Uhm. Fellas. It's not that he's all THAT smart, it's that you're really ALL THAT DUMB.

A veteran of parliamentary battles, Mr. Frank is a master of procedural weaponry. When a tactic by Republicans backfired and stripped out provisions that they had wanted, Mr. Frank initially refused to let them fix it.

“If you want to look at this as one big circus, today is the day that the gentleman from Alabama gets to clean up after the elephants,” he said, referring to Representative Spencer Bachus, the ranking Republican on his committee. “And I mean elephants.”

During debate on the bill, a measure to provide debt relief to impoverished countries, he won praise from Republicans.

“Barney has been very fair,” said Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California and one of the most conservative members of the House. “I think that I have been treated more fairly, and a number of my Republican colleagues have been treated more fairly, since the Democrats have become the majority than I was treated by my own leadership.”

Mr. Frank politely interjected, “I know the gentleman joins me in looking forward to continued years of such treatment.”

Then there's this...

Other times, though, Mr. Frank’s impatience and sharp tongue take over.

When Representative Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia, criticized a component of the housing bill that would give money to local governments to buy and repair foreclosed properties, saying it would not protect homeowners from foreclosure, Mr. Frank fired back that preventing foreclosures was the goal of a different bill.

“The notion that this bill doesn’t keep people out of foreclosure is true,” he said. “It doesn’t combat global warming. It doesn’t get troops out of Iraq. It won’t help me lose weight. There are a lot of things this bill won’t do that I very much want to do. None of them are a reason to vote against a bill that doesn’t do what it doesn’t say it’s going to do but does what it does. What it does is go to the aid of cities that have been victimized.”

While I'm still pissed about some of his dumbass attempts to drop mortgage brokers in the grease, I am impressed that he's at least trying to make something happen. It's a far cry from the underwhelming attempts by the White House to alleviate the problems we face as a nation.

Hava Goodun! Junior John sure as hell won't!

And make sure, if you have some time, to drop a few dollars to Michael Skelly who's running to rid the Texas delegation of this embarrassment.

Yes, we've been wondering what would become of those foreclosures condos downtown. It's good to know that some of the developers are making good use of their buildings. In an effort to keep floating their financing.

Hava goodun!

So, yeah, if someone would help me out with this it would be great.

I do that from time to time with stupid people who refuse to realize there's nothing new under the sun.

Many of you are worried about quasi-racist attacks that imply Sen. Obama is some sort of ultra-black nationalist. Or a strident Muslim. Or the love child of Malcolm X and Mary Tyler Moore. Just to alleviate some of your worry and concern, these are stupid things you don't need to worry about. They'll persuade 5% of the electorate and those people weren't going to vote for him anyway.

What you need to watch out for are ginger columnists in swing states like Will Manly. Will got his panties in a twist over the small town comment but there's so much more there...

I couldn’t vote for you — but not because of your funny name or your lunatic pastor. I couldn’t vote for you because you say we should raise taxes (even on the rich, who I’m convinced already pay too much), and because you say we should abandon Iraq (which I’m convinced would be surrendering a war we must win), and because you don’t respect the Second Amendment (which I’m convinced should disqualify any politician from any office).

Still, I’ve liked your message of unity and your ability to inspire. And, since your rise I’ve hunted, quite frantically, for young conservative leaders with your talent. (To my relief, I found Bobby Jindal.)

Whoa. Where to begin... First off, Taxes. Will's obvs unaware that the rich pay less than him or me. Wait. What am I thinking? HE'S a newspaper columnist and they don't make shit. Let me rephrase...

THE RICH PAY LESS THAN ME.

On average, the rich pay around 18-20% of their income in taxes. On average, most of us pay 25-30%. Which makes our current tax system regressive, not progressive. However, let's forget all that for a second and just acknowledge one critical reality. We need a massive amount of investment in public infrastructure and services. From public schools to mass transit, we need to set ourselves up for the next 30-50 years of economic growth. That means higher taxes. Why would we want to pay higher taxes? Because that investment in our future makes sure that we're able to enjoy prosperity in 2025. That's what this debate is about... higher taxes and long term prosperity and growth or lower taxes and poverty well into the future.

