Teabaggers, Christine O'Donnell & other crazies

The Republican Party has been splintered by the crazy Tea Party and since Obama didn't turn water into wine the moment he set foot in the White House, Democrats seem to be wandering in the wilderness. As Bill Maher suggested on Larry King Live last week, Obama has been successfully painted as a "foreigner," a Muslim and a Manchurian Candidate who has hijacked the soul of America.

Republicans and Democrats have allowed these myths to flourish, giving rise to the Teabaggers, who claimed to be only interested in fiscal conservatism but have allowed the lunatic right wing to became the face of the movement. The Teabaggers have ripped the fearmongering page from the GOP playbook and their rallies have become racist, bigoted, fringe gatherings attended by people short on facts and long on paranoia. I am a fiscal conservative, but a social liberal -- always have been. If the Teabaggers had kept on message they might have held some interest for more moderate Democrats, but the Teabagger movement is too right even for some right-wing Republicans. Karl Rove, for instance.

Because Republicans have had the rug pulled out from under them and Democrats are struggling to hold onto even a spark of the energy Obama brought to the party two years ago, Teabaggers have grabbed the media spotlight and they aren't letting go. While the face of the Teabaggers has been Sarah Palin, she's temporarily passed the mantle to her doppelganger, Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell. The Teabaggers have thrown money at her and lifted her up as the future of the movement, despite the fact that her personnel file is chock-full-o-crazy.

Last week, O'Donnell's Christian-crazy views were spread virally across the web as an old appearance on MTV surfaced where she claimed masturbation was ungodly. Uhhhh, boy...  Then, on Friday night, Bill Maher rolled out clips from his old Politically Incorrect show where O'Donnell talked about dabbling in witchcraft. Over the weekend, O'Donnell played the Palin card and cancelled appearances on two of the big Sunday talk shows. Maher says he has clips of her saying other crazy stuff that he plans to air every Friday on his HBO show until she comes on and explains herself. I love Bill Maher.

While being anti-masturbation and pro-witchcraft is amusing and makes for good soundbites, O'Donnell's fiscal past is seriously troubling. She was sued by her university for not paying her tuition, defaulted on her mortgage and claims to be living off "savings" and doing PR consulting work for unnamed clients. There are allegations she's living off campaign contributions. She's never held public office, obviously has no concept of money and has aligned herself with right-wing religious groups against abortion, sex, gay rights and believe "Biblical principles" should be applied to government. The Teabaggers are so desperate to get one of their own in the Capitol, they'll turn a blind eye to all this and throw a few million her way. It's absolute insanity.

Speaking of insanity, Teabagger senate hopeful Jim Miller from Alaska believes millions should be denied unemployment benefits, wants to dismantle social security, the Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Arts and wants to repeal Obama's health care reform. He's more scary than O'Donnell because he doesn't appear to have any skeletons in his closet other than he likes to rail against Obama turning America into a godless, socialist nation. Give me a frickin' break.

Look, I totally get wanting to go against the "establishment" in Washington, of electing someone who will wade into the shark-infested political waters and make change, but are the Teabaggers so desperate for their own brand of change that they'll send unqualified, fringe-types to get the job done? That appears to be the case.