American Politics in 2009: Who's Really Lost It?

Steve Benen, at the Washington Monthly, positions himself as some august sage of the netroots - a voice of moderation, wisdom, and restraint. He often floats off common leftists talking points as received knowledge, and I'm particularly amused at how he views rank-and-file conservatives as some kind of exponential Bonus Army of the unwashed right-wing lumpenproletariat.

Here's Benen in a post yesterday:

... there's something very wrong with our political system, put under a serious strain by the "conservative lunatic brigade," stuck in a "perverse nonsense feedback loop."

Birthers, Deathers, Tenthers. Beck, Palin, Limbaugh. Bachmann, Inhofe, DeMint, King, and Broun. A scorched-earth campaign intended to tear the country apart, questioning the legitimacy of the president, the government, and the rule of law. It's all very scary.

Josh Marshall recently noted, "It's always important for us to remember what the last eight years have again taught us, which is that America has a very strong civic fabric, one that can withstand, absorb and conquer all manner of ugly behavior. It can take in stride a lot of angry rhetoric, townhall fisticuffs and more. But as this escalates we should continually be stepping back and thinking retrospectively from the vantage point of the future about where this all seems to be heading."

The crazies have a political party, a cable news network, and a loud, activist base. They're mad as hell and they're not going to take their medications anymore.

And then here's Benen today:

President Obama wants to deliver a message to students next week emphasizing hard work, encouraging young people to do their best in school. The temper tantrum the right is throwing in response only helps reinforce how far gone 21st-century conservatives really are.

This is no small, isolated fit, thrown by random nutjobs. The New York Times, Washington Post,LA Times, AP, and others all ran stories this morning about the coordinated national effort to either keep children at home so they can't hear their president's pro-education message, or demanding that local schools block the message altogether.

A Republican state lawmaker in Oklahoma said, "As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education -- it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality. This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq." Fox News personalities have adopted the same line, calling a stay-in-school message from the president "cultist" and reminiscent of "North Korea and the former Soviet Union"....

This is what American politics has come to in 2009 ....

Even Joe Scarborough asked, "Where are all the GOP leaders speaking out against this kind of hysteria?" They are, alas, nowhere to be found. As John Cole explained, "The entire party has been taken over by crazy people."

Well, if the "entire party" is now "crazy," then that's the new sane.

I mean really. Recall that Ian Gurvitz has called the conservative resistance to Barack Obama "Operation Monkeyshit."

We're getting all of this weird leftist pushback because there's a genuine revolt in Middle America against this administration - and leftists have no answer but to hunker down, smear, slur, and sensationalize. All Democrats can do is paint the great middle as a bunch of crazies, when in fact it's the Hope-and-Change freakshow that fostering the rebellion of concerned citizens.

If you check Charlie Cook's essay today, "Bleeding Independents," it's clear that "crazy" doesn't explain the kind of frustration and resentment that driving the exodus of voter support from this administration:

Independent voters -- fired up by the war in Iraq and Republican scandals -- gave Democrats control of both chambers of Congress in 2006. Two years later, independents upset with President Bush and eager to give his party another kick expanded the Democratic majorities on the Hill. Late in the campaign, the economic downturn, together with an influx of young people and minorities enthusiastic about Obama, created a wave that left the GOP in ruins.

That was then; this is now. For the seven weeks from mid-April through the first week of June, Obama's weekly Gallup Poll approval rating among independents ran in the 60-to-70 percent range. But in four of the past five weeks, it has been only in the mid-to-high 40s. Meanwhile, Democrats and liberals seem lethargic even though Republicans and conservatives are spitting nails and can't wait to vote.

What's going on? While political analysts were fixated on last fall's campaign and on Obama's victory, inauguration, and first 100 days in office, two other dynamics were developing. First, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression scared many voters, making them worry about their future and that of their children and grandchildren. And the federal government's failure to prevent that calamity fundamentally undermined the public's already low confidence in government's ability to solve problems. Washington's unprecedented levels of intervention -- at the end of Bush's presidency and the start of Obama's -- into the private sector further unnerved the skittish public. People didn't mind that the head of General Motors got fired. What frightened folks was that it was the federal government doing the firing.

Many conservatives predictably fear -- and some downright oppose -- any expansion of government. But late last year many moderates and independents who were already frightened about the economy began to fret that Washington was taking irreversible actions that would drive mountainous deficits higher. They worried that government was taking on far more than it could competently handle and far more than the country could afford. Against this backdrop, Obama's agenda fanned fears that government was expanding too far, too fast. Before long, his strategy of letting Congress take the lead in formulating legislative proposals and thus prodding lawmakers to take ownership in their outcome caused his poll numbers on "strength" and "leadership" to plummet.

The bottom line for Cook is that the Dems are almost certain to take a wallop in the 2010 midterms (and of course some are even suggesting that the GOP might take back majority control of Congress).

And why not? As Wednesday's Pew reporting indicated, "Congressional Favorability at 24-Year Low: Midterm Voting Intentions Evenly Divided."

When asked to look ahead to the 2010 races for Congress, voters divide almost evenly between the parties. The sizable advantage enjoyed by the Democratic Party in the past two election cycles is gone, at least for now. As in previous years, both parties command nearly unanimous support from their own ranks. But the Democratic edge among independent voters, critical to their large electoral gains in 2006 and 2008, has vanished. Republicans have gained 10 points since November 2006, on the eve of the midterms (from 33% to 43%).

Independents will be the key. And as they're joining the Republican "crazies," it's going to be the Democrats who'll be insanely scratching their heads in 2010, saying, "My God. What happened to the 'emerging Demcoratic majority'"?