Dick Lugar Gets an Indiana Teabagging:
Let's face it: Richard Lugar's heart wasn't in it. As soon as he was gonna get teabagged, he knew that he would go through the motions, but, if after over 30 years of service to Indiana, he had to pretend to give a damn about the opinions of the racists and cretins of his state, of which there are many, then he might as well just throw in the towel. He might as well coast through the race just to get to the end. Which he pretty much did.

In April 2008, in a speech he gave when he received an award for ethics in government, Senator Lugar pretty much read his own epitaph. The focus of his talk was "bipartisanship." Of course, the backdrop for this was the 2006 reaming Democrats gave Republicans in Congress, as well as the probable election of a Democrat to the White House. So, you know, it ain't as if he wasn't being somewhat self-interested, cravenly justifying his own diminished power. Still, the speech is fascinating for how utterly naive it is, how out of touch with the reality of Bush-era politics (which seem like salad days compared to post-Bush) he was, how very old school it was, like the fact that he took his job seriously enough to work with Teddy Kennedy and Sen. Barack Obama to accomplish things and to live in Virginia, something that Richard Mourdock used against him in yesterday's Republican primary.

Here's Lugar: "Too often bipartisanship is misrepresented as the byproduct of moderate political views or the willingness to strike deals. We should be clear that bipartisanship is not centrism, and it is more than just compromise. It is a way of approaching one’s duties as a public servant that requires self-reflection, discipline of study, and faith in the good will of others." Lugar then accurately pegged the breakdown of bipartisanship as coming from the last decade (beginning, perhaps, with the grandstanding impeachment of Bill Clinton) and from the proliferation of information sources that offer up "news" with perspective as part of it.

He ended the speech with a list of questions he believed a thoughtful budding politician should ask him or herself to avoid "partisanship." Really, it's just hilarious, considering that Republicans have abandoned any pretense that they will accept anything other than total power and capitulation:

"Do you accept that members of the other party love their country and are people of good will, and do you avoid portraying them as unpatriotic?

"Do you believe that members of the opposing party can frequently contribute to good policy and do you make an attempt to include them in early deliberations?

"Do you seek out opportunities to work with leaders of the other party?

"Even as you participate in partisan debates, is your first impulse a sober reflection on what is good for the country?

"Do you study an issue in depth with an open mind and do you avoid an overreliance on your party’s orthodox positions and arguments?"

Now, here's the Indiana GOP Senate nominee: "I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view."

It's not that Lugar was noble. Far from it. It's that he was practical. He believed that government ought to get shit done. And for that Mourdock was able to portray him as an Obama-loving carpetbagger. Never mind that Lugar voted with Republicans 92% of the time. Never mind that that placed him ahead of good conservatives like Roy Blunt and Jim DeMint in loyalty. (Yes, that probably means some bills weren't conservative enough for those cocktards.)

Oh, Republicans. Your monster continues to rampage, nearly unabated. You thought you could contain the inarticulate rage you unleashed against the President. Instead, you have allowed the lab experiment free, and it's just a matter of time before it gets around to destroying its creators.