Despite the fact that in July two Republican reps went to the well of the House and said Democrats’ health reforms would kill seniors, Republicans are outraged now because freshman Florida Dem Alan Grayson described the Republicans’ reform “plan” from the well last night as “don’t get sick,” but if you do, “die quickly.”

I have no problem with any of the substantive criticism of President Obama from the right or left. But something very dangerous is happening. Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into delegitimation and creating the same kind of climate here that existed in Israel on the eve of the Rabin assassination … Even if you are not worried that someone might draw from these vitriolic attacks a license to try to hurt the president, you have to be worried about what is happening to American politics more broadly.

— Thomas Friedman, NY Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize–winning author.

God’s Sod, A Limerick

You say God’s omnipotent.
You say God’s omniscient.
But why believe in God,
You benighted sod,
When secular humanism’s sufficient?

Every once in a while I feel despair over the fate of the planet. If you’ve been following climate science, you know what I mean: the sense that we’re hurtling toward catastrophe but nobody wants to hear about it or do anything to avert it…. And here’s the thing: I’m not engaging in hyperbole. These days, dire warnings aren’t the delusional raving of cranks. They’re what come out of the most widely respected climate models, devised by the leading researchers. The prognosis for the planet has gotten much, much worse in just the last few years.

— Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate.

Glenn Beck refused a viewer’s request that he explain what he meant when he said Pres. Obama hates the “white culture.”

He’s very analytical. He’s very deliberate about the way he goes through things. He wants to understand everything. He delves very deeply into these issues. I’m not going to get into comparing the different presidents. I very much enjoy working for this one.

— Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, in an interview on CNN , on what it’s like working with President Obama.

This weekend’s California GOP Convention was rocked by news that the party establishment’s favorite gov candidate, Meg Whitman, 53, did not register to vote until 2002 and has failed to vote in elections since then. Her main rival, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, pounced, calling on Whitman to quit. The conventioneers showed their displeasure by voting for Poizner 78% to 14% — a whopping 64 point margin.

Despite the Baggers’ summer-long rage rant, only 26% of Americans oppose a government-run health-insurance plan — 72% support the government option.

In what is truly a sign of these sorry times, a recent survey by Sacred Heart University found that Fox News was simultaneously the most trusted and the least trusted news organization in America.

The lowest circles of hell are for people who are disloyal in the way this guy is disloyal, and at the very lowest point Satan chews on their bodies. Maybe Scott McClellan will chew on this guy’s leg in the afterlife. So creepy and so disgusting.

— Bill Bennett, on CNN, referring to former Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer and his new tell-all book, Speech-less.