There probably wouldn’t be enough Republican votes to go along with the President during the lame duck session, and when the Tea Party takes over, fugetaboutit…

From the Associated Press:

The treaty would reduce U.S. and Russian strategic warheads to 1,550 for each country from the current ceiling of 2,200. It also would set up new procedures to allow both countries to inspect each other’s arsenals to verify compliance.

It’s not so much the cuts that are as important as the verification process. Since the last treaty expired a year ago, we’ve had no way to know what the hell is going on a stone’s throw from Sarah Palin’s house.

Country First?

Twenty years to life.

Ahmed Ghailani, the first Guantanamo detainee to face a civilian trial, was acquitted Wednesday of all but one of the hundreds of charges that he helped unleash death and destruction on two U.S. embassies in 1998 – a mixed result for what’s been viewed as a “terror test-case”. He was acquitted on more than 280 counts, including one murder count for each of the 224 people killed in the embassy bombings. The anonymous jurors deliberated over seven days. What exactly did this guy do? From the Associated Press:

Prosecutors had alleged Ghailani helped an al-Qaida cell buy a truck and components for explosives used in a suicide bombing in his native Tanzania on Aug. 7, 1998. The attack in Dar es Salaam and a nearly simultaneous bombing in Nairobi, Kenya, killed 12 Americans.

It’s no surprise that Right-Wingers are calling this a miscarriage of justice. That Barack Obama and Eric Holder are treasonous Muslim terrorists bent on America’s destruction. I guess if you’re a Tea Partier you could say that. The rest of us would just say the guy got what he deserved…

Don’t retreat… Reload.

Today’s biggest political story comes from a rather unlikely source: ABC TV’s Dancing With The Stars. Apparently the show – which pits major celebrities against each other in a dance competition where the contestants are rated by a combination of judges’ scores and viewer votes – is some kind of microcosm for American politics. All because the dancer consistently with the lowest judges’ scores – Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol – is saved every week by viewers’ votes.

It’s the lead story from every outlet out there, from OMG to the Wall Street Journal. And the readers’ comments are the most telling of all. Bristol’s upset victories – week after week – are a referendum on President Obama. Somehow… Only Republicans watch the show, so what do you expect?… The judges are prejudiced against her… The show’s not about dancing… And the most intriguing of all, it’s really liberals who keep voting for her to make her mother look bad.

Well, that’s not gonna happen. Momma Bear explained:

Sarah Palin recently talked with People about how ‘Dancing’ has helped her daughter cope with single motherhood and the breakup of her engagement.

“To have her now turn that into dancing, it’s a beautiful picture,” Sarah said. “She’s a happy kid with a good attitude, good perspective, everything’s about thinking positively and exchanging beauty for ashes… She’s putting her life in God’s hands and it’s scriptural, too, where it says, ‘He will turn your mourning into dancing.’ “

Besides, as another commenter said, “Coloreds can’t dance.”

Let me make this as crystal-clear as possible: That’s definitely not my opinion.

Eagles run rabid over Redskins.

Final score: 59-28. Embarrassing. Humiliating. That’s just what Philly wanted after Donovan McNabb ranted that the Eagles made a mistake trading him. That’s just what Philly wanted after LaRon Landry instigated a pregame altercation which fired up DeSean Jackson and Michael Vick.

Speaking of Vick, he became the first player in NFL history with at least 300 yards passing, 50 yards rushing, four passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in a game. Talk about perfection, he hasn’t thrown an interception or lost a fumble this season. Check the stats.

So, after a wild weekend, the Jets and Falcons are the teams to beat in their respective conferences, with New England and Philadelphia nipping at their heels. And the 78 million dollar man?

“Everybody makes mistakes in their lifetime, and they (Philly) made one last year.”

Maybe not…