Remember last summer, when the Tea Party emerged as a suspiciously nationwide coalition of the laughably uninformed dedicated to defeating health care reform through yelling? Fifteen months later, many of the morons are poised to become senators. What, to quote Mary Todd Lincoln, the fuck happened? The Tea Party went from a national joke to a presumed congressional force, with no attendant increase in sensemaking or even a beer hall putsch. It’s as if the responsible elements of this country unanimously agreed to cede control to the stupid and crazy, not because it’s a good idea so much as because they demanded it so loudly. The lunatics’ plan of shouting and refusing to participate in group has worked perfectly, and now they are ready to assume managerial control of the asylum. If you think I’m overstating the case, have a look at this Friday’s link roundup. It’s chock full of evidence to suggest that the closest we’ve ever come to an American fascist party is working, and it’s the perfect way to blast into your weekend on a jet of pure rage.

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Certain events so confirm our worldviews that we can’t believe they didn’t happen sooner. Their actual occurrence seems almost like an afterthought, so thoroughly have we already integrated their essential meaning into our subconscious. In preparation for a weekend we’ve been anticipating since Tuesday, today’s link roundup is about the things that finally happened—comeuppances gotten, riddles solved, and least charitable assessments confirmed. It’s Friday morning, the now is happening, and Combat! blog is poised at the place where hindsight and foresight meet. Behold, the majestic links!

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The end of September has brought with it the end of Deadline Week, and now the interns and I relax amid the tropical plants and exotic lizards of the Combat! blog offices. Everyone has been given coffee and donuts—except for the tiger, who is being punished—and the sound of relieved sighs fills the air. Now seems as good a time as any to step back and get a little perspective on the week that was, so terrible in its enactment and so mild in its repose. As we ease into what will surely be a shrill October with one last beautiful fall weekend (Missoula only,) let’s take a moment to calmly consider good news, responsible analysis, irrelevant fluff pieces and, okay, one harrowing story of official irresponsibility. Won’t you take a breath with me?

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On Tuesday, as part of their Hold Absolutely Still And Hope Nothing Bad Happens strategy, Senate Democrats declined to vote on the defense appropriations bill that would have repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Yesterday, Harry Reid kept the ball rolling by announcing that Congress would not seek a vote on extending the Bush tax cuts until after the November elections. That way, Republicans can make good on their threat to filibuster any tax relief package that doesn’t include cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans without hurting their chances in the midterms. The Majority Leader’s confidence that whatever Democrats do, the electorate won’t like it is inspiring, but it’s just one instance of the can’t-do spirit sweeping America. In preparation for a weekend sure to be characterized by questionable decision-making, today’s Link Roundup presents four things even dumber than Harry Reid’s political strategy.

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While the rest of us spent the week getting extremely angry about a tax break extension for the wealthy that never happened, Pastor Terry Jones was planning to burn a bunch of Korans. This demonstration would A) commemorate the September 11th attacks as tastefully as possible and B) as Ben Fowlkes put it, “make the daring dream of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace and lover of neighbors, finally come to fruition.” Jones shepherds a flock of about 50 in Gainesville, Florida, and achieved peak notoriety prior to this event by sending five children to school in shirt that said “Islam is of the devil.” After Gainesville elected a gay man as mayor, Jones also put up a sign that read “No homo mayor” in front of city hall. Clearly, we are dealing with a sophisticated religious thinker. Despite his obvious limitations, Jones captured the attention of many people who see the relationship among Islam, modernity, Christianity, secular modernism and liberal democracy as slightly more complex than G.I. Joe vs. Cobra, and everybody went crazy. Maybe that’s because it was a slow news week. Regardless, it’s been a slow week around here, so we figured we’d go ahead and dedicate this Friday’s entire link roundup to the fiasco. I call it the Bonfire of the Inanities. Clever, right? I’m still single.

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