"Ann you ignorant slut"

Fans of Saturday Night Live Will remember the sort of point counterpoint exchanges between Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin. Dan's opening line was always" Jane you ignorant slut". Ann Coulter, of course, was one of the trio at Pravda, A.k.a. FOXNews, that caused this shutdown by scaring poor little Donnie that he looked week and foolish.

Now that the, to use a word that Donnie wants light," carnage" has become more than apparent and a clear political liability, Donnie has agreed to reopen the government until February 15. During that time a brother more permanent set of agreements and budgetary measures will, one hopes, be passed. Apparently believing she has not caused enough problems, dear little Annie is now again calling Donnie a wimp.

Annie is a symptom of something that has become a virus in our political body. And that is the hidebound ideologue. Although most of the discussion lately has been about partisanship, Republicans versus Democrats, that is not the real problem. If the disputes were between political parties as they have traditionally existed, they are resolvable. In the final analysis, political parties may have certain identifiable characteristics but they are ultimately pragmatic in nature. This is not true of ideologues. Ideologues on the right are not Republicans, and they are not really conservatives in the traditional sense. They are individuals and groups of individuals adopting radical in severe positions that are uncompromisable. They have a sense of certainty that admits of no contradictory opinion, No matter the amount of evidence supporting that contradictory opinion. The most prominent these days are on the radical right but they could just as easily be on the radical left. Either way, they have no place in government which needs to be a practical pragmatic institution.

Donnie is not an ideologue. He is simply an ignorant and incompetent, probably delusional buffoon who is easily manipulated. It is unclear to me with whether the" tea party" republicans are really ideologues or merely opportunists. I tend to favor the latter. The villainous Mitch McConnell it appears to be primarily someone overwhelmed by his robust perception of himself. He is also an example of what happens when elected officials are in government too long and accrete to much power. We have two necessities in the 2020 election. Donnie has to go and we need to elect reasonable experienced but not calcified congressmen, Senators and a president.