The triumph of Chilean rescue over Christine O"Donnell

WE WATCHED a not-so-historic debate between Republican Christine O'Donnell, the latest Tea Party headlight, and Democrat Chris Coons on CNN before the network cut away to the historic miners' rescue in Chile. The juxtoposition of the two events offered the viewer a dramatic separation of the wide arc between human dedication to heroic efforts on one hand and the imbecilic babbling of a right-wing candidate who shouldn't even be on the GOP's senatorial practice squad.

In a word, O'Donnell is an embarrassment to the most modest expectations for a coherent U.S. senate candidate. Having said that, however, it's also true that with the help of crackpot right-wingers that have commandeered the GOP from coast to coast, she knocked off a moderate Republican congressman, Mike Castle, in the Delaware's Primary, thus allowing Sarah Palin to add another notch to her arrow.

When push came to a mild shove in the debate, O'Donnell was unable to name a single U.S. Supreme Court decision with which she disagreed, defensively sputtering, "Oh, Gosh, give me a specific one. I'm sorry. Right off the top of my head, I know there are a lot, but I'll put it up on my website. I promise." (Her spokesman resorted to damage control later by saying poor Christine had been "caught off guard."

She also noted that we had never finished the job - and need to do so - when we were fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. Christine! Are you aware that we are now fighting the enemies that we supported against the Soviets?

There's good news and bad news in all of this: The good news is that the polls show her trailing her opponent by 17 points. The bad news, particularly for Republicans, is that it doesn't take much persuasion for some voters to nominate a mindless political nitwit like O'Donnell who has spent some of her campaign on talking about witchcraft and the evils of masturbation.

Meanwhile, back in Chile the rescue effort was continuing as the world came together for a deeply emotional moment inspired by magical technology, perseverance and soaring can-do confidence that saved 33 lives on a planet populated by nearly 8 billion people. With that disproportionate spread, it wouldn't seem like much. But every now and then, civilized human beings demonstrate that they can live together, work together and celebrate together apart from the rising tide of Christine O'Donnells and the current disgraceful state of what's left of the Republican Party.

The Pelosi/Alamo factor, John Kasich and Witchcraft

JUST HEARD A REPUBLICAN slamming a Democratic candidate who would be "the same as Nancy Pelosi."

Nothing unusual there. Pelosi is frequently held up in the nastiest of terms by the GOP to rally its troops without further explanation. She has become the Alamo that the other side wants you to remember. But why? Other than she is a Democratic leader and a woman, what is it about the Speaker of the House that is so alarming to her enemies? Unlike Minority leader John Boehner, a chain smoker, she has never been accused of passing out tobacco company lobbyists' money to his Republican colleagues on the House floor.

She has roiled some of the white guys across the aisle by her female toughness in rounding up the votes on health care, Wall Street reforms and other matters of importance that Republicans have summarily dismissed over the years. And she has been seen smiling frequently in contrast to Boehner's dour Dr. Doom expression. So what is it about Pelosi that finds her name affixed so conveniently to anti-Democrat assaults without telling us more? But if you do decide to tell us, I should caution you that it is a small matter to find out that you are making it up.

John Kasich, who says he finds time in his whirlwind life to read three or four books at a time, told the Dayton Daily News that he still manages to come home and "lay on the couch and graze a bit". Could he have misused the verb to avoid associating himself with "lie". On the other hand, he may well be laying some of his political eggs during his off-campaign hours.

Who could blame Delaware voters for being confused when they go to the polls this year? With Tea Party/Republican candidate Christine O'Donnell on the ballot as the contender for the U.S. Senate the voters will be required to decide which is witch! Sorry.

The Delaware delusion: Palin II arrives

I could have sworn that when I saw Christine O'Donnell burst on the TV screen that Sarah Palin had been cloned. The thumbs-up hand gestures, the wide open smile and flashing white teeth, the wild hair and the red suit and there you have it all except the message scrawled on her palm. Even the mainstream media are describing her as a sensation since she toppled Rep. Mike Castle in the Delaware Republican U.S. Senate primary. Spare me. She is such a sensation that even the state's Republican fixtures are racing for higher ground. The woman is a chilling example of this election year's stampede over the cliff.

So far all we have heard of her is that she opposes masturbation - speaks openly about it - and has slipped into moments of darkness when she has left fingerprints on suggestions that her primary opponent was gay. No doubt about it, she knows a lot about her Bible. If you can stay with the scene long enough to notice, you'll see the sort of bubbly (bubblehead?) hyperactive look-at-perfect-me that only the Tea Party and maybe a few mothers could love. Using her frame of reference, I'll turn it around right now and say that if she ever made it to the Senate it would be a tragedy of Biblical proportions. To borrow the chant of the Tea Partiers, I want my country back!

By the way, her den mother, Sarah, has already advised her to stick close to Fox News for any further talk about her candidacy. She can come back to earth after a few days' instruction at Glenn Beck University - or would she?

Seen any good cartoons lately?

AND SO IT HAPPENED that in this looniest election season that a preacher down in Florida has announced to the world that he will burn the Koran on Saturday to mark the anniversary of 9/11 . So outrageous is the Rev. Terry Jones' forthcoming stunt that we could use some comic relief by asking Sarah Palin to tell us again of how she can see Russia from her front porch. The name of Jones' obscure church is The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville. If you can make any sense out of that then I concede that my neurons have slowed down considerably.

Jones says he is a Christian man and insists that the Muslim holy book is "full of lies." Normally this sort of bizarre religious behavior would not even be mentioned by anyone, but in this case, even General Petraeus says it's something that could cause us a lot more trouble than we already have on this troubled planet. We await the condemnation by a lot of other Christian preachers with enough courage to contend that Jones shouldn't be shouting fire in a world crowded with 1.5 billion Muslims.

Meanwhile, Talking Points Memo got our attention with a report on a Republican candidate i n Delaware who wants to be elected to the Senate seat vacated by Joe Biden. Christine O'Donnell, should it make any difference to you, has come out fighting to end masturbation. She fiercely supports abstinence, too. No rookie at plundering sex for whatever political value it might have, O'Donnell also was a marketing consultant for Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ."

There's a lot of conservative Christian chest-pounding going on today and it should be obvious that the political class is meekly falling into line to assure its own redemption. Considering the velocity with which religion has replaced traditional ballot issues, we may have mercifully reached the point where it would be best to discard all elections, relax and watch our favorite cartoons as we await the end of days.