Frank Rich has apparently figured out that after January 20, it's not going to be as much fun for him. True, the Times columnist will surely disinter W as necessary to explain away Obama's missteps. But the buck for whatever post-inauguration problems the country faces will land ever more resoundingly on the new president's desk.
And so, like a vaudevillian tapping as fast as he can while anticipating the hook, Rich seems determined to spend these last few weeks of the Bush administration dancing on GOP graves and luxuriating in Republicans' perceived pain. You might say Frank is making hatred while the sun shines.
As we discussed last week in Have Fun For Now, Frank, Rich's immediate post-election column was one long poke in the Republican eye. The Timester is back at it again this morning, outdoing himself in sheer vitriol as he pour buckets of salt, generously seasoned with schadenfreude, into Republican wounds.
Annotated excerpts from The Moose Stops Here:
The conservative crackup may be ugly, but as entertainment, it’s two thumbs up!
At least Rich is frank here. This really is all about reveling in his rivals' defeat.
Celebrating the internecine warfare into which conservatives have allegedly descended, Rich notes that Ross Douthat labelled Doug Kmiec a "useful idiot."
Rich doesn't bother informing readers that Kmiec . . formally endorsed Obama. "Useful idiot" would be high praise compared to some of the things Democrats have called Joe Lieberman.
Rich suggests that U.S News & World Report is on the road to extinction, and implies that its Michael Barone, a conservative of encylopedic electoral knowledge, is responsible for the magazine's decline.
People in shaky financial houses shouldn't throw stones. I hear there could be a gig available at Daily Kos, just in case the Times continues to founder.
The GOP . . . is now more representative of 20th-century South Africa during apartheid than 21st-century America.
Frank, Frank: you were so close. Just a little extra effort and I'm sure you could have found a parallel to Kristallnacht.
There were as many Republican prejudices as candidates. In primary season, the whispered antipathy among some conservative evangelicals toward Mormons grew so loud that Mitt Romney felt compelled to give a speech defending his faith.
Yes, and let's not forget those angry, ugly demonstrations by anti-Romney Republicans staged outside Mormon places of worship. Oh, wait, those were gay rights activists demonstrating in the wake of Prop 8's passage. Some of the same folks who have used the n-word to condemn black Californians who voted overwhelmingly in favor of Prop 8. Sorry for the confusion.
Rich criticizes McCain for having "strenuously sought the endorsement of the Rev. John Hagee."
Does Rich really want to go down this road? Does he actually want to consider which candidate had the longer, closer relationship with a controversial pastor?
[GOP] leaders once again believe they can bamboozle the public into thinking they’re the “party of Lincoln” by pushing forward a few minority front men or women. The reason why they are promoting Palin and the recently elected Indian-American governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal.
Why doesn't Rich just come out and call Jindal "clean and articulate"? Nobody needs to push the brilliant Jindal forward. He ran for and won the governorship of Louisiana based on a record of real accomplishment.
Rich finishes on a fittingly ugly note, referring to Republicans as "brain dead." Keep dancing, Frank. We'll see you next year.