And don't get me started on higher taxes being necessary just to balance the budget. But then, Will's a Republican so he's not real concerned with balancing the books... why should he be when he can keep running up Daddy's credit card? I love it when 'fiscal conservatives' are more worried about taxes than the deficit. I guess no one ever bothered to explain the linkage between interest rates, federal debt and real disposable income. I should throw the value of the dollar and oil prices in there as well but I don't want to fry little Will's rat brain.

What? Too graphic? Sorry about that...

These people have created the best satire of MTP and Hardball I've ever seen. Here's an excerpt:

Chris: Let’s bring on Tim Russert here. Tim, don’t you think this election is just like a great FOOTBALL GAME?

Tim: You said it. A real barnburner, Chris.

Howard: Jesus.

Tim: You know, it reminds me a lot of when my dad, BIG RUSS, and I watched Bills games together. Just one of those real back-and-forth games. You had Jim Kelly, the great, All-pro quarterback. And you had Thurman Thomas, the wonderful running back. Those were real competitions. And that’s what we have here. A REAL competition. With Barack Obama, whose this sort of great, unpolished talent. Very much like Vince Young, the quarterback down in Tennessee.

Chris: I agree. I think he’s just like Vince Young, right down to the gay throwing motion. This REALLY is astounding. I’ve always said politics is just like football, and it’s showing here.

Tim: Actually Chris, you have deviated from that platform on occasion. I have a quote here that YOU gave to MSNBC just two months earlier where you said, quote: “I think this election is just like a GREAT HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING MATCH,” unquote. So you said boxing match back then, and now you’re saying football. How do you reconcile those two positions?

Chris: HA! That’s amazing, Tim! God, you’re just like a GREAT TENNIS PLAYER! Always volleying back and forth with all kinds of moves. It’s amazing! Let’s bring on Senator Clinton here for a moment. Senator Clinton, don’t you think you’re just like BILL BELICHICK? Always scheming, sort of seeking out that winning edge any way you can find it? In fact, don’t you and your husband combine to represent Belichick perfectly, with your knack for evil plotting and your husband’s penchant for hot cougar tail?

Seriously, you'll want to read the whole thing.

It makes us really sad. If this were a Lifetime movie, we'd probably already have punched you out and broken your jaw. By now, no doubt, you'd be in the hospital and we'd be promising you that 'things will be different this time if you'll just stop making us so crazy'. Oh, and you should tell the police you fell down the stairs that don't exist in our house.

But, alas, this isn't a Lifetime movie (you may have noticed the conspicuous absence of Meredith Baxter Birney. That's one HUGE diff between us and Lifetime). It's real life and y'all were VERY disappointing yesterday.

Well, not really.

Place 1 - Hello, Lee. We're honestly happy you're back. We supported Demling because we wanted some new blood. And the guy is, if scruffy, quite bright. At the very least, we're thrilled that Douchie McDouche will not be in a runoff with you. Yeah. The staff here is actually split over whether they hate Brewster or Meeker more.

One last thing... you for mayor. That's a mistake. You looked miserable this time. Serve out the term and enjoy life.

Place 3 - Howdy, Randi! We still don't completely trust you, but the children have completely disregarded our advice and decided that you'll be best in place 3. Now that you're in, you're going to have to make some of those hard choices about tolls that you avoided talking about during the election. Here's some advice...

1) Don't listen to TXDOT - ask Kirk Watson about this one.
2) Get the fuck outta Clarksville and go drive around town at rush hour. It'll give you an idea where the real jamups are... and how to fix them.
3) There are many (Mike Dahmus) who will offer bad advice. Don't listen to them (Mike Dahmus).

Place 4 - We didn't endorse either of the runoff people. We're going with Laura. More on this later.

ACC - Tim Mahoney. WTF? You people even managed to fuck that up. Now you just have to go back and do it all over again.

Needless to say, we're disappointed. We still love you, but we're disappointed. Don't worry, we'll be over it this afternoon.