We have chronicled the decline of Lawrence O’Donnell, as he shrieked incoherently at John O’Neill and denounced President Bush as unfit to be depicted on his television show, The West Wing. Now, reader Craig Knutson says that O’Donnell–who is not just an artiste but a paid commentator on MSNBC–is pondering secession:
Lawrence O’Donnell (I believe this is the Larry that talked on McLaughlin), said the “blue states” should over the next 20 years seriously consider seceding from the union, because the red states are welfare recipients without supporting the federal government.
I don’t think a transcript is available yet.
Meanwhile, Minnesota’s own Garrison Keillor, who has become more embittered and less funny with every passing year, no longer tries to hide his membership in the nut-bar left. Several readers wrote us about his Prairie Home Companion monologue on Saturday; Nathan Clark sent a transcript:
We’re over it. We’ve moved on. We’re just fine. The election was days ago. Days ago. Much has happened since then. We’ve practically forgotten about it here [laughter] in our rush to enter into new activities, new frontiers, new projects.
I am now the chairman of a national campaign to pass a constitutional amendment to take the right to vote away from born-again Christians.
[enthusiastic audience applause]
Just a little project of mine. My feeling is that born-again people are citizens of heaven, that is where there citizenship is, [laughter] is in heaven, it’s not here among us in America.
If you feel that war in the Middle East is simply prophecy fulfilled, if you believe that tribulation and suffering are just the natural conditions of life, if you believe that higher education is vanity, unnecessary, there is only one book that one need to read, if you feel that unemployment is -[glitch]- dependent on him and drawn you closer to him. [laughter] If you feel -[glitch]- lousy healthcare is a portal to paradise, [applause] then you don’t really share our same interests, do you? No, you do not.
Sick. I don’t think Keillor is the first “humorist” to use political extremism to keep his career going long after he stopped being funny. But whatever happened to Father Emil and that Lutheran guy Keillor used to talk about?
And finally, several readers have pointed out this column by Dean Murphy in today’s New York Times, and have wondered: are Murphy and the Times suggesting that the assassination of President Bush is a possible solution to the Democrats’ problems? Normally I would assume not. But Murphy’s piece begins with the assassination of Lincoln, discusses the political impact of the assassisnation of McKinley, and concludes:
Professor Wilentz of Princeton said that even if the 2004 victory was an incremental one, that should not comfort the Democrats. He said Mr. Rove and Mr. Bush now have a chance to do what Hanna and McKinley never did: Lay the foundation for lasting Republican dominance.
“The Republicans are basically unchecked,” Professor Wilentz said. “There is no check in the federal government and no check in the world. They have an unfettered playing field.”
Until the next act of God, that is.
I don’t know, maybe he was talking about a really big hurricane.
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