They are right about President Obama playing chess while the Republicans are playing checkers.

And who is going to be Secretary of Defense – Republican Chuck Hagel.

In 2005, he began criticizing the George W. Bush administration, comparing the worsening Iraq war to Vietnam. When then-Vice President Dick Cheney said the Iraqi insurgency was in its “last throes,” Hagel told CNN, “Maybe the vice president can explain the increase in casualties we’re taking… If that’s winning, then he’s got a different definition of winning than I do.”

Over the next few years, Hagel’s criticism of Bush intensified, and in 2007, he told Esquire:

“The president says, ‘I don’t care.’ He’s not accountable anymore… He’s not accountable anymore, which isn’t totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment. I don’t know. It depends how this goes.”

John Boehner is going to the White House this afternoon.  I suspect they’ll tell him then that he’s been screwed.

Thanks to Kary for the heads up.

There are all manner of freaky people who will do anything to make a helluva mess.  And most of them are Tea Party members.

They generally start with emails to scare crap outta very ignorant people.  And most of them are Tea Party members.

Like this one that went around in Texas … Mostly to Tea Party members.

(Click the little one to get the big one.)

Here ya go to the website that features it.   It’s called “The Tea Party Command Center.”  They are very upset about something called Cscope.  They claim that Cscope has a pro-Islam bias.

So, they get upset.  Not upset enough to find out what Cscope is, of course.  But upset enough to go to the school board meeting and be outraged.  Remember what I’ve told you before:  outrage passes for foreplay in most Republican homes.

Texas has the most conservative rightwing hate-filled outraged school board in the written history of mankind.  Every time they meet, the angels and Galileo weep.

But these people are just certain that Cscope is a Marxist pro-Islam anti-Limbaugh  conspiracy.

Well, not so much.

The school district let some very conservative Glen Beck watching people investigate and they found:

The upshot of the investigation:

– Christianity got twice as much attention in the curriculum as any other religion. Islam was a distant second.

– The Red Crescent and Boston Tea Party reference mentioned in the email were nowhere in CSCOPE’s curriculum, although they may have been in the past.

– If there was any Islamic bias in CSCOPE it was “bias against radical Islam.”

Well, I hope these old Tea Party people got laid so all that outrage wasn’t totally wasted.

Thanks to Warner for the heads up.

Okay, let’s start here.

Rick Perry told the Washington Times that his favorite gun is a LaRue OBR 5.56

But he doesn’t stop there.

He call his LaRue rifle a “work of art” …

Okay, here’s a guy who  has not been to an art museum since his fifth grade class took a field trip to the Frederic Remington collection.  And he’s comparing his non-hunting weapon to the Pietà.

And perhaps that’s why Rick Perry also showed up today as a punch line to a joke in Gail Collins column.

Also, there have been quite a few recent developments that might well be interpreted as a sign of the end of days:

• The 5,125-year-long Mayan calendar stops on Dec. 21.

• Scientists report the discovery of an elephant that speaks Korean.

• Rick Perry says he might be considering another run for president.

Let’s face it.  If Rick gets elected President, he’ll turn the National Gallery of Art into an armory.

Thanks to David for the heads up.

Nancy Pelosi is living proof that the best man for a  job is generally a woman.

She proudly took on Texas Congressvarmint Pistol Pete Sessions (who got that nickname because he’s always shooting off his mouth), and his snarky comments by handing him the recipe for unpleasantness.

Pelosi: Do I detect your smirk to mean that you don’t think Republicans will vote for middle income tax cuts, Mr. Sessions, should I take it to mean that you will continue to hold middle income tax cuts hostage, giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in our country? The unfairness of it is appalling, the fact that it increases the deficit is disgraceful, and that it does not create jobs is a big mistake for us to make.”

Smirk away, Pete, and Nancy Pelosi will fry your butt while she hangs it over the pits of political hell.

Thanks to Kyle for the heads up.

You missed Doonesbury today.  (Click the little one to get the big one.)