Analysis later.

Apparently, I was giving people too much credit.

“Do you think it’s time for the military to have special debriefings of Muslim Army officers, anybody enlisted? Because if I’m gonna be deployed in a foxhole, if I’m gonna be sitting in an outpost, I gotta know the guy next to me is not gonna wanna kill me,” [FOX's Brian] Kilmeade said.

Geraldo Rivera commendably pointed out that there are several million Muslims in America, and that many serve in the military and are highly valued. Another host, Gretchen Carlson, interrupted in order to point the blame at “political correctness.”

“Could it be that the military was also exercising political correctness, even though he had a poor performance report and even though he spoke openly about being a radical Muslim and had those supposed postings online?” she asked.

Allow me to an extend a rather fine “fuck you” to not only these two individuals, but everyone who follows their line of thought.

This is no doubt only a sample of the reaction, a free preview, as we’re at 6:11pm EST as I write this and the full sphere hasn’t had the chance to whip itself into a frenzy. I won’t be surprised if calls for outright banning of Muslims in the military isn’t endorsed by some from the truly crazy quarters.

I bring all this up because it’s going to become the next phase of the “9/12″ crusade, proving that these animals can’t be trusted and what have you. A rational person might point out that these are the same people who didn’t seem to think that the maniac who shot cops for fear of Obama taking his guns or the woman who was strapped with AK’s outside a FEMA camp were in any way evidence of a larger problem with right-wing radicals, but I think we all know what good that would do.

What will be the true test will be how Obama and Congress respond. If they pass new legislation, we’re in trouble. If they don’t, maybe there’s hope after all.

Partial credit goes to the flock of people who have been messaging me asking if I’ve seen this yet.

House leaders are moving forward with a bill that would provide health coverage to 36 million Americans who wouldn’t otherwise have it by expanding Medicaid, requiring everyone to purchase a plan and offering government subsidies to help low and moderate income families pay for premiums. Republicans have criticized the cost of the measure and taxes that would be imposed on high earning individuals and small businesses.

Plus, you know, the whole “taxes for abortions” thing.

Right now the entire debate, and I mean the entire debate, is about cost for the GOP. Lives saved? Quality of care? None of that’s particularly important. As I sit here I just saw an ad about opposing health care reform from a right-wing group, and it was entirely centered on the economy. Which is an interesting twist, really. It used to be all about how bad the care would be, but apparently that didn’t get any traction so now it’s economic issues.

It’s a sad time when people will vote against saving lives because it’s expensive, even after continually voting to continue a war regardless of cost.

Muslim guy, about to be sent to Iraq, kills a bunch of people at the base. Buckle up for the “terrorist on American soil” buzz.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It wasn’t that Owens beat a Republican, it’s that he beat the Conservative (capital C) candidate of Doug Hoffman, while the Republican’s actual candidate dropped out early. Further still, the right-wing media dove upon Hoffman as the torchbearer, with FOX’s various talking heads and the radio squealers all likening him to Mr Smith heading to Washington, that he’d show the nation that the right-wing, Teabagging base is for real.

This is, of course, suicidal for the party. To attempt to purge the moderates and push for a far-right only GOP would leave the party fractured down the middle and all but guarantee Democratic supremacy from now until doomsday. Turn more races into three-way jaunts among a Democrat, a Republican, and a Conservative and you aren’t going to see too many R’s or C’s on the roster come 2011.

I could have predicted this, but already some are trying to say that the Democrats are guilty of this as well, using the only two examples possible: Lieberman and left-wing frustration with Obama.

Remember the enthusiasm, indeed smugness, that the left blogosphere and netroots exhibited when they helped defeat incumbent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary in September 2006 because he was a supporter of the Iraq war?

…

Indeed, many on the left are now openly talking about abandoning support of Obama unless he withdraws completely from Afghanistan and Iraq by a date certain.

The differences here are pretty stark. In Lieberman’s case, it wasn’t his war support. It was that he spent the years prior calling his own party weak and basically being a thorn in the donkey’s side. Simply supporting the war was far from Holy Joe’s only sin, and it wasn’t even like he was alone in that regard. It was that Lieberman went out of his way to trash his own party. As for Obama, the problem there is that Obama said he would get us out of Iraq, close Gitmo, and repeal DADT. Holding an elected official to his promises is far from cries for party purity.

By contrast, Specter was ousted solely for his support of Obama’s stimulus package. Olympia Snowe is getting pushed out for her occasional support of Democratic legislation, and Hoffman’s rise was against a seeming moderate. This is a crusade against the impure, and is rooted in forcing any non-basers out. If the GOP wants that, good on ‘em. It just means obliteration for the party.

A side note for Lieberman:  if you look at the results of the 2006 Senate election in CT, the split was 49-39 Lieberman over Lamont, with a paltry 9% of voters siding with the Republican. Now unless you think Connecticut is 91% Democrat, you then realize that it means Lieberman’s victory came largely on the backs of Republicans who abandoned their candidate in order to make sure that the lefter of two evils didn’t win. This stands in sharp relief against atraditionally Republican election that saw the split between a Dem and the new Conservative candidate.